9 best jigsaw puzzles for adults that provide hours of infuriatingly good fun

Best: Overall

Rating: 10/10

Sounding the death knell for boring jigsaws everywhere, this thoroughly modern example brings puzzles into the 21st century. It comes from Big Potato Games, who were formed by three friends in London in 2013 and have since sold over 10 million games in 28 markets.

Entirely plastic free and with smooth, tactile pieces that fit together like a dream, it features a clear, humorous drawing of a festival main stage crammed with people. Lots of quirky details make it really fun to put together and not so taxing you’ll be in tears within an hour. But that’s only the start.

Once it’s all in place – though we couldn’t help ourselves as we went along either – you can then solve all 101 music-based riddles within the picture. Every clue reveals the name of a superstar band or artist that really would make this the festival of a lifetime. There’s a checklist inside the box to tick off each one and we reckon it would be even better competing against friends to see who worked out the most names first. A fantastic buy, even if you think you hate jigsaws.

Best: For Disney devotees

Rating: 8/10

When only Disney will do, this gorgeous jigsaw will get you all warm and fuzzy inside. It features a beautiful collage of some of Disney’s best-loved characters including the Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Cinderella and is painted by acclaimed artist Thomas Kinkade, nicknamed The Painter of The Light.

Luckily, the quality matches the artwork as the jigsaw is made of extra thick 2.25mm thick cardboard pieces that fit together snugly and don’t spring apart if the table’s jolted. It even has a special matte varnish to ensure there are no annoying reflections on the final image so you can look smugly on your masterpiece without a glare.

Though there’s a whopping 2000 pieces (clear the diary), there is so much detail crammed into this puzzle that it’s fairly straightforward to do, so you’ll always feel like you’re making progress. We guarantee you’ll have the urge to binge on Disney films when you’re done.

Best: For movie buffs

Rating: 8/10

Hate spending hours getting nowhere with a jigsaw? This stylish 1000-piece puzzle is one of the easiest we tackled so we made progress quickly and kept coming back for more. It features 25 classic James Bond movie posters – one for every appearance of the suave spy – including Die Another Day, Skyfall and You Only Love Twice. There’s so much variety between them all, it’s simple to tackle one at a time rather than trying to work out the entire picture in one swoop, which makes this jigsaw a great option for family and friends to join in with. You could even put a Bond film on in the background, whip up some Martinis and make an evening of it.

Best: For a nostalgia fix

Rating: 7/10

This would make a great present for anyone old enough to remember the delights of a 1980’s sweet shop. Featuring 1,000 pieces made with 100 per cent recycled board, it features all sorts of retro Eighties brands so you can relive your childhood and reminisce about how Opal Fruits were far superior to Starburst. You can also spot the fact a Crunchie used to be a bargain 15p while a Milky Way – the sweet Eighties ad fans will know is the one you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite – was just 8p.

Though our attention did wane a little towards the end of this jigsaw, it was fairly quick to put together, making this puzzle perfect for weekend de-stressing.

Best: Jigsaw with a twist

Rating: 9/10

If you’re a dab-hand at jigsaws but feel like you’ve seen them all before, this is the puzzle for you. There’s no poring over the picture on the front of the box for a start. Instead, you first need to read the enclosed book about Detective Hercule Poirot’s voyage to Istanbul and the suspicious death of a fellow passenger on the way. Only then can you start to put together the 1,000-piece puzzle to uncover hidden clues.

Figure out the evidence concealed within the corridors and cabins of the Orient Express to reveal the murderer and solve the crime. But be warned, the picture on the completed puzzle is not the one on the box so you’ll need all your initiative to get to the end.

We can’t lie, we were absolutely baffled when we first started this one and came very close to giving up, but stuck with it and felt ridiculously chuffed with ourselves when we finished. A very clever alternative to a bog-standard jigsaw.

Best: To make you weep with frustration

Rating: 7/10

We nearly tore our hair out attempting to complete this absolutely impossible jigsaw. Though there’s just 513 thick pieces, even the box claims it will feel more like 4,000 and it certainly brought us close to tears (and, okay, a few choice swear words). The entire puzzle is packed with hundreds of pictures of black and white dalmatians without anything to tell one apart from the other. Think that sounds nightmarish enough? The exact same picture is also printed on both sides to really drive you to distraction. Expert jigsaw builders would relish the challenge but it definitely got the better of us and – major fail – we had to give up before finishing. Truly impossible.

Best: Quirky jigsaw

Rating: 8/10

Described as a “kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette”, the Exploding Kittens card game has become a huge worldwide hit since it launched in 2015. The company behind it is now the most backed project in Kickstarter history and has sold over 11-million games including Throw Throw Burrito. It’s also launched a range of jigsaws featuring its distinctive feline characters and this one shows the cats playing in a chess tournament because, why not?

There’s 1,000 pieces to puzzle over and all are made of 100 per cent recycled materials printed with vegetable or soy-based ink. They snap satisfyingly together so there’s no doubt whether you’ve chosen the right piece, and there’s a helpful full colour reference sheet included to make the whole thing easier. And when you’re finished, there are 13 hidden Exploding Kittens characters to find too. You can’t help but be charmed.

Best: British brand

Rating: 8/10

We love the small Brit brand Jigsaw Avenue, whose founder spent weekends puzzling but found she couldn’t find jigsaws with attractive, contemporary designs. She went on to create designs that are more akin to a piece of modern art than a traditional jigsaw and teamed up with a local UK manufacturer to put her ideas into practice, and make each finished product as sustainable as possible.

This jigsaw is made of recycled cardboard pieces with no plastic and a matt finish to ensure they have no glare. It’s not easy to complete, but worth the effort with vivid colours and a soothing, yet tongue-in-cheek pattern that requires full concentration to make sense of it all. And if you really love the finished product? There’s a full-size poster included to put on your wall afterwards.

Best: For attention to detail

Rating: 8/10

This 1,000-piece puzzle is packed with so much intricate detail – we gave ourselves a sore back craning over it to see every millimetre. Though we’re no superhero fan, its mix of Marvel Avengers characters makes for a brightly coloured and fiendishly complicated jigsaw that needs close studying to know exactly what goes where. Despite its difficulty, it’s still possible to make progress once you find each new character so it’s not entirely disheartening. The quality’s good too, with precise cut-outs that fit smoothly together and decent printing to make the colours really pop. But be warned: it’s definitely trickier than it looks.