This review is from: Ravensburger World Map, 1665 – 3000 Piece Puzzle (Toy)
Being the first Ravensburger puzzle I have ever owned, it is without a doubt the best quality and the best detailed puzzle I have ever worked with.
The quality of the product is shown throughout, from the sturdy container, practically sediment free packaging, the exact cuttings of the each puzzle piece (not a single one was still attached to another puzzle piece and there were only one or two frayed cut spots in the whole set), and the high quality graphic printing.
The puzzle itself is made difficult primarily by the use of similar colors throughout. The puzzle pieces are otherwise the standard cut type.
The resulting artwork is something that we’ve decided to actually frame and hang in my office, which we have never done over the years (puzzles can be very calming to work on after a long week of long and stressful work hours – especially when working on them with others). The puzzle cuts are so well done that it is not entirely easy for someone to tell that it is a puzzle from general glancing unless they get up close (within 2 feet) and look at the detail.
I will definitely buy more Ravensburger puzzles and hope that they come out with even more puzzles of this type (old world maps) and same quality.
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This review is from: Ravensburger World Map, 1665 – 3000 Piece Puzzle (Toy)
I’ve had this puzzle on my wishlist forever and my husband surprised me with it for Christmas. It is a delightful puzzle and a lot of fun to work on. It took me about 3 weeks to complete and looks fantastic. It is the hardest and largest puzzle I think I’ve ever done, and also the most rewarding since I’ve always wanted an old world map piece of artwork in my home anyway.
The only “downside” was that at 32″ by 48″, I did not have a work surface large enough to accommodate the sheer size of this puzzle! I finally built 80% of it on a large kitchen cart I have and the other 20% on another surface, which added a bit of extra challenge for me. Just be aware before you start this puzzle that it takes up a lot of room, and since it’s 3000 pieces you could wind up with a significant amount of space taken up by your puzzle for several weeks while you work on it. There might be puzzle mats large enough to roll this puzzle up and store it somewhere out there, but definitely check the dimensions.
I’d recommend getting a few bottles of puzzle-saver glue at the same time so you can save and hang this beautiful puzzle once you’re finished… unless you’re brave enough to break it apart and tackle it again (not me!!) I’ve been able to get 2 thin coats on the front and 1 thin coat on the back with 2 2oz bottles of puzzle glue (4 oz total), so plan accordingly.
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This review is from: Ravensburger World Map, 1665 – 3000 Piece Puzzle (Toy)
This is a great puzzle, but not perfect.
First the good: It looks beautiful. Aesthetically it is well placed between smaller, lower piece world map puzzles that aren’t large enough enough to be striking or capture any real artistic detail, and larger world map puzzles which may be excessively large to hang in a study and are more artwork than map (such as the 9,000 piece Ravensburger) which in my opinion take the focus away from where it should be – on the globe. The detail on the pieces is fantastic, as is the coloring where the different shades of color of the oceans are preserved for example.
The pieces are well cut and fit together perfectly. I only had 2 pieces out of the 3000 that had their backing frayed, which is trivial and has no effect on the front of the puzzle. The packaging was virtually sediment free, so there weren’t any particles of cardboard that attached themselves to the pieces and had to be meticulously cleared off, as happens with some puzzles. In terms of quality of the pieces and the artwork, I can’t fault the puzzle. Ravensburger have done an exceptional job.
Finally the puzzle is very fun. It is definitely challenging and time-consuming due to its size and detail, however if you are serious about doing puzzles for a challenge then it is really the perfect practice puzzle for anyone who one day hopes to tackle a large 13,200 piece puzzle. That’s because the puzzle teaches you to split up puzzles into smaller sub-puzzles, for example: into the banner at the top, the “Nova Totivs” writing section below that, then the map itself into art segments and two globe segments, each globe of which can each be further divided into two hemispheres. All those “borders within the puzzle border” allow you do divide the puzzle into mini-puzzles which makes it easier, and there is enough art and detail that you will be able to differentiate most pieces instead of having hundreds that look identical in every way as in some larger puzzles of paintings. The pieces too are a classic shape which is a good place to start, but the puzzle is still very challenging if you underestimate it. It’s very fun and interesting too see the little touches that make the map unique – California is an island for example, as was commonly and incorrectly depicted at the time, there are sea monsters, and in South America you can see explorers meeting the natives and so on.
Overall then I would definitely recommend the puzzle to anyone who wants to do a challenging, but not impossible puzzle that looks fantastic when completed. There is one major problem however: the map itself is not centered well on the puzzle. Put another way, the puzzle is obviously a large rectangle, as is the map printed onto the puzzle. However the map is not properly centered on top of that rectangle – rather it is shifted to the top-left. What this means is that on the left-hand side and the top, the map almost comes to the edge of the cardboard, while on the bottom and the right-hand side there is a fair amount of space between where the map itself begins and the edge of the cardboard which leaves a larger border between the edge and the map.
That isn’t a real problem if you plan to break-up the puzzle and put the pieces back in the box when you complete it, but if you plan on framing it it is a real nuisance – if you do the framing incorrectly the puzzle will be framed centered, but it will look as though it is off-center!
The frame will overhang the edges normally, and with the left-hand side (and top) almost without a border this means that it will overhang the artwork unless you get your framer to do something like put some backing on it, which will allow the frame to sit further out and not cover any art. However on the right-hand side (and bottom) because there is a large border the framer will have to compensate for this and allow the frame to overhang just on those two edges, so the map sits-flush along the edge of the frame! Doing this would mean that the cream-colored border you see in the picture won’t be seen and the puzzle will look centered. However, this will cut off the end text in the large “Nova Totivs” section where the last part “Blaeux” will become “Blaeu” with the “x” mostly cut-off. Basically you have to choose between having the puzzle look off center, or cutting off some of the text, and you may have to pay more to make sure the framing is done correctly, but it can be dealt with if you prepare to compromise (I would suggest covering up the “x” instead of having the puzzle look off-center in the frame).
Other than this I have had no problems with the puzzle, but it is a very real problem if you do plan to get this framed, which you really should since it is such a great-looking puzzle, and as such I cannot give it a 5/5.
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Great Quality and Detail,
The quality of the product is shown throughout, from the sturdy container, practically sediment free packaging, the exact cuttings of the each puzzle piece (not a single one was still attached to another puzzle piece and there were only one or two frayed cut spots in the whole set), and the high quality graphic printing.
The puzzle itself is made difficult primarily by the use of similar colors throughout. The puzzle pieces are otherwise the standard cut type.
The resulting artwork is something that we’ve decided to actually frame and hang in my office, which we have never done over the years (puzzles can be very calming to work on after a long week of long and stressful work hours – especially when working on them with others). The puzzle cuts are so well done that it is not entirely easy for someone to tell that it is a puzzle from general glancing unless they get up close (within 2 feet) and look at the detail.
I will definitely buy more Ravensburger puzzles and hope that they come out with even more puzzles of this type (old world maps) and same quality.
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|Amazing, challenging & huge puzzle,
The only “downside” was that at 32″ by 48″, I did not have a work surface large enough to accommodate the sheer size of this puzzle! I finally built 80% of it on a large kitchen cart I have and the other 20% on another surface, which added a bit of extra challenge for me. Just be aware before you start this puzzle that it takes up a lot of room, and since it’s 3000 pieces you could wind up with a significant amount of space taken up by your puzzle for several weeks while you work on it. There might be puzzle mats large enough to roll this puzzle up and store it somewhere out there, but definitely check the dimensions.
I’d recommend getting a few bottles of puzzle-saver glue at the same time so you can save and hang this beautiful puzzle once you’re finished… unless you’re brave enough to break it apart and tackle it again (not me!!) I’ve been able to get 2 thin coats on the front and 1 thin coat on the back with 2 2oz bottles of puzzle glue (4 oz total), so plan accordingly.
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|Fantastic but flawed puzzle,
First the good: It looks beautiful. Aesthetically it is well placed between smaller, lower piece world map puzzles that aren’t large enough enough to be striking or capture any real artistic detail, and larger world map puzzles which may be excessively large to hang in a study and are more artwork than map (such as the 9,000 piece Ravensburger) which in my opinion take the focus away from where it should be – on the globe. The detail on the pieces is fantastic, as is the coloring where the different shades of color of the oceans are preserved for example.
The pieces are well cut and fit together perfectly. I only had 2 pieces out of the 3000 that had their backing frayed, which is trivial and has no effect on the front of the puzzle. The packaging was virtually sediment free, so there weren’t any particles of cardboard that attached themselves to the pieces and had to be meticulously cleared off, as happens with some puzzles. In terms of quality of the pieces and the artwork, I can’t fault the puzzle. Ravensburger have done an exceptional job.
Finally the puzzle is very fun. It is definitely challenging and time-consuming due to its size and detail, however if you are serious about doing puzzles for a challenge then it is really the perfect practice puzzle for anyone who one day hopes to tackle a large 13,200 piece puzzle. That’s because the puzzle teaches you to split up puzzles into smaller sub-puzzles, for example: into the banner at the top, the “Nova Totivs” writing section below that, then the map itself into art segments and two globe segments, each globe of which can each be further divided into two hemispheres. All those “borders within the puzzle border” allow you do divide the puzzle into mini-puzzles which makes it easier, and there is enough art and detail that you will be able to differentiate most pieces instead of having hundreds that look identical in every way as in some larger puzzles of paintings. The pieces too are a classic shape which is a good place to start, but the puzzle is still very challenging if you underestimate it. It’s very fun and interesting too see the little touches that make the map unique – California is an island for example, as was commonly and incorrectly depicted at the time, there are sea monsters, and in South America you can see explorers meeting the natives and so on.
Overall then I would definitely recommend the puzzle to anyone who wants to do a challenging, but not impossible puzzle that looks fantastic when completed. There is one major problem however: the map itself is not centered well on the puzzle. Put another way, the puzzle is obviously a large rectangle, as is the map printed onto the puzzle. However the map is not properly centered on top of that rectangle – rather it is shifted to the top-left. What this means is that on the left-hand side and the top, the map almost comes to the edge of the cardboard, while on the bottom and the right-hand side there is a fair amount of space between where the map itself begins and the edge of the cardboard which leaves a larger border between the edge and the map.
That isn’t a real problem if you plan to break-up the puzzle and put the pieces back in the box when you complete it, but if you plan on framing it it is a real nuisance – if you do the framing incorrectly the puzzle will be framed centered, but it will look as though it is off-center!
The frame will overhang the edges normally, and with the left-hand side (and top) almost without a border this means that it will overhang the artwork unless you get your framer to do something like put some backing on it, which will allow the frame to sit further out and not cover any art. However on the right-hand side (and bottom) because there is a large border the framer will have to compensate for this and allow the frame to overhang just on those two edges, so the map sits-flush along the edge of the frame! Doing this would mean that the cream-colored border you see in the picture won’t be seen and the puzzle will look centered. However, this will cut off the end text in the large “Nova Totivs” section where the last part “Blaeux” will become “Blaeu” with the “x” mostly cut-off. Basically you have to choose between having the puzzle look off center, or cutting off some of the text, and you may have to pay more to make sure the framing is done correctly, but it can be dealt with if you prepare to compromise (I would suggest covering up the “x” instead of having the puzzle look off-center in the frame).
Other than this I have had no problems with the puzzle, but it is a very real problem if you do plan to get this framed, which you really should since it is such a great-looking puzzle, and as such I cannot give it a 5/5.
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