Covid. Covid.Covid. That is all we hear. Rightly of course. But we at Front Row hear much more. We hear that readers are now obsessed with board games, jigsaws, card games and of course, reading. This appears to reveal Covid as a boon for all things stimulating and frankly, inspiring. So thanks to our friends at Laurence King games, we have had a few things to look over (after some of you mentioned them and others sung their praises). We so far have seen cards with thoughts from inspiring feminist voices and a newly updated Art card game where famous faces take on each other in a battle to the art death. The latest item for us to review is one I am very excited about. It is the jigsaw STALLONES BIG FIGHT. A reimagining of the Rocky finale from Little White Lies and the ever amazing Christina Newland. Join Rocky Balboa as he steps into the ring with Apollo Creed in the World Heavyweight Championship title fight. Who will win? Will you be able to piece it all together? Why is the Predator sitting in the crowd? So many questions!
Featuring a bunch of familiar faces, Adrian, Paulie and Butkus, Stallone’s bullmastiff – and a huge cast of characters from the Rocky empire (also other films from the era and Francis Ford Coppola no less), we also have cameo appearances from legendary boxing movies. Some are there for good measure. Coppola is there due to his sister, Adrian to Rocky, Talia Shire to you and me. The aforementioned Predator took on (and off’d) Carl Weathers aka Dillion from Predator. The big poster lets you see all this prior but then if you hadnt got that you would be stuck. Thanks also to the excellently written poster notes, you will find much out. Some of you will already know why an Oscar sits on a directors chair for example. But the notes detail this. A few will understand why a wharfman’s hook is next to the ring. The notes inform you why and then also how it all inter relates. A nice touch indeed for the novice and the expert says me. A rare few will know why a robot stands aside in the audience. I wish I didn’t but hey then I would have missed out on a little bit of pointless trivia and a little bit of laughter at the image. But this is only half the fun.
Its challenging, rewarding and good to get the family involved. You could do it alone also (I did) or with your better half (I also did) or in a group on Teams (I didnt do this). All in all, its a gift for the film fan and who didn’t want to be a part of Rocky’s crew? So with 1000 pieces to sift and place, 36 characters to piece together, Sylvester Stallone and Rocky Balboa or the “Italian Stallion” to locate, a Puzzle size: 680 X 485 mm, you need a big table and a couple of days to ring in the result. I love this.
Stallone’s Big Fight: A Movie Jigsaw by Little White Lies and Christina Newland. Released 4th March, available laurenceking.com
