8-bit pixel jigsaw puzzles from bopster

Why a pixel map is harder than it looks

A photographic jigsaw gives you shading to sort by. A pixel map gives you blocks of flat color and nothing else, so the sorting happens by edge shape and by the little landmarks our illustrator hid in the grid. The first hour is slow. The second hour is the one people stay up for.

Each pixel puzzle is printed on three layered sheets of recycled board with a matte face, so the tabletop light does not bounce back at you at nine in the evening. A fold out key comes in the box for the fifty famous people on the world map, which turns the last stretch into a treasure hunt rather than a slog.

Two sizes run through the range. The 180 piece version finishes on a kitchen table in an afternoon and suits a child who wants to see the whole picture before bedtime. The 1000 piece version takes over the table by the window for a week and earns a frame afterwards.