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Remember rolling your eyes when your parents suggested pulling out a jigsaw puzzle or reading a book on a rainy Saturday afternoon? It’s funny how the hobbies we often thought were boring as kids are what we lean on now when we need an hour (or several) to unwind. Plus, it can be nice to focus on something other than the pile of laundry that’s ready to be folded or the stressful news cycle.
At SELF, we’re on board for anything that involves taking time for yourself—and working on puzzles just so happens to be one way many of us practice chilling out. Ready to dive in? We’ve rounded up the best options out there, including intricate designs, a 3D option, and even a tiny puzzle for on-the-go play.
- Best Overall: New York Puzzle Company Jim Golden Camping Equipment
- Best Budget: Magic Puzzle Company The Sunny City
- Best Splurge: Piecework Field Day
- Best Wooden Puzzle: Wentworth Gardening Whimsies
- Best 3D Puzzle: Ravensburger The Earth 3D Puzzle
- Best Gradient Puzzle: Areaware Gradient Puzzle
- Best Random Cut Puzzle: Le Puzz Oops!
- Best Double-Sided Puzzle: Galison Gray Malin 2-Sided Jigsaw Puzzle
- Best Mini Puzzle: Galison Andy Warhol Mini Shaped Puzzle Campbell's Soup
- Best Puzzle Subscription: Jiggy Puzzle Club
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This 500-piece puzzle is a great place to start if you’re looking for something that’s challenging but won’t make you want to pull your hair out. It has random-cut pieces, meaning no two are exactly the same, and there are a lot of similar colors in it (like bright reds and oranges) that’ll keep you guessing. But at the same time, none of the items in the photo overlap or repeat, so you know exactly where each belongs in the bigger picture.
SELF’s editor in chief highly recommends scooping this one up: “I love Jim Golden photography for puzzles, and this one is great. It’s perfect for a family trip or a long weekend upstate,” she says.
- Pieces: 500
- Dimensions: 24 x 18 inches
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Magic Puzzle Company’s designs look like they’re straight out of a video game set in little utopias—all of them feature original illustrations from various artists. The brand’s 1,000-piece puzzles each have at least 50 easter eggs for you to find in them as you make progress. And another bonus: “Once you finish, there’s an added element where you can rearrange the whole image and get an extra set of pieces to build out a surprise ending, which is very cute,” one SELF editor says. This one almost has a retro look to it with warm colors and comes with two posters of the complete image, so you and your puzzle partner can each have a copy to scan as you work on your masterpiece.
- Pieces: 1,000
- Dimensions: 28 x 21 inches
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Something about this puzzle’s art gives us a dopamine rush. Maybe it’s the “bright, poppy colors,” as one SELF editor says, or the memories of playing summertime sports it brings up. Either way, it’s a great one to pull out when you’re missing warmer weather.
Field Day is 1,000 pieces and features a lot of similar colors and textures, mainly because there are multiples of objects (like golf balls and birdies). Still, “it’s challenging without being HARD,” one SELF editor says. As a fun companion to your cozy activity, Piecework curates playlists for each puzzle, and this one is repping some soft dad rock.
- Pieces: 1,000
- Dimensions: 19.25 x 26.6 inches
A wooden puzzle like this one is more durable than cardboard styles, and it has thicker pieces that feel extra satisfying as you’re fitting them together. Wentworth offers a ton of different art styles and difficulty levels, and this particular picture of the Amalfi Coast gives you three different sizes to choose from, based on your skill level. The pieces are random-cut and create an abstract pattern, rather than columns and rows like a typical puzzle. Among those pieces are unique shapes that go with the theme, like a bathing suit, to add another fun element.
- Pieces: 250, 500, or 1,000
- Dimensions: 20 x 14.1 inches to 31.9 x 22.4 inches
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Looking to kick things up a notch? Take a whack at this 3-dimensional globe puzzle. It’s made up of 540 plastic pieces, with some that are hinged together and others that are curved to create the perfect sphere. The back of each piece has a number on it and an arrow that points to where the next number fits, in case you don’t trust your seventh-grade geography skills.
The finished globe sits on a metal stand, which comes in handy while you’re building the puzzle—and if you want to display it later, Amazon reviewers say it’s sturdy. (Oh, and you can actually spin it too.) Ravensburger also makes dozens of other 3D puzzles, including national landmarks and sports cars.
- Pieces: 540
- Dimensions: 10.8 inches
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We won’t sugarcoat it: This puzzle is hard and definitely requires a keen eye. But diving into something detail-oriented gives you the chance to take your mind off of whatever might be stressing you out. Areaware’s Gradient Puzzle comes in a few different color combinations, like this hot pink that fades into a sunny yellow. The challenge is noticing the (very slight) color variations and figuring out where the pieces go when some of them are the exact same shade.
- Pieces: 1,000
- Dimensions: 20 x 28 inches
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Le Puzz nails wacky, vivid puzzles, and this chaotic food scene is no exception. It’s made up of 500 random-cut pieces that reviewers say are extra thick, which means they make that satisfying click sound when they fit together. A nice little detail: The puzzle comes in a resealable bag, so you won’t accidentally wing pieces around the next time you open the box.
- Pieces: 500
- Dimensions: 25 x 18 inches
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Picking up this two-in-one puzzle is a quick way to grow your collection. Both sides are aerial scenes shot from a helicopter by photographer Gray Malin: One side depicts sunbathers lying on a beach, and the other shows swimmers floating in turquoise water. (Serious vacation inspo.) With a lot of beige pieces for the sand and blue ones for the water, this puzzle will definitely take you some time, but it’s still a manageable 500 pieces.
- Pieces: 500
- Dimensions: 24 x 18 inches
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This tiny puzzle is screaming modern art-museum souvenir. Its 100 pieces combine to recreate Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup painting in brighter colors. It measures 4.75 by 8.28 inches when completed, so it’ll fit on small surfaces, like an airplane tray table. Depending on your puzzling skills, you could even throw it together during a lunch break at work.
- Pieces: 100
- Dimensions: 4.75 x 8.25 inches
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If you devour puzzles like it’s your job, signing up for a subscription to get a new one every month could be the way to go. Jiggy sends bright, 500-piece options right to your door—each kit comes with a drawstring bag for storage and glue, in case you want to show off your work of art on your walls later. The membership costs $34 per month (or less, if you pay for 6 or 12 months in advance), and a portion of every sale goes directly to the female artists behind each puzzle’s illustration.
- Pieces: 500
- Dimensions: Varies month to month
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