Category Archives: Puzzle Difficulty

Going Big… and Bigger! 2,000-4,000 piece Puzzles

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The survey we put out last week to get a response on how you, our readers, are enjoying this blog ended Tuesday night. The winner has been chosen, the stats have been analyzed, and I’m ready to deliver you some of the posts you guys have been looking for! Thank you for your input and creativity—there’s a lot you want to know about puzzles, and I’m happy to oblige! To start, we’ll feature a post on 2,000-4,000 piece puzzles suggested by Linda.

The master stage of jigsaw puzzling starts at 2,000 pieces. It means you’re done with the intermediate stage and ready to tackle twice the job! Use the same helpful tips: sort by shape piece and color, and definitely stay patient. These are big jobs, but the reward is twice as satisfying!

Napolean’s Winter by Heye. 27″ x 38″ when completed.

Talk about a challenge! The sheer size of this puzzle is daunting enough, but throw in the amount of white snow there is and the similarity of images of people on horses and wagons, and you’ve got yourself a puzzle that’ll challenge you for weeks! Make sure to carve out a space in your home for this puzzle to be up for a while, or check out our puzzle storage.

City by Heye. 38″ x 27″ when completed.

This bright, eccentric puzzle is the work of cartoonist Guillermo Mordillo, who has many other puzzles of this brightness and quality offered in 1000 piece counts for those that aren’t quite ready for this challenge.

Crime Scene by Heye. 38″ x 27″ when completed.

This puzzle is fantastic because if you get bored of one scene, just switch to another! Featuring a background space and 5 rings of interior spaces to help you solve the “horrible mystery of Vampshire Castle,” this puzzle by artist Michael Ryba will surely keep you entertained the whole way through!

The Times of the Day by Educa. 37.8″ x 26.8″ when completed.

If cartoon art isn’t for you, this puzzle by Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha will be sure to please you! It offers some repeating images (such as the design underneath each woman’s portrait) but also different color schemes for variation.

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Step it up a notch with 3,000 piece puzzles. There are fewer of these offered because they are more challenging, and the subject tends to be more in favor of high art  instead of cartoons. These would look gorgeous mounted and framed through the process of gluing a puzzle.

Around the World by Ravensburger. 48″ x 32″ when completed.

You’ll never get bored with this one. So many sceneries and places to see all over the world in this one! See the night life come alive of Paris, Monte Carlo, Quebec, and Tokyo… and even spot Puzzle Warehouse’s hometown of St. Louis!

Guernica by Educa. 56.7″ X 26.8″ when completed.

What’s the fun of just buying a print of Picasso’s lovely painting when you can reconstruct it yourself—with the added challenge of only hues of black and white to guide you instead of colors?

Typus Orbis Terrarum by Educa. 47.25″ x 33.5″ when completed.

After spending so much time with this sepia-hued challenge, I doubt you’ll ever forget your geography lessons again!

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4,000 piece puzzles seem to feature even more realistic art, especially with the travel theme in mind. I guess the bigger it is, the more likely you’ll feel inspired to go and see it in the flesh! These beautiful puzzles will definitely enflame your travel itch.

Portofino by Educa. 53.5″ x 37.75″ when completed.

This scene is so beautiful and colorful, for a moment I didn’t realize it was a painting!

Times Square by Buffalo Games. 52″ x 38″ when completed.

This a new puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the largest puzzle we offer of the iconic Times Square scene.

Vernazza by Clementoni. 52.6″ x 38.5″ when completed.

The many different colors of this puzzle will be helpful in the construction, but the sheer size of it will still make things more challenging! Try starting out with the ocean pieces in order to get the bulk of the challenge done first!

Challenge Yourself: Puzzles that Push You

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Do you feel the need to challenge yourself with your puzzling experience? For those experienced puzzlers, it might be time to try something new—something a little different, something that adds an exciting new component to the hobby you already know and love.

There are many ways that jigsaw puzzle designers have come up with to completely alter the puzzling experience. Sometimes they throw in some extra unneeded pieces, sometimes they give you a different image on the box. Whatever it is, it’ll push your brain even more—and we bet the added challenge will give you even more pleasure once. Well, after you get over the feeling that it’s just impossible, at least :)

These challenging puzzles will be spread out throughout posts over the next week as we write about the benefits of pushing yourself. We’ll try to start with the simpler challenges first, just to give you a taste.

American Native Flowers by Scramble Squares. 9 pieces.

9 pieces seems like a breeze, doesn’t it? Nope! In this puzzle, you must align all the squares so that the pictures match up perfectly in every direction—and there are 95,126,814,720 combinations that are possible for you to try with this 3 x 3 puzzle with four different rotations in each square. You’ll be rotating and replacing the images in the square over and over again as it nearly works, but not quite. Good luck!

3D Magna Puzzle – Planets by Ceaco. 16 magnetic pieces.

The illusion of depth and movement is an added challenge in this 16 piece puzzle. It’ll be tough just to decide where to begin! The bonus to this puzzle is that it comes with a magnetic tray, making it very portable. You can work to piece it together from anywhere!

Library by Ceaco. 42 pieces.

Instead of the shaped puzzle pieces you recognize, this image is made up of 42 sticks which you line up and rearrange inside of a wooden tray. An added challenge? It can make up to two images because it’s double-sided. Better choose the right side to lay your stick!

Spiral of Archimedes by Ceaco. 67 uniquely shaped pieces.

This puzzle was randomly designed, so it doesn’t have to make a lot of sense! Try to piece together these 67 pieces, all of which are uniquely shaped, in order to make a puzzle that has no straight edges and no overlapping images—yikes!

African Oasis by TDC Games. 234 pieces.

I hope your eyesight is good because this puzzle is part of the World’s Smallest Puzzle series. With 234 pieces and a finished size of 4″ x 6″ you’ll want to make sure you never misplace the tweezers that come with this miniscule but challenging puzzle!

Sea Otter Family by Cobble Hill. 400 pieces.

This puzzle’s unique quality isn’t intended to challenge you—instead it’s intended to help make the puzzling experience inclusive! There are small, medium, and large shaped pieces in this Family Puzzle series so that everyone feels like they can help, from the littlest ones to the biggest ones. However, the uniqueness of this may challenge you anyways!

Monarch in Flight by Paper House Productions. 500 pieces.

Completing the edges is a whole new experience with shaped puzzles! Additionally, there are some pieces hidden in here with surprise shapes—butterflies and flower shapes included.

What’s More Difficult Than an Impossible Puzzle?

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We got an email from Rob asking for suggestions for a gift from his wife. He recently purchased an Impossibles puzzle from Great American Puzzle Factory, known to be quite the challenge with no edge pieces and also extra pieces inside the box – but that just wasn’t challenging enough! As I was writing a response, I thought it would be nice to share with everyone. Here is my response…
Wow – if those Impossibles puzzles are not a challenge, it sounds like we need to either go big (like a 3000pc or larger) or try some specialty items.
Here are some suggestions:

Krypt Puzzle

This jigsaw puzzle is all the same color, so it’s all about the shape of the pieces to complete. According to some of our reviews, it takes several hours just to get the edge pieces together. Some say 1 piece an hour is a good pace… It also has a really shiny, metallic surface, so it looks really cool when complete.

Alex Beard Puzzles

The challenge in these is only a little higher than the Impossibles, but customers have told us it’s really challenging because of the way the pieces are cut. The thing that’s cool, though, is that it’s not a standard cut – the pieces are all random shapes and loose fitting, so they don’t snap together like a regular jigsaw.

Murder Mystery Puzzles

These have 2 puzzles in the same bag, mixed together. There is also no puzzle image. I’ve had a lot of fun doing these with friends. One puzzle is a “before” and one is an “after” scene from a crime – you have to solve both puzzles to solve the mystery. We normally have more in stock if you check back in a few weeks there will be more theme selections.
If none of those sound appealing, then it might be time to up the challenge simply by upping the size of the puzzle. Here are all of our large puzzles: http://www.puzzlewarehouse.com/puzzles-by-difficulty-worlds-largest/

A Look at Impossible and Extremely Difficult Puzzles

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For the avid puzzlers – we are always looking for a new challenge. For some, increasing the piece count is enough – moving up from standard 1000 piece or 1500 piece puzzles into the giant masterpieces like a 9000 piece Underwater Paradise or even bigger like the world’s largest puzzle at 32,000 pieces. For others, it’s not just about the piece count, but adding some other kind of dimension to the puzzle that makes it more difficult to solve. Today, I’ll take a look at a few specialty puzzles you’ll find at PuzzleWarehouse.com, and why they have the thrill you’re looking for in your next jigsaw.

 

Most difficult jigsaw puzzle with no edge pieces

Raining Cats and Dogs – an Impossibles with extra pieces and no edges.

Impossible Puzzles

University Games has come up with a few unique obstacles that are sure to throw a wrench into your typical idea of puzzling. Their Impossibles series are puzzles with no edge pieces (which means there is no border to help guide you), and also FIVE extra pieces in the box that don’t fit any other piece. And then, if you do manage to solve the puzzle without a flat edge for a clue, there are also hidden images in the completely puzzle to find within. The puzzles are only 750 pieces – but don’t let the size fool you – aside from the extra pieces and no edges, the images are also very repetitive – with similar colors and objects that make assembling the pieces even harder.


Non-Interlocking Puzzles

Scramble Squares - Classic Cars Puzzle Brainteaser

Scramble Squares – Classic Cars.

Don’t the simplicity fool you – just because these puzzles only have 9 pieces does not mean they won’t be a challenge! The object is to arrange the nine squares into a 3×3 square so that the graphics on the edges match perfectly all the way around to form a complete design in every direction. Scramble Squares slogan? “Can you unscramble the squares without scrambling your brain?” They even have an in-store challenge – if you can solve one in under 5 minutes, you get a free puzzle! Not many do!

 

Wasgij Puzzles

WASGIJ? MYSTERY - DRAMA AT THE OPERA

WASGIJ? MYSTERY – DRAMA AT THE OPERA

That’s right – jigsaw spelled backwards, or Wasgij, is a whole new way of puzzling. Created by Jumbo brand puzzles and drawn by artist Graham Thompson, these creative jigsaws are not what you’d expect. The puzzle you put together is not the same as the image you see on the box – in fact, solving the puzzle is part of solving the mystery! To complete the puzzle, you have to imagine what the character on the box image sees, or in come cases, will see! The puzzle art is bright and colorful along with humorous cartoons. Can you imagine yourself as part of the picture and put together what you might be seeing?

 

For even more specialty puzzle types – like ones that glow in the dark or feature hidden images and creative shapes, visit our website. Have you done one of these types of puzzles – tell us what you thought in the comments below.

Happy Puzzling!

Puzzles for Toddlers

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Puzzle Warehouse can make everyone happy, regardless of their age. The impressive collection of puzzles, available both online and offline will keep you satisfied, no matter what your age is and what your preferences are. You can even find puzzles for toddlers and help them develop faster some of the essential motor and visual perception skills, while improving in the meantime their hand-eye coordination. And, what’s even more important, if you choose a jigsaw puzzle in order to reach the goals outlined above, you will contribute yourself to the happiness and development of your cherished little one.

The puzzles for toddlers are, of course, not made of cardboard. Safety’s first and you will only be able to get extra thick wooden puzzles, easy to handle and impossible to swallow. Handmade by Melissa and Doug, these jigsaw puzzles are simple, entertaining and incredibly cute. Their quality is definitely one of their strenghts, but not the only one.

All the pieces have jumbo wooden knobs that make their handling extremely easy, no matter what puzzle you choose. That also makes the assembling easier, and playing with the pieces becomes a lot more fun.

And speaking of fun, wait till you see some of the jigsaw wooden puzzles we have in stock. There’s a fishbowl with three happy residents, smiling at you, but if you don’t like water and would rather travel in a more exotic setting, the Jungle Friends await you as well. A friendly giraffe, an elephant and a lion are praying to be played with.

Oh, and we forgot to mention. Underneath each of the pieces you will find full-color, matching pictures, just in case the toddlers get distracted along the way.