Gone are the days of the big box, local general store puzzle. When you’re killing time at a family gathering or at home by yourself or with a loved one, grab a puzzle that actually means something. A puzzle that’s not decked out with psychedelic cats, landscapes you can’t figure out or places you can’t pronounce. You’ve upgraded everything else in your life, so you should upgrade your puzzles.
Retro Video Game Puzzle
In case Nintendo deciding to re-release smaller, easier to use versions of the NES and SNES weren’t indication enough, retro video games are even cooler than when we were first blowing in cartridges. Turn your love of all things retro and all things video games towards the New York Puzzle Company Retro Video Game Puzzle while you assemble 1,000 pieces of reduced glare, linen finish, Made in the USA nostalgia filled with consoles, cartridges, accessories and cords. Even if you don’t plan on mounting the roughly 27″ x 19.25″ puzzle when you’re done, this retro puzzle is a fantastic way to relive your childhood without worrying about a TV with RCA connections. $19
Bob’s Your Uncle Vinyl Collection Puzzle
Simon and Garfunkel. New Order. Joy Division. 10,000 Maniacs. Sonic Youth. The Clash. Leonard Cohen. Regardless of who your favorite artist is, you’ll probably find them represented in this 550 piece, 18″ x 24″, 100% recycled paper, made in the U.S.A. vinyl album puzzle from Bob’s Your Uncle. This traditional jigsaw puzzle doesn’t feature any fancy pieces, unique configurations or customizable options, but that’s OK because the puzzle focuses on a collection of vinyl record sleeves that any true collector would be proud of. Even if you can’t manage to put together a collection of this scale in vinyl on your own, this puzzle is a great way to explore the world of music in the meantime. $23
Blue Owl Workshop Blue Jean Fade Puzzle
Whether it’s Japanese denim, heavy denim or small denim brands you might have never heard of, everyone loves a quality pair of jeans. For all of you in love with all things denim looking for a great puzzle to complete until you find your next pair to break in there’s the Blue Owl Workshop “Fade Museum” 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Covered in a high-resolution photo of jeans from the Blue Owl Workshop Fade Museum, this jigsaw puzzle expertly blends love of denim with love of gamesmanship. And since quite a few pairs are similar in fade, color and composition, that just adds to the difficulty. $28
L.L.Bean My Hometown Map Puzzle
Leave it to one of our favorite outdoor outfitters—that’s L.L.Bean in case there was any confusion—to take our love for the hometown, any hometown, and distill it down to a traditional 400 piece cardboard puzzle. Using United States Geological Survey (USGS) data, L.L.Bean will make you a custom, 1:20000 scale jigsaw puzzle with your supplied address of choice being the center point (marked with a house-shaped puzzle piece!) for a puzzle map that extends 7.5 miles east to west and 5 miles north to south. Whether you’re looking to relive your glory days or explore your adopted home, this is a great geographical puzzle. $50
Ravensburger 3D The Earth Puzzleball
While we’re generally not fans of three dimensional puzzles because they tend to make sacrifices in the design and construction department, we’ll make an exception for the Ravensburger 3D The Earth Puzzleball. It’s basically a globe you build yourself. In addition to the incredibly satisfying experience of building a puzzle sphere, you’ll brush up on your geography and create a home display piece in the process. At the end of the day, everyone needs at least one globe on display in their place, so it might as well be one that you built yourself. $55
Oskar van Deventer Fractal Jigsaw Puzzle
Despite the fact that other puzzles increase difficulty with confusing graphics and thousands of pieces, Oskar van Deventer’s Fractal Jigsaw Puzzle has a seemingly simple design and only 11 pieces. Yes, you read that correctly; less than a dozen pieces. And yet, this fractal design puzzle is more difficult than puzzles exponentially larger because each piece is an intersecting fractal pattern that’s near impossible to distinguish from the next. Math is once again here to haunt you. $62
Nervous System Infinite Galaxy Puzzle
Bored of finishing your puzzle, basking in the glory and then ultimately disassembling it to put it back in the box? Glutton for punishment? Want a challenge with literally no end? If you answered yes to those questions, the Nervous System Infinite Galaxy Puzzle is for you. This new type of jigsaw puzzle maps topologically to a Klein bottle, “an impossible 3D shape where the inside and outside are mathematically indistinguishable.” What does that mean, really? Even though the puzzle is composed of whimsical space-shaped pieces, you can take the pieces from the right and put them on the left with a quick flip. In other words, you could literally be putting this 139-piece puzzle together for the rest of your life. Let that sink in. $120
Stave Puzzles
There are jigsaw puzzles, and then there are Stave Puzzles. For almost half a century, the team at Stave has been making some of the most sought after puzzles on the market. The Vermont-based company handcrafts each of their “finest wooden jigsaw puzzles” over a period of weeks with a quality, uniqueness, and attention to detail you just don’t find in products these days. Whether you want a famous piece of artwork like Munch’s “Scream,” something more whimsical, or even something three dimensional, Stave will make you a puzzle with customizable special pieces in one of a number of different sizes. They’re not cheap, but they’re absolutely worth it if you’re a puzzle fanatic. $800
