Perfection (board game)

Perfection is a timed shape sorting board game in which players race to fit a full set of oddly shaped plastic pieces into their matching holes on a square board before a mechanical timer runs out. The standard edition arranges 25 differently shaped pieces in a 5 by 5 grid and gives the player sixty seconds to seat every piece correctly. If the timer expires before the board is finished, the entire board springs upward with a loud pop, scattering any pieces still in place across the table, a dramatic penalty that gives the game much of its tension and its enduring party appeal. A player who manages to seat all 25 pieces before the timer fires can record their completion time, and in multiplayer play the fastest completed time wins. Perfection was originally produced by the Pennsylvania toy company Reed Toys and patented by the Harmonic Reed Company, reaching store shelves in 1973, before the Milton Bradley Company took over production; Hasbro has manufactured it under the Milton Bradley brand since acquiring the property in 1989. The game rewards both quick pattern recognition and fine motor dexterity under time pressure, and later editions and travel versions have kept the same spring loaded pop up mechanism at the core of play.