Times Square Millennium Edition 3D Puzzle



 

Manufacturer: Supertek (more information needed), c. 1999

It's been a long time since I actually posted some kind of Millennium-themed merchandise!

 

Okay...In the mid-to-late 1990s, 3D jigsaw puzzles were a brief fad. They're still around, but they're not as much of a "thing" as they were. They usually comprised of jigsaw-cut pieces of lightweight polystyrene with one thick, printed edge with the building's exterior "printed" onto its surface, which reinforced the polystyrene to some degree. Builders who desired a little more permanence could buy a specially-formulated glue that would hold the building together without destroying the polystyrene.

 

(Interesting side note: There was a sub-fad in which you had to stack thin "puzzle slices" on a plastic tube. The most famous of these came in the shape of the Death Star from Star Wars.)

 

The most prominent brand name was Puzz3D; to the best of my knowledge, Puzz3D puzzles are still available today. At the height of the fad, though, there were several competitors, one of which was Supertek. This particular company produced puzzles of the U.S. Capitol Building; a representation of the Las Vegas Strip; San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge; and, lastly, this Millennium edition of Times Square.

 

The Supertek logo, seen in the top left-hand corner, rings a bell to me. I might have seen a few of these in catalogs like Bits & Pieces, but I don't remember seeing them in stores. In fact, I had an idea that Supertek produced their wares for souvenir shops in America and overseas.

 

This intricate puzzle is a perspective shot of Times Square on New Year's Eve 1999/2000. It came with a detailed base and starfield backdrop, and, from what I can see, the only true 3D elements are the front of One Times Square and a few of the surrounding foreground buildings. There are some firework pieces, too, which I can only chalk up to artistic license, as it is usually not a good idea to set off fireworks like that at street level. Do not try it at home, kiddos.

 

While doing a search for other such puzzles, I was surprised to find that Supertek revised it the following year, with a simple date change to 2001. (Presumably they were trying to appease the "New Millennium begins in 2001" set.) The graphics otherwise remain the same.