Game of Thrones: Westeros 3D Puzzle

Definitely not as difficult as people make it out to be! I was worried before I got my hands on it. Bottom jigsaw layer: The pieces do not have the typical rounded puzzle edge that most are used to so you need to pay close attention to where things fit and make sure the patterns match before forcing a piece together. That said, work the border and then work with the colours you can see obviously before tackling the water. There are some very similar shapes and pieces that all look "black" like the water and they'll give you the most trouble. I was expecting the bottom layer to take months but it took about two weeks of 1-2 hour periods working on the layer to complete it. (I am not an avid puzzle-r so assume I am at a intermediate level of puzzle prowess) Layer 2: Putting the foam over the jigsaw layer was a bit of a shame since the map layer is really cool once you get it together but this is the beginning of 3D and looks interesting when you start to see mountains and forests rise up from the table. The foam didn't take long at all to complete and make sure as you pull pieces from the box out, that you disconnect them. A lot of the areas came out of the box already attached. (Frown) The foam is easily creased so be careful with it! The edges and pieces are not standard size so don't expect to know which shape fits where--all the shapes are strange sizes or have really odd angles that fit in places that they shouldn't. Suggest working with the pieces that have large letters on them first, then go colour block by colour block. Layer 3: This is like Lego. Really easy. I'm not going to bother with the rest of the layers. Have fun adding castles to your foam, signposts to the map layer to make it 3-D, and humming the theme song while you work. It's a pretty fun puzzle to do with another GoT fan and it's impressive once finished. Gl/hf.

Well looks like I'll be the first to review this. First off it's not a verified purchase because I bought it from ThinkGeek, but I definitely have it and probably almost every piece of Game of Thrones merchandise on the market including the new George RR Martin box but anyway. Ill start by saying this puzzle is awesome it's kind of expensive but it's pretty well made in my opinion and the pieces seem to be a little higher quality then they were in the puzzle of Westeros so anyone who built that one will probably be happy to hear that. Its pretty tough puzzle it'll take you awhile I nowhere close to done with mine and really my only complaint is 4D cityscapes weird cut pieces, they're kind of odd and pieces fit together that don't go together which is kind of a pain but you'll get it right by the time you're finished and definitely now that I finished the first layer if the pieces are much higher quality than the puzzle of Westeros that one was so bad I had to take it apart so many times that my pieces were warped I'm sure I still have a few pieces that didn't go where they were supposed to as for this one I got the whole frame without having to change one piece and I've only made a couple of small changes when I finished it so I was definitely a lot happier with that one than the last one Update finally finished lot better quality than the first one pretty tough puzzle I did it all one hundred percent by myself

LOVE this puzzle. I got it as a present to my boyfriend a year ago and finally put in the work to frame it (it had just been sitting on our TV stand) and it's gorgeous. There is another review here that I was heavily inspired by for how to put my frame together so I'm going to put what I did here for those wanting to do something similar. I first got a 24x36 frame and same size piece of plexiglass. I used mod podge and put a thin layer on both sides of the normal puzzle, a thin layer on top of the foam layer, and 2 heavier layers on the bottom of the foam layer. Once everything was dry, I glued magnets to the bottom of the foam (I used 7 on the mainland, 1 per island and 1 for the iron throne). The main puzzle was glued to the backing for my frame, and then magnets matching the foam were glued to the frame backing. (I matched the magnets by just setting the foam w/ magnets on top of the backing+puzzle, put a bit of super glue on the magnet and let it find its mate from under the puzzle). After magnets, in the frame I put in the plexiglass, then the puzzle with its backing. The foam just attaches to the puzzle through the plexiglass thanks to the magnets. My one concern -- my magnets may not be strong enough to hold the foam up indefinitely through plexiglass, puzzle, and backing. In this case, it may be better (and definitely cheaper) to use the plastic sheet that comes with the frame rather than the plexiglass since it will be thinner. I am moving in a couple weeks so am not bothering to hang up my frame yet in order to test.

I waited until I was finished with this puzzle before I wrote this review. Overall I enjoyed putting it together, but it is definitely difficult. Some pieces, mostly the water, are really hard to tell the difference between them. I had to hold them up to a utility light at some points. The reference picture is also rather small, so that doesnt help. As I finished the bottom layer I realized two pieces were missing. I was worried about this because I was afraid I would have to ship the entire puzzle back after spending nearly a month off and on just on the bottom layer. But thankfully the company has a service where they will send you missing individual pieces. The second layer was much easier. The end result of the puzzle is amazing and I am considering having it framed. The only thing I personally dislike about the finished product is there are little flags that mark key locations that in most cases are already clearly marked on the map (for example there is a flag for Dorne that goes right above the clearly printed word "Dorne" on the map. It is like this for almost all of them except for 3 or 4.) Overall my only real complaint about this puzzle is the small reference picture and how the water pieces look so similar. On the box and in the reference picture they do not look as much alike. I would recommend this to someone who loves Game of Thrones and is looking for a challenge, it is most definitely not for those who give up easily.

Honestly just a heads up I don’t do puzzles to often but this was the hardest puzzle I’ve ever done it was really the bottom layer

This puzzle really isn't THAT hard - I don't get all the complaining in the reviews. Mine thankfully included all the pieces. Took me one month working totally alone to finish it. Yes some of the regular puzzle pieces almost seem interchangeable. Look at them very carefully when putting it together. If the piece doesn't perfectly fit, it doesn't go there! Compare to the pieces around it making sure the top borders line up - this is a sure fire sign the pieces aren't meant to sit next to one another. Pay attention to the waves in the water and land features. I did have several pieces at the end which were out of place, but with some rearrangement and careful scrutiny of the other pieces I had it figured out. This just added to the complexity of the puzzle, but didn't make me want to pull my hair out. I found the bottom edge (below Dorne) to be the most confusing in this respect and had to redo it a few times before I got it right. If you find yourself getting confused just save that portion for the end, which is what I ended up doing. As far as the progression of the puzzle, I did the border first, followed by the wilds above the wall, then all the writing in the water, then any writing on the land portion, followed by rivers, the kings road, and the rest just fell into place. I'm so happy with my purchase and I would buy this again! I'm already looking at other puzzles by this company. I think middle earth is next!

I got this puzzle as a lightning deal for prime day and put it together a few months ago. So I would recommend if you can and want to wait for it to be less than $40. While putting the border together I was frustrated because I thought I was missing some pieces (usually a good first indicator on an incomplete puzzle, starting contacting amazon and everything) but it turned out there were just some similar pieces I had placed somewhere else. That is the most frustrating part of this puzzle: there are a lot of dark blue pieces that look like they fit in one place but end up being incorrect when you get to the end, then you have to CLOSELY inspect the entire puzzle to find the slightly off piece(s). All in all this puzzle is very difficult and fun! I think it took me 3-4 dedicated days to put it together, some perspective I can usually put a 500 or 1000 piece puzzle together in 3-5 or 10 hours respectively. So this takes a while. The finished product is spectacular! I haven't taped or glued anything together at this point even though it would be a cool display piece. This comes to my other "flaw": the 1st layer is very detailed with rivers, roads, and cities that are lost in the second layer to make room for terrain imaging (my assumption). Personally, I would have like to not lose so much detail in that layer, but the artwork and 3D structures you insert into the foam 2nd layer do kind of makeup for it.

My family and I just completed the base level (regular puzzle part) of this Westeros 4D Puzzle. Having read the negative reviews, I was apprehensive about the difficulty and whether we would/could complete it. Well, I'm absolutely thrilled with the final results. Yes, it is difficult: many of the pieces are similar in color and shape, but with careful study, you'll see water direction marks on almost all the water pieces that help you figure out where they go. And I think the quality of the puzzle pieces is excellent: when put in the right location, they fit perfectly. I absolutely loved the challenge, and I love the finished base puzzle!