Lakeside Toys (now a subdivision of Leisure Dynamics) was a toy and puzzle producer from Minnesota. While Lakeside was more known for their games such as Perfection and Barrel of Monkeys, in the 1960s and 1970s they made various different puzzle games. One of those puzzle games was 25 Ghosts which was made in 1968.
The first thing that stands out with the puzzle is the theme. Even though I don’t have a lot of interest in ghosts, I found the puzzle to be kind of charming. The puzzle was gauged towards children but it works for adults as well. The theme actually impacts the puzzle since it allows it to utilize some strange shapes. Most of the puzzle pieces are pretty unique since the only similarities between the pieces is that each one has two hands, two feet and a head.
While the theme is kind of cute, the puzzle is far from difficult. The puzzle was meant for children but it could have provided a little challenge for adults. Unless you are a young child, this puzzle will not tax your brain. A couple of the pieces took a while to place but most were quite obvious. If you put the edge pieces together first, a lot of the other pieces just fall into place. The puzzle only took me around five minutes to complete and that should be the same for most people.
25 Ghosts is a cute puzzle but it will not give you a challenge. Due to its’ simplicity, 25 Ghosts is the type of puzzle you could put together once but will probably never touch again.
How to Solve 25 Ghosts Puzzle Game
25 Ghosts is not a hard puzzle. The box doesn’t make the puzzle any harder. The box actually gives you the solution to the puzzle. Before I put the puzzle together I thought the solution on the cover was just an example to show how the puzzle works. It just so happens to be the actual solution to the puzzle.
For those of you who actually want to solve the puzzle without cheating (looking at the solution), I can give you some quick tips that will help you solve the puzzle. The first thing to do is to turn all of the puzzle pieces so the black spots/bumps that indicate the ghosts’ eyes are all face up. Next since the puzzle is a rectangular shape (with rounded corners) you should find all of the pieces with a straight edge since these pieces will be the edges of the puzzle. Build up the outer edges since it will give you a framework for the harder to place center pieces. With the center pieces it is best to start with one side and then move across the puzzle. I would recommend starting on one side since some of the pieces fit where you would not expect.
Here is the solution to the 25 Ghosts puzzle game.