Pick a 1000-piece Ravensburger, and choose the picture before anything else. The finished puzzle measures 70 x 50cm, so you'll be staring at that picture across a lot of table.
The page says Ravensburger's 1000-piece puzzles are for ages 12 and up, so you've been qualified since roughly Year 8. It also says Ravensburger has sold over 1 billion puzzles, so you're in large company. They're made of extra-thick cardboard with linen-structured paper, and the picture is glare-free, which helps when the only lamp in the room is directly over the table.
Which picture will you still like on night three?
These two 1000-piece puzzles have the same cardboard, the same 70 x 50cm finish and the same price, so the picture is the only thing you're really deciding. The box is settled. All that's left is the scene.
Shrek 1000pc is £14.39. The page promises fairy-tale chaos with familiar faces, and plenty of small jokes in the detail. That's useful in a big puzzle, because when one corner refuses to cooperate there's always another with something to find.
The Nightmare Before Christmas 1000pc goes the other way, at £14.39. It's bold, gothic, card-style artwork with Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie and The Mayor. So you're choosing between hunting through detail and building four named characters, and only you know which of those sounds like a good evening.
My rule is to pick the scene you'd be happy to see half-finished on the table for a week. If you'd be embarrassed when someone calls round, pick again. And if you honestly can't choose between the two, ask which one you'd rather lose a Sunday to.
Where do the 3D boxes and the 99-piece droid fit?
They're a different job, not a smaller version of the same one. A 3D puzzle ends up as an object instead of a picture, and these use plastic pieces that slot together with no glue. Pick a storage box if you'd rather finish with something to keep things in than something to frame.
The Pokemon Storage Box 3D Puzzle 216pc is £17.99. It's 216 plastic pieces plus 7 accessories, and it builds into a chest you can keep things in afterwards, which the page sells as decoration and storage in one. The Minecraft Storage Box 3D Puzzle 216pc is £17.99 as well and finishes at 23 x 15 x 13cm. Both are for ages 8 and over, and the Minecraft page says you can build by eye or follow the numbers on the reverse side.
The Star Wars BB8 99pc is £16.19: a replica of the rolling astromech droid, built the same no-glue way. That's about a tenth of the pieces of a 1000-piece puzzle, and it costs more than Shrek. Piece count and price are not on speaking terms.
Clear 70 x 50cm of table before a 1000-piece box arrives, plus a bit extra for the pieces that haven't joined in yet. Edges first is the oldest advice there is, and it's still good.
Prices read on Wednesday 11 November 2026.