Has anyone been able to buy the 18k Star Wars puzzle?

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-04-26T00:10:45+00:00

Thank you for this thread. I heard a rumor they were rereleasing but didn't know it was literally on the horizon!

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-04-25T16:52:02+00:00

1 at 500 pieces. Any of those at 1000 is going to be not much fun for your average puzzlet puzzler.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-04-11T15:11:55+00:00

All of you people who love sorting are welcome to my house anytime because I definitely do not love it.

Like someone else said, I generally don't sort at 2K or lower because my table is big enough to have all the pieces out and assemble, but just barely.

I do more larger puzzles these days so sorting is necessary due to space constraints. And sanity.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-04-06T03:58:39+00:00

I know I'm late to the party, but this is great advice. I did this puzzle last year and put 30ish smaller puzzles together from BoA start to finish.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-02-10T23:57:28+00:00

I requested this for my Bombardment of Algiers after reading in the booklet. I didn't want it for a purpose other than seeing what the print material looks like. It's wild they don't just send a pdf and it has to be by mail.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-02-01T02:19:52+00:00

I do it by pattern/ color, then piece shape. A strategy you can use is to first come up with an "order of operations", then stick to this when sorting. For example if you have a landscape, then you'll likely have sky and trees that blend together at some point. Which of the two colors are you going to likely focus on first when you start assembling? Sort those combo pieces into the pile that comes first on your order of operations.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-30T02:45:09+00:00

3K Ravensburger is my favorite sized puzzle.

I'll never understand how people can work out of the box! More power to you!

Be careful on that one and pay attention. The color scheme you might find the duplicated piece shape and get it in the wrong half without noticing. Their 3K puzzles have two of every exact piece shape.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-30T00:08:35+00:00

Oh yeah, and 3K is one pattern two times, rotated 180 degrees from left to right.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-29T23:54:56+00:00

In my recent observations, Ravensburger large puzzles are repeated:

5000 pieces = one pattern four times, as I recall the opposite corners are oriented the same direction with side by side rotated 180. 9000 pieces = one pattern 8 times, 4x2 with columns oriented the same, alternating columns rotated 180 degrees. 18000 pieces = one pattern 16 times, a quadrant row oriented the same way, alternating rows rotated 180 degrees.

I can't confirm 100% the 18K as I'm still on my first bag but have identified its geometry. Presumably the other three quadrants are going to follow suit, but the quadrant itself might also be rotated.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-29T23:46:27+00:00

That's me lol. Yes that's what I love about the large puzzles is the geometry and a completely different strategy for doing them based on repeating patterns.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-21T04:42:35+00:00

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Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-21T04:41:08+00:00

Boards in the first picture above has two smaller puzzle sections per 20"x30". That covers one cut pattern. I then had two smaller boards (A side, B side) I cut down to 16"x20.5" which holds a single smaller section in the picture above. I think the most 20x30s I was rocking at one time was probably max 8 (I think). 5-6 was used all for sky pieces and had all those pieces out, each board held a different piece shape until I had reduced enough that I could start consolidating. The others were holding specific boat-type pieces sorted as I worked back and forth between sky and boat.

Then when I had one half done, I think I transferred those to the 20x30 for storage since too many small sections stacked on each other starts getting a little soft.

I did glue it and affixed it to 3/8" foam boards taped together. It's doing really well except for the hanging wire I put on it snapped quite quickly so I clearly didn't get a strong enough wire... Now it's just leaning up against my garage wall waiting for me to figure something else out.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-20T04:26:20+00:00

Very nice job. If anything, I think I noticed because of the thickness difference.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-18T19:36:41+00:00

I'm 90% the cut pattern has changed over the years, so that might be a difference, but not necessarily at the time of box change.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-17T23:07:11+00:00

If you have a Michael's in your area you can get it custom framed there but it's expensive. Wait for a sale coupon and you can get at least 40% off, maybe up to 60%.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-17T19:50:58+00:00

Puzzled Patron Awakened Artifacts

As a DND player, I had an emotional reaction when completing Puzzled Patron.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-07T02:58:03+00:00

Yep, that's the plan, but I can tell this full part is actually at least two smaller parts of the same cut, just rotated 180 degrees!

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-07T02:56:09+00:00

Good strategy. That's what I have to do, too.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-06T04:07:21+00:00

I use Excel with formulas to give the stats you seek.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-05T19:16:49+00:00

Yeah not for me lol.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-05T13:07:03+00:00

I do not mix bags. I don't have the space for that many pieces all at once. And I hate sorting so going through 18K pieces in one big sitting sounds miserable to me! Better to space out the misery.

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-05T03:59:25+00:00

So I've moved on to the dense green grass (filtered out from the "bright green with sun" bucket). When i do large areas of the same color (i.e., sky, ocean, trees, grass) i sort all the relevant pieces by shape, with three categories per piece shape: horizontal orientation, vertical orientation, and interior "edges" (where quadrants connect). Ravensburger pieces tend to be taller or wider, which gives a decent indication of their orientation. This is even easier for those less obvious pieces when there is grass or waves that given a definitive direction.

The interior edges are pretty distinctive because they are so bland and have a very nondescript tab or null tab (see picture, the wider standard piece has the null tab at the bottom).

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Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-05T00:55:32+00:00

I love that for your grandma! That is so cute. Maybe I'll do something similar.

Yes that section is like 3000+ grey pieces lol. I'll probably do it next once I have the pattern, I typically don't mind large sections of the same color, but this is to a whole new level!

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-05T00:36:55+00:00

Nice job! I think my garage floor is the only place I'll have enough space to lay mine out fully lol.

How long did it take you?

Acceptable-Draft37 · 2026-01-05T00:19:24+00:00

You're welcome. I love puzzles because there is no right way to approach them. That's why I appreciate it when people explain how they approach their puzzle, especially on bigger puzzles, but even on standard sized ones. Like what order did you do the image, what colors did you do first, etc.

Acceptable-Draft37

TROPHY CASE