World Globe

It's always great to discover a child's toy that's fun, educational and lasts more than five minutes, and this Puzzleball certainly fits that description. It's a plastic 540 piece puzzle that once made becomes a nice decorative item; Ravensburger now include a metal stand in the box (as well as the plastic one you may see on other versions of this puzzle) that transforms the puzzle into a fully rotating 22cm diameter traditional globe. My eight year old was lucky enough to be bought one of these for her birthday, and so impressed was I by this toy that I have since bought one for a gift. In the box you get the 540 puzzle pieces, 2 stands and also simple and clear instructions. There is also a 2-D picture of the globe and a template should you need to refer to them for assembling the puzzle the traditional way - ie looking at the pieces and trying to work out where they go. The puzzle can also be assembled by a somewhat easier method, which I have to own up to being the one we have always used with puzzle balls; prior to owning this we have worked our way up through 60 and 240 piece puzzles. To make things easier Ravensburg have printed numbers on the back of each piece of puzzle. By finding the numbered pieces in order and following the little arrows that show you which direction to go for the next piece you can make the puzzle with relative ease. Even by following this method it still takes quite a long time to construct the puzzle ball - the two poles, ie the very last row are already assembled. The only difficulty we really had making this was inserting the North Pole which was tricky, though not impossible. Making the puzzle is quite an education in itself, there is quite a lot of detail on the printed map, as adult I'm always surprised by how much the world has changed, and I enjoyed finding the places I had been as I built this with my daughter. I don't think I had quite realised how far this country is in the Northern hemisphere before having to wait to fit in the UK at number 501 and 502 respectively, and having the globe in front of you is a very powerful visual reminder of how vast the oceans are and how small our country really is. Everything on the globe is clear and the colours are bright and well printed. The Globe once assembled has quite a glossy finish and spins well when on the metal stand for easy reference. The puzzle pieces have a triangular pattern that make up bit pentagons - I assume it must be computer designed but it's really a thing of beauty. The only criticism I would make of this puzzle, (apart from the fact that it's far too tempting to "cheat" when you are making it) is that the transfer on one or two of the pieces is a bit off kilter on the ends of a couple of the pieces, but this isn't really noticeable once it is assembled. Once built the puzzle ball can, in theory, be disassembled and made again; personally I would be a bit loathe to do this as firstly it's not terribly easy to take the pieces apart and also I don't really enjoy making the same puzzle twice. This one probably took us 2-3 hours to make by the time we had sorted out all the mixed up pieces. We really like the finished globe which is sturdy and well made with a surprisingly smooth surface, though you can see the joins. Most importantly we really enjoyed making it so much so that like I said at the start I have bought one for a gift. Should you be interested in buying this then I would say it's suitable for a child to do with help from age 7 or so, but the manufacturer's recommended age of 12 is probably accurate. They also make a children's version of this with less pieces (180) XXL Children's Globe 180 PC Children's Puzzleball with Rotation Stand , as well as a metallic and historical versions of this one. I highly recommend this item and it was, I think, a great buy.

Great 3D jigsaw. Excellent quality, the pieces fit together easily and very good educational value.

Great puzzle! My 9 year old is really enjoying doing this one. Pieces are numbered which helps enormously but it is still challenging to fit everything together. Good detail in the countries too so is educational at the same time.

This is a great product. A 3D puzzle is quite an exciting prospect to solve. And given it has about 500 pieces, it gets the kids hooked up for a while. And once all assembled, it looks fab! Highly recommended and an excellent gift idea for any occasion!

I sat up all night putting this together because once i started i couldn't stop lol i was worried it would be difficult but it was actually pretty easy. Just make sure to lay out your final 20 pieces in order so you know where you're up to as you won't be able to see the numbers as you reach the top and you will probably forget what number you're up to, especially if you have ADHD like me 🤣 it's a nice piece but its a small shame some of the writing is too small and blurry to read, you can read what country it is but not the cities. I suppose it's just one to add to the collection and not to use as a world map so i don't mind.

We just finished it looks great well-made and well worth the money good hobby and kept the husband quiet, Bonus

Lots of the reviewers on here are saying how brilliant this puzzle is and I absolutely agree. It's hours of fun! A couple of the plus points I have found are: 1. Keeps you occupied for hours, with lots of fun in between. 2. Great for families or by yourself. 3. Brilliant for children interested or in need of geographical knowledge. 4. Has a decorative element - once you've built you can either keep it on display or disassemble it and build again. 5. Despite only being 540 pieces, it feels like so many more and requires quite a lot of thinking because of the obscure shapes of each piece. 6. Each piece is numbered with directional arrows on to help you out. But, a couple of negatives too: 1. The pieces are hard-ish plastic which means that sometimes they are tricky to push into the puzzle correctly - sometimes leading you to believe it's in the wrong place even though it definitely isn't. 2. I found that the only way I could build the puzzle was by number because of the puzzle being a globe, I couldn't hold it and look at the image on the outside and then put the pieces in too. 3. The effort it takes to push the pieces into place is shocking! My fingers were so sore after trying to convince the piece that it really does belong there (to the extent I was constantly checking the number to make sure I was right). Overall though, a brilliant concept and lots of fun!

Really impressed

This is so fun!! It was a gift for my son for Christmas and he LOVES. It! It’s sturdy and stays together very well. Clear instructions and satisfying to put together. He now wants the whole solar system 😜

とても良い

Puzzle is easy to fix and good quality, really enjoyed seeing the globe form into shape. Some country/city names are not aligned but it is okay in general. Great puzzle to fix and would recommend.

Have you ever done a puzzle where you begin by turning all the pieces upside down so that you can only see the backs of the pieces? That’s how I started this one, and found just as much joy of the hunt as I searched for numbered pieces rather than looking for a particular image or colour or shape. The pieces are high Ravensburger quality plastic, and fit snuggly together so that the globe holds together nicely as it grows. I loved seeing it grow piece by piece. And though the details aren’t as sharp as a map or a regular globe, its layout is accurate, and its colour scheme is very appealing so that you end up with something worth putting on display.

Ayant découvert ce nouveau type de puzzle 3D au moment de noël avec le "Taj Mahal", Arc de triomphe et Phare de la marque Ravensburger, j’étais content de ce type de puzzle mais avec une déception dû a un nombre de pièces peu nombreuses pour les modèles cité (216 en général) qui pour moi, était plus de la maquette que du puzzle, car trop de grosse pièces plastiques à coté des pièces puzzle. J'ai trouvé celui en cherchant un peu dans ce type de puzzle 3D, et je ne suis pas déçu du tout, il comporte 540 pièces numérotées au dos de chacune d'elles. J'ai trouvé plaisir à trier et préparer les pièces ainsi que de les assembler. Une fois monté, c'est très solide et avec un recul de 2/3 mètres on ne dirait jamais un puzzle mais plutôt une mappemonde normale. Les plus: - pièces en plastique très bien numérotées - démontage possible sans casse (pour stocker au cas ou....) - très très bonne qualité de l'ensemble, que ce soit les pièces puzzle ou le support. - emballage parfait, tout est en sachet separé - pièces qui tiennent hyper bien entrent elles Les moins: - assemblage de fin (fermeture du globe) pas forcement facile pour tout le monde - écriture des différents pays est tout petit, faut pas compter rechercher quelques chose dessus ;o)) Voila mon avis.... (Une fois celui-ci monté, j'ai acheté la même en vintage ainsi que la game of thrône) En attente que Ravensburger crée un puzzle 3D avec beaucoup de pièces