The Wonders of Puzzle Playgrounds
Articles April 27th, 2008
(5 votes, average: 4.8 out of 5)
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Puzzle Playgrounds - we’ve all heard of them, right? They are the latest craze to acquire for your hamster or small rodent, and simply a brilliant invention, in my opinion.
Puzzle playgrounds are manufactured by the company “Super Pet” and are sold in sizes of 26, 42, 50, and 60 piece sets as well as a see-saw and Ferris wheel style. The pieces come disassembled in the box and can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to put together, depending on the design you choose to create and how skilled you are with the assembly process. The creations you can make with these are endless, and they are customizable to both dwarf and Syrian hamsters in the way of building either tall designs, to give Syrians climbing opportunities, or lower, one-level designs to allow our smaller friends easier ability to maneuver through them. There is also a vast array of shapes these pieces can form. For example - the triangle and square pieces, when assembled together in different numbers, can form a cube, wedge, 4-sided roof, 5-sided dome, or a 6-sided room. The tube connectors that are included in the 60-piece box can give you even more interesting and unlimited possibilities.
Of course, like most products on the market, Puzzle Playgrounds do have a few disadvantages (for the human, not the hamster 
). Many people can become frustrated with the tedious assembly process and find themselves wanting to slam their half-built creation into the nearest wall. The trick with connecting these pieces successfully is much patience and perseverance (some calming tea might help as well). It is necessary to build these on a solid, flat surface as it helps keep the pieces from snapping out of place - ultimately resulting in the destruction of your creation. Always snap the tubes into the connector pieces before attempting to attach to your completed design or it will ruin your hard work and cause it to fall apart. It is also helpful, and makes for easier access when building larger designs, to leave a few openings here and there that you can stick your hand in to attach the pieces together.
One final thought? Approach the assembly process as a “labor of love” to show your hams how much you love them, and think of all the hours of fun they will have exploring the labyrinth of tunnels and mazes you have created.
If you feel this is the type of toy your little furry will go bananas…err…sunflower seeds over, then do not hesitate to pick one (or many) sets up today at your local pet supply shop or online. HAVE FUN!!
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And now, for your viewing pleasure, some design examples ranging from small to large to showcase the never-ending building options you have with the Puzzle Playground sets:
* Below photos and playground creations courtesy of wiffy
For even more ideas, check out this link.
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Posted by 
April 27th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I love Puzzle Playgrounds!!!
They are customizable and can fit into any type of space. And even when you change the cage, you just have to re-build the puzzle pieces, hence saving money in the long run!
This is a great introduction to PP and I love it!
April 27th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Me and Sandy both love Puzzle playgrounds they are the best!
This was a really nice article
April 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I think SuperPet will see a surge in the demand for puzzle playgrounds as more people read this article!
This is a great toy for hamsters! Thanks HoppingHammy for the great write-up!
April 27th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Wow, thats really neat!
Your very good with hamster stuff Hoppinghammy!
April 27th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Great writing, HH! =D Ah, I love Puzzle Playgrounds. They’re really fun!
April 28th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Excellent article, HoppingHammy! All hail the Queen of Puzzle Playgrounds! I am curious, however, why wiffy supplied the photos when you’ve got about a trillion photos of puzzle playgrounds?
Nice photos, though, wiffy! Did you build each of those just for the photo shoot?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Omg some of those designs are great.
Mine is just random LOL
Tom
April 28th, 2008 at 5:44 am
Hey great article! Well written and it just makes me want to go upstairs and design something new! And the pics were great for some ideas!
April 28th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Puzzle Playgrounds are awesome! … If you can get by the frustrating part.
I bought Squeak one once and err, it wasn’t much fun making it. Nice article. The designs are pretty good - I might buy some PP pieces and make a new one for the little dwarves.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I just love the puzzle playground!! I already have the 42 & 60 pc ones… but i went and bought a see saw version one recently too!! Great article!!
April 28th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
cottonwood: wiffy & I agreed, when I was writing the article, that she would supply the photos for the PP since it would save me time from having to take pictures on top of writing. We also wanted all of the photos to look the same with a clean background, and wiffy is great with photography so it was decided that she would take photos of the current setups she has for her hams.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Hopping:: Thanks for your kind words … you are so humble about your photography skills
cottonwood:: The puzzle playgrounds you see in the photos are the existing set ups for my 2 hamhams
April 29th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Really great article and writing HH!
April 29th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Beyond Awesome!
I love the article, and it’s totally true.
Our little guys love these things; I speak from experience.
But you’re right.
They’re heck to put together.
Whew!
;D
May 4th, 2008 at 5:52 am
We used to have some of those for Culo Gordo (RIP)
Awesome article!
May 6th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Awesome designs!! ^_^ I love puzzle playgrounds.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:44 am
I love the puzzle playgrounds. They are so fun to build, actually once I get paid I’m going to make a trip to Kahoots pet store and buy some more! :]
July 30th, 2008 at 8:29 am
So are you saying that if I want to connect something to crittertrail I only need to get one of the puzzle things and attach the tube connectors to the cage.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Puzzle Playground… grrr…
I loved it actually. The building part didn’t annoy me at first, but around the fourth time it broke on me I got agrivated. Still it was nice. My hamsters… well they liked it enough to sleep in, but not play. *sighs* After trying many designs and they did nothing, but sleep in it I gave up. I began to get worried because they would stuff them up with bedding to the point all the holes would be blocked *enter panic mode here*
Needless to say I stop giving it to my hamsters. I will have to find some other cool toy for them.