Ravensburger Tower Bridge 3D Puzzle

More model than puzzle and large
This is the second Ravensburger 3D puzzle I've done and very similar experience to the first. And while these are fun to build and look great when done, the numbering system on the pieces make this much more like a snap-together-to-build model than a challenging 3D puzzle.

If you go into the build with this understanding, here are the pros and cons of this set as I see them:

Pros:
-Another great looking display piece.
-Fun to build
-Pieces interlock very nicely making the piece very sturdy.

Cons:
-Rather simplistic. You really only use the puzzle piece to build two small-ish towers, the tall ones in the photo. The smaller towers are just four interlocking pieces.
-Paper inserts on the drawbridge sections slide out of place when raised.

Debatable:
-Large. The end model is quite large and spans almost my full dining room table at just over 46 inches. That can make finding a suitable display space a...
Fun, Fast & Eye-Catching Puzzle
This is my second Ravensburger 3D puzzle, the first being London's famous Big Ben which is considerably smaller and simpler to assemble than the Tower Bridge puzzle. That said, I'm very happy to say that my wife and I had a great time assembling this puzzle and it's a welcome addition to my basement where it's on display on top of a long bookshelf.

For those new to these types of 3D puzzles, what you're getting in essence is a series of plastic pieces that are numbered on the back and have the image on the front-side. This puzzle contains two bags of pieces that are intermixed and labeled from 1-to-216. Corner pieces in this puzzle bend and contain an interlocking element that snaps the piece in its correct position. The puzzles are built in numerical order and even come labeled with an arrow indicating which direction the following piece should be placed in. The two bridge towers are the only pieces that require actual detailed assembly. The rest of the puzzle including...
Fun for a great puzzler
When you get the box there's lots of little pieces but man does it make a really cool puzzle. It's greatest they stayed together fairly easily No glue required
Click to Editorial Reviews

Ravensburger XXL Children's Globe 180 Piece Puzzleball

"Children's" Globe Puzzle Is Easy or Challenging, Depending on How You Approach It

too easy-anticipated more brain power to put together
This is a great toy once put together and it's really cool/unique that all the puzzle pieces curve together. I guess, the drawback is that you put it together by following the numbers on the back of each puzzle piece and the arrows. So, essentially if you can count and have the time and are willing to spend it tediously snapping piece after piece together than this is for you. I guess it can be split up between 2 kids to do together or a parent/child which would be a nice way to hang out and achieve something at the end. I just thought it would take more brain power than having to organize all the pieces by number. There are a LOT of pieces, so it would take FOREVER if they weren't numbered so I'm not offering an alternative method--just if you're thinking it's like other puzzles where you are trying to match the pieces to a photo--it's not. BUT they pieces are sturdy and the fact that they aren't flat but curve around to make the globe IS pretty cool. I would say age range is def...
frustrating assembly. falls apart.
Having put together two other Ravensburger Puzzle Balls (Times Square 270 Piece Puzzle Ball and Underwater World 40 Piece Puzzle Ball) with my 4.5 year old son, I thought this 180 piece Puzzle Ball would be a quick and easy build. Unfortunately, it was not so.

My son and I started assembling the puzzle ball using the same method we used to assemble two previous puzzle balls - I was sorting pieces and he was putting the puzzle together. However, the puzzle kept falling apart and we had to switch. My son sorted and laid out all pieces in front of me well ahead of me getting to them. The area that includes pieces 69 through 75 was especially frutrating as those pieces just would not stay together.

While some pieces won't stay together, others were difficult to attach. During the build, the ball would fall apart at a lightest application of force when attaching stubborn pieces. I spent well in excess of 15 minutes attaching the last piece. As I was applying...
Click to Editorial Reviews

Ravensburger The Earth - 540 Piece Puzzleball

great puzzle
I'm not a big fan of jigsaw puzzles (sure, they are fun, but I can think of more fun things to do with my time), but when I saw this thing in its assembled form at barnes and noble, something about it made me do a double take. It just looked so cool and unusual -- a professional-looking globe made out of jigsaw pieces with no internal support! How can it be so smooth? How can it stay solid? I hadn't even noticed that it wasn't a solid globe at first, when casually catching it out of the corner of my eye a few times as I was browsing the book stalls. It seemed like a lot of fun to make something like this, as was the prospect of testing my geography. My wife didn't see it as all *that* cool, but we still had a blast assembling this thing, though she only did the US, canada, and antarctica and only had patience for 30-60 minutes at a time. Trying to figure out which part of the world a given piece belonged to based only on parts of city names was a lot of fun. Watching it grow was...
Excellent product!!
My 9-year old daughter and I have had a wonderful experience with this puzzle. She started out using the numbers on the back of the pieces, but I convinced her to use her regular puzzle skills to assemble the globe. We've both learned a thing or two about geography! I chose the Ravensburger brand because of its quality and durability; I wasn't disappointed. I definitely recommend this product to others.
Great puzzle; several flaws
This was an extremely fun puzzle. I stayed up late at night working on it. If you don't "cheat" by using the numbers on the backs of the pieces, it is an excellent way to learn and review geography. The pieces have a great, smooth feel to them. They feel solid and seem to be waterproof (plastic or plastic-coated). My wife and I had a great deal of fun with the puzzle and would recommend it for most ages down to about age 8, depending on a child's interest in learning and an adult's ability to teach and to interest children in learning. It might be a bit tedious for kids too young or too impatient.

The puzzle is fairly solid and rigid when completed (thanks, probably, to my use of tape on the inside). It spins well in the metal stand. I disagree with the reviewers who faulted the stand--it was easy to use and did not require distorting the puzzle. I also disagree with those who wrote that it cannot be constructed in sections. That's exactly how I did it...
Click to Editorial Reviews

Ravensburger Labyrinth

Fabulous
This is a fabulous game! First of all, the game mechanic is so simple, anyone can learn how to play it in less than a minute. So whenever I have friends who aren't into boardgaming over at my house, I pull this one out.

At the beginning of the game, you deal out treasure cards. The aim of the players is to reach the tile on which the treasure is printed. You do this by pushing tiles. As the players push the tiles the layout of the labyrinth changes. You can play this game with two to four players. With two players, it's more strategic since you have to worry about getting your treasures and preventing the other player from getting his. With larger number of players, the game becomes more chaotic and exciting because the labyrinth will be completely different by the time you get your turn again.

Basically, you should get this game. The simple gameplay combined with a high level of replayability makes this a must-have boardgame.
Good game
We love this game. It makes you think, so it keeps us all interested. This is one of the few games that we all enjoy playing together because it is challenging enough for our overachieving 8-year old, and also interesting for our 6-year old. It is difficult to find games that do all that these days, because the 6-year old is refusing to learn how to read well enough to be able to enjoy "older kid" games, and we have all become bored with the "little kid" games. This game requires no reading, which (obviously) is a plus for us right now.
'Mazing
This strategy game is one of the best birthday presents my children ever got. You can play once or several times, and never grow tired of the game, as each set of mazes is different than the last.

Playing is a fabulous way to spend an afternoon or evening with your children. The game requires non-verbal skill and logic, but is fun as heck. Very often, the children do better than the grown-ups.

Highly recommended.
Click to Editorial Reviews

Ravensburger Enchanted Forest - Family Game

Enchanting memory and strategy game
My daughter has loved this game since she was six years old. The craftsmanship of the game itself is beautiful. The game-pieces and the little trees are wooden, and the illustrations are of the old-fashioned fairytale variety, very intricate and colourful. The cards are good,thick cardboard and will stand up to years of use. It looks like a very old game that one would find in an attic trunk. Winning depends on such a variety of strategy, memory, and just plain luck that a combination of ages can play concurrently and feel equally challenged. I recommend The Enchanged Forest highly. It is a feast of colours, a delight to behold and touch, and it provides good mental exercise.What more could you ask?
A Customer
I am a child psychologist, and this game has been a fixture in my office for 15 years. It promotes concentration and working memory, imagination, and a fun competitiveness devoid of aggression. What I find helpful is that the rules of the game are easily adapted to suit different age groups. An outstanding game.
A flexible, imaginative, and beautifully made game.
The Enchanted Forest was my favorite game as a child, and I can still vividly remember it as an adult. The illustrations and board design have an old-world, "once-upon-a-time" feeling, and the wooden playing pieces enhance the fairy tale image. I thought that I would never again see this unique game, and I am thrilled that it is still available. Buy this game and you, too, will be enchanted!
Click to Editorial Reviews