Ravensburger - The Fantastic Street 5000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

A crooked street of tall houses where the left half is night and the right half is day, at 5000 pieces and a metre and a half wide. This is the largest puzzle we stock, and it needs planning before it needs skill.

What you are looking at

An illustration by Zoe Sadler. A row of narrow, leaning houses, half-timbered and gabled, painted in slate blue, sage, plum and cream, packed shoulder to shoulder with no gaps. Every window is lit differently. Shop signs read Old Curiosity Shop and Ye Olde something you have to lean in to read.

Over on the left it is night: a full moon, a star field, a bare tree in silhouette. Moving right, the sky lightens through dawn into a blue day with white cloud. In between, the air is full of things: hot air balloons, ravens, gulls, a swan, and a blue dragon sitting on one of the roofs. Down at street level, a white unicorn, pumpkins on the cobbles, a black cat, a dog, a red post box, a penny-farthing leaning on a wall, a market stall under a striped awning.

What it is like to build

Deal with the logistics first, because they decide whether this is enjoyable. Finished it is 153 x 101 cm. That does not fit on most dining tables and it certainly does not come off one between sittings. You want a dedicated surface, a board, or the floor of a room you can close. Sorting 5000 pieces also needs somewhere to put twenty or thirty piles.

Then use the sky, because the artist has given you a gradient to sort against. Night on the left, day on the right, and everything between. A sky piece can be placed to within a third of the picture on colour alone, which is a genuine gift at this size and not something most large puzzles offer.

Below the roofline, sort by building. Each house is a distinct colour with its own window shape and its own roof material, so the street divides into fifteen or so mini puzzles. Take the signs and the lit windows first. Do the cobbled street last, it is the one large low-information region.

Why Ravensburger for a 5000

Made in Germany since 1891. At this size the cut is doing structural work: no two pieces share a shape and this title uses Softclick, so the assembled sections hold together well enough to be slid and repositioned, which you will need to do. Thick board with a linen finish, and 5040 pieces in the box rather than a round 5000.

Specifications

A little context

Very large puzzles are a small and serious corner of the category, and the honest advice is that the piece count matters less than the subject. A 5000 piece photograph of a coastline is a punishing thing. A 5000 piece illustration with a colour gradient and fifteen separable buildings is a long, structured project you can pick up and put down for a month. This is firmly the second kind, which is why it is the one we chose to carry at this size.

If 5000 is a step too far, the sensible rung below it is a 2000: New York Skyline at 98 x 75 cm is under half the area and still a serious build.

Stock is real and it is in Sydney. Free shipping Australia wide over $150, and free same-day delivery inside 6 km of North Bondi with no minimum.

Built it already? Use the Questions section below and tell us how you found it. Which part fought you, how long it took, and whether you would send someone else to it. We answer every one.