Ravensburger

Ravensburger is the benchmark the rest of the category gets measured against, and it is the largest brand we stock. If you have only ever bought supermarket puzzles, the difference is not the picture. It is the cut.

From Australia's Puzzle Institute: The Complete Guide to Ravensburger Puzzles →

Why Ravensburger costs more, and where the money goes

Every Ravensburger is cut with steel dies made at the factory in Ravensburg, Germany, and those dies are retired far earlier than the price would suggest. A worn die produces furred, fibrous edges and pieces that almost fit. A fresh one produces the clean snap you can hear. That is most of the difference.

The second part is Softclick. A placed piece stays placed. You can lift a finished section by one corner and it comes up as a single sheet, which is what makes it possible to build on a board and put the whole thing away between sessions. It also kills false joins, where two pieces sort of go together and send you down an hour of wrong work.

The third is the board itself. Ravensburger use a linen-structured finish that kills glare under an overhead light, which matters more than people expect once you are three hours in.

The series Australians actually collect

My Haven puts you inside a place: a potting shed, a bookshop, a cottage kitchen, every surface loaded with detail. It is the most requested range we carry.

Colin Thompson is surreal, dense and very funny once you look closely. The Bizarre Bookshop titles are the entry point.

Aimee Stewart is warmer and more layered, heavy on libraries, shelves and collected objects.

Then the numbered sets, which are the ones that turn into a habit: Nature Edition, Power of Nature, Leisure Days, Lost Places and Circle of Colours. Buyers tend to start with one and come back for the number they are missing.

Australian titles sell strongly too, with Ayers Rock and the Sydney panoramas the consistent movers.

Which size should you buy

• 500 pieces is a weekend, fits a card table, and has physically larger pieces. The right call for coming back to puzzling, for limited table space, or where eyesight or dexterity is a factor.
• 1000 pieces is the size most Australians buy. Roughly 70 x 50cm finished, a few evenings of work, and where the widest choice of titles sits.
• 2000 pieces and above is a month-long project. A 2000 finishes near 98 x 75cm and a 3000 near 121 x 80cm. Measure the table first.

We also stock 1500 and 5000 piece titles. The full range across every brand is at 1000 Pieces, 500 Pieces and 2000+ Pieces, or browse the whole adult range at Jigsaw Puzzles for Adults.

Read before you buy

If you are deciding between brands, Ravensburger vs Clementoni is the honest comparison, and it does not conclude that the expensive one always wins. For the four things that separate a good puzzle from a cheap one, read The Best Jigsaw Puzzles in Australia.

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