A 14 year old who gets an Alpine landscape puzzle says a polite thank you and puts the box in the cupboard. The same teenager, given the HUNTR/X in 1000 pieces, may spend the whole weekend at the living room table. Before you buy a jigsaw puzzle for teenagers, start there: what are they watching, listening to or reading right now?
500 or 1000 pieces between 12 and 17
Brands rate 500 piece puzzles from age 10 and 1000 piece puzzles from 12 or 14, depending on the range. In practice, the better question is a different one: have they ever done a big puzzle? If not, a 500 is finished in one long afternoon and leaves them wanting another. A 1000 takes several evenings and a free 70 x 50 cm table for several days, which a teenager's bedroom does not always have.
If the table is the problem, there is Clementoni's roll-up mat, which we come back to at the end.
KPop Demon Hunters, the film everyone is talking about
The Netflix animated film has fans who have never touched a puzzle, which makes it a good way in. Clementoni has released several, and each shows something different, which makes it easier to choose by the taste of whoever is getting it.
For HUNTR/X fans: HUNTR/X in Concert has Rumi in the middle with her sword raised, Mira and Zoey beside her, the giant stage screen, the Seoul skyline and the crowd of demons around the edges. It is the most detailed. Golden shows the three in the white and gold outfits from the song, and HUNTR/X Collage is portrait format, 50 x 70 cm, with close-ups of the singers' eyes. All three have 1000 pieces and come with a poster of the image, which helps a lot.
For those rooting for the rivals, the Saja Boys 500 piece has Jinu in the centre making a finger heart, the other four around him, with their autographs. There is also the HUNTR/X 500 piece, with the trio in front of Seoul at night. The 500 piece ones finish at 36 x 49 cm.
A practical tip: if there are two siblings, one into HUNTR/X and one into the Saja Boys, buy one of each. It saves arguments, and two 500 piece boxes can be done side by side on the same table. The whole range is in KPop Demon Hunters puzzles.
Stranger Things: two very different puzzles
Choose carefully here, because Clementoni's two puzzles from the series are nothing alike.
The Stranger Things Panorama has 1000 pieces at 98 x 33 cm, with the characters and the feel of Hawkins. This is the one that looks good on a bedroom wall once glued.
The 69 x 50 cm Stranger Things belongs to the Impossible range: a composition of badges and pins referencing the series, layered on top of each other. It is lovely, and it is genuinely hard. For a teenager who has done a few puzzles and wants to prove something, this is it. For a first puzzle, no. Both are in Stranger Things puzzles.
Other fandoms that work
- Anime. Educa's Dragon Ball, 500 pieces and 48 x 34 cm, with Goku and friends. For fans of the classics, Clementoni's Lupin III in 1000 pieces.
- Kawaii. The Hello Kitty 500 piece to start with, and Educa's Sushi Kawaii, a sushi bar with dozens of dishes drawn with smiley faces, where each dish is a small island that closes up on its own.
- Marvel. Between 12 and 14, superheroes still work; the 1000 piece Venom goes down best with those who feel too old for Spider-Man. The rest are in Marvel puzzles.
- For teens with no fandom at all, Las Vegas Neon Fluo: the colours glow in the dark after being exposed to light, and that is usually enough.
When the teenager says they do not like puzzles
Plenty do. It usually means the last puzzle they did was at eight, on a theme that no longer means anything to them. Two things help.
The first is not insisting the puzzle stays on the living room table, in full view, with the whole family offering advice. Clementoni's puzzle mat, 105 x 78 cm, lets them roll the puzzle up halfway and take it to their room.
The second is leaving the music or the series on. That is how many of them do puzzles, headphones on and no chat. If it is the first in years, start with a 500 piece, like Saja Boys or Dragon Ball: it is done in a weekend and does not take over the table for months. We ship from Portugal: up to 3 working days within Portugal after dispatch, about 7 days to the rest of Europe (from 9.90 €, free from 200 €).
