Intrism Mini 3D wooden puzzle review

REVIEW – When I was a kid, my mom and sister used to love putting together jigsaw puzzles. We’d get the really large ones and would spend a week or more putting them together while listening to the radio in the background. To this day, when I hear a “puzzle song”, it takes me back to those days. Puzzles are fun for me, so I didn’t have to think about it when I was offered the Intrism Mini 3D wooden puzzle for review. Let’s check it out.

What is it?

The Intrism Mini is a 3D wooden puzzle marble maze that you assemble yourself and are then able to play.

What’s in the box?

The 130-piece puzzle is packaged in a deceptively small package.

• Wooden puzzle pieces
• Acrylic box pieces
• Sandpaper
• Instructions

Assembly process

The puzzle pieces are contained in 6 pieces of wood.

Each puzzle piece is contained in sheets of laser cut wood.

Along with the sheets of wood are sheets of acrylic that are used to build the box that houses the puzzle once you’re done assembling it.

The included instructions are easy to understand and take you step by step through the assembly process.

Each piece of wood is marked not only to show you the puzzle pieces but with a letter in the top left corner. The instructions then reference the letter to let you know where you can find the correct piece for each step.

No tools are needed to assemble the Intrism Mini puzzle, but a special piece puncher is included which does come in handy for helping to remove some of the tinier pieces from the panels.

I also recommend a pair of long needle nose pliers that can help to seat some pieces.

Also included is a strip of sandpaper that you can use to smooth any burs.

Here’s the first piece of the puzzle punched from the panel and ready to build.

I ended up punching out all the pieces and putting them in bins for each letter so the would be easy to find.

I found the assembly process to be easy and relaxing. As long as you take your time and you have some patience, the whole process of building the Intrism Mini 3D wooden puzzle can be very enjoyable.

It is important to take your time and not force the pieces together because they are made of thin wood. The instructions included with the puzzle do mention that if you break a piece, they will replace it for free – you will just have to pay the shipping fees. Their site makes it very easy to choose replacement pieces and the shipping rates are inexpensive.

I didn’t really time myself to see how long it took me to build the Intrism Mini puzzle, but my estimate is about 3 hours.

The instructions lead you through the steps to build a few different sub-assemblies and then combine them into larger assemblies.

And before you know it, you’ve gone through all 108 steps, and you’re done.

Except for putting the puzzle in the acrylic case. I think the most annoying aspect of building the Intrism Mini 3D puzzle was removing the protective covering on the front of back of each piece of acrylic.

Putting the box together was not difficult though.

The sides of the box snap together just like the puzzle – tongue and groove style. The last step is to put on the top!

But don’t do as I did and forget to put the marble inside before putting the last panel on the box.

I had to remove the top of the box, drop in the marble, and put the top back on. It wasn’t a big deal though.

The result is a 6 inch cube with a marble labyrinth inside. Instrism also sells a smaller 4 x 4 inch version and a larger 8 x 8 inch version.

What I like

• Fun model
• Includes everything that you need
• Clear instructions

What I’d change

• Nothing

Final thoughts

The Intrism Mini 3D puzzle also comes with a stand that you build too. The stand turns the puzzle into a cool-looking display piece. And of course, the fun doesn’t end after the puzzle has been built and the box has been closed. The fun just gets started because now you have a toy that you can play with. The puzzle becomes a marble maze complete with start and finish points and arrows that tell you which way to roll the marble. I haven’t solved the puzzle in one go yet as it’s pretty easy to accidentally roll the marble off the track and then need to start over. I really enjoyed putting the puzzle together and enjoy trying to solve it or just admiring it on my shelf. If you also like puzzles, I think you will enjoy this one.

Price: $64.95
Where to buy: Intrism and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Intrism.