I got hooked on cartoon puzzles through my love of Heye starting in the 90’s. Here are my favorite cartoon puzzle brands/series.
HEYE (Munich, Germany)
Quality — 9/10, Images — 10/10, Fun/Challenge — 8/10, Piece shapes: Standard but with a lot of variety
A cult classic and long-time fav of mine for their excellent cartoon puzzles.
READ MORE ON OUR HEYE PAGE HERE or on their website here.
Check out our reviews of heye puzzles here.
WASGIJ (Jumbo)
One of the most successful jigsaw series, Wasgij has spawned 4 extra lines — Wasgij Mystery, Wasgij Destiny, Wasgij Christmas and What If? All are covered on our Wasgij page. What’s the big deal? The puzzle you put together does not match the one on the lid. Here’s their excellent website.
Check out our reviews of Wasgij puzzles here.
Above: Wasgij Original #10 “Antique Hunt”, Wasgij Destiny #9 “Super Models”, Wasgij Mystery #3 “Drama at the Opera”
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Mike Jupp’s “I Love…” Series (Gibson)
Once you’re done a Mike Jupp you are hooked for life. There are 13 in the series now and each puzzle is packed with intricate detail and humor. See our Mike Jupp page for more.
Check out our review of Mike Jupp’s “I Love Spring” for detailed photos of the puzzles.
Above: “I Love Christmas”. “I Love the Spring”, “I Love Boats”
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Wasgij What If? (Ravensburger)
An offshoot of Jumbo’s “Wasgij” series, Ravensbuger’s “What If?” has all new images. The puzzle image you put together is a ‘what if’ scenario off the image on the box lid. Artwork is by the amazing Geoffrey Tristram.
Above: What If #2 “Garden Open Day”, What If #3 “Home Makeover”. What If #6 “The Pet Parlour”
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JVH (Jan Van Haasteren, Jumbo)
Probably one of the longest running puzzle series, the puzzles of Dutch artist Jan Van Haasteren just keep being reprinted and growing each year. They’re packed with detail and fun, like Mike Jupp’s, but in a looser style and a lot of similar colors and characters which make them a challenge. Visit the Jumbo page for JVH puzzles here.
Check out our review of JVH’s “The Dog Show” for detailed photos of the puzzle brand.
Above: “At the Beach”, “Tennis Court”, and “The Zoo”
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PIECES OF HISTORY (Jumbo)
This is a brand new series by artist Rob Derks, who was an artist with JVH studios. It’s a fun series and I hope they continue it.
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BEST OF BRITISH (Ravensburger, Geoffrey Tristram)
Colorful, cartoony puzzles that take a humorous look at British life. There’s no trick — the puzzle inside the box is just what it looks like on the lid, but with Ravensburger’s quality, and these colorful and detailed images, they’re fun to put together. Artwork by the amazing Geoffrey Tristram. See Ravensburger’s Best of British page for the full list.
Above: No 3 “By the Canal”, No 4 “Garden Center”, No 9 “Country Show”
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John Francis’s “Whoopsies” (Gibson)
Thick Gibson quality pieces, lots of colors and lots going on–these puzzles are quite fun to put together. Gibson doesn’t have a series page, but you can check out their website for a few of these puzzles here.
FOR MORE INFO: check out or puzzle blog for news and reviews of these puzzles. You can search by tag (like ‘Heye’ or ‘JVH’) to find all our blog entries on a particular area of interest. The categories are at the bottom of our website pages.
I am looking for a cartoon puzzle that I remember putting together with my mother in the late 80’s. She was a thrift store junkie so I can’t say for sure that it was a new release at that time. The puzzle theme was very similar to loup “emergency room”. It featured a bunch of cartoon pigs in and around the cross section of a big farm house. I would love to have any information on the artist or manufacturer of this old puzzle. This particular puzzle holds a deep sentimental value in my family! Please reply if you can point me in any direction.
Hi, Nicole. That sounds really cute. I’ve never seen anything like that, but maybe one of our readers has. I’ll be on the look out for it!
JJ
In my weekly ebay search, I have FINALLY found this puzzle!! It is from the Great American Puzzle Company and the artist is Susan Sturgill. It was released in 1986. I can’t wait to put it together with my children and then pass it along to my siblings! Thank you!
Great! Glad to hear it. Do you know the name of the puzzle? Sounds interesting!
Yes the name of the puzzle is “pig house”.
Hi JJ
I chanced upon your blog when searching for more Ravensburger puzzles to do, and I must say this is a fantastic blog! Thank you so much for putting all this information out here, and taking the time to do all the comparisons. I agree that Ravensburger is the best! It’s so much more fun when you’re working with good quality puzzle pieces.
I was wondering whether you could help with a question I have.
I did a jigsaw at a competition a few years ago, and it was of a Jukebox (vivid colours, cartoon style) with non-standard piece shapes (very odd shapes, some with smooth edges, a bit like House of Puzzles or Sunsout). I am trying to locate an image of it but can’t find it. Have you ever come across something like that? I think it was about a thousand pieces.
There was another 1000 piece jigsaw I remembered doing at a competition that had a jumbled up large picture on the front, and a tiny picture of how the actual puzzle looked on the side of the box. We were doing it almost ‘blind’, when not squinting at the tiny picture. Good memories.
A jigsaw my husband and I enjoyed doing was a double sided one, 2000 pieces, with Monet paintings on both sides (water lilies on one side, and a garden depiction on the other). Haha, that took some time.
Hope to hear from you!
Warm regards,
Lyn from Singapore
Hi, Lyn. Was the jukebox puzzle shaped? Great American Puzzle Factory did one like that: http://www.amazon.com/Jumpin-Jukebox-Puzzle-Shaped-Stewart/dp/B004K571J4
The double-sided Monet sounds hard! 🙂
Jane
I am looking for a puzzle that is of a group of Far Side looking people doing a puzzle contest. The contest is being held in a barn with animals among the contest participants. The people are grouped in different groups like bikers, grandmas, etc. The puzzle is probably from the 1980s or 1990s. Any help would be great!
When I was a kid, I remember making these fun, cartoon puzzles that have two different scenes. Basically there were two puzzles in the box and you could choose the top portion of one puzzle to go with the bottom scene from the other puzzle! Have you seen anything like this? I would love to get my hands on one of these again! 1980’s I’m thinking… any help would be greatly appreciated!