In the world of puzzle collecting, there is a category of enthusiast who finds standard landscape photography and art reproductions — however technically excellent — insufficiently interesting. These are the puzzlers who want something stranger, more visually surprising, more artistically ambitious. For this community, Heye Puzzles has been the answer for over five decades.
Founded in Germany in 1968, Heye Puzzles built its identity around a single, distinctive commitment: commissioning original artworks from illustrators and fine artists specifically for puzzle format, with a creative brief that prioritised visual imagination over mainstream appeal. The result is a catalogue unlike anything in the global puzzle market — consistently surprising, sometimes surreal, always visually engaging.
Heye’s Creative Philosophy
Heye’s founding insight was that puzzle images could be original artworks rather than reproductions of existing paintings or photographs. By commissioning illustrators to create images specifically designed for puzzle format — with the visual density, colour distribution, and compositional complexity that makes for excellent puzzling — Heye could produce products that were simultaneously unique artworks and superior puzzle experiences.
This philosophy has attracted artists of genuine talent and international reputation. Key Heye artists include Guillermo Mordillo (Argentine cartoonist whose whimsical, wordless visual narratives have made his Heye puzzle series a global collector favourite), Jasper Jubenvill (whose detailed fantasy-pop imagery has a devoted following particularly in European markets), and a rotating roster of European and international illustrators working across styles from photorealist detail to painterly abstraction.
The Mordillo Series: An Icon of Puzzle History
Among Heye’s many celebrated artist partnerships, the Guillermo Mordillo series occupies a unique cultural position. Mordillo — born in Buenos Aires, working for most of his career in Europe — developed an immediately recognisable illustrative style: elongated, rubber-limbed human figures, pastel colour palettes, and comic situations that communicate universal humour without a single word. His Heye puzzle images — featuring clowns, lovers, musicians, sailors, and animals in scenarios of gentle absurdity — have been among the puzzle world’s most beloved and collected titles since the 1970s.
Mordillo’s death in 2019 has not diminished the popularity of his Heye series; if anything, the archive of existing designs has acquired additional collectible significance. Original Mordillo Heye puzzles in good condition command premiums in secondary markets globally.
Manufacturing Quality
Heye puzzles are manufactured in Germany and meet the quality standards expected of German puzzle production. Piece precision is excellent; the board is of good quality; and the printing quality — particularly important given the original artwork images — is reliably faithful to the commissioned originals. The brand uses FSC-certified board and has reduced plastic packaging as part of broader industry sustainability moves.
Standard puzzle dimensions and cut patterns apply across the range. Piece counts span 500 to 6,000 pieces, with 1,000 pieces being the most common and commercially significant.
Notable Series and Recent Releases
Cartoon Classics Series: The Mordillo-anchor flagship range, expanded to include other artists working in the same warm, whimsical tradition. Consistently among Heye’s bestselling categories globally.
Wasgij Series (in partnership with Jumbo): Heye produces the German edition of the globally popular Wasgij format — puzzles where the image you assemble is not the image on the box. The box shows a scene; the puzzle assembles what the characters in that scene are seeing or imagining. A brilliant concept that has built a global following. Available in multiple languages and markets.
Abstract Art Series: Recent years have seen Heye expand into abstract and geometric puzzle imagery, commissioning work from contemporary fine artists. These puzzles are among the most technically challenging in the range due to low information density, but among the most visually striking on completion.
Where to Buy
Heye puzzles are widely available across Germany and the German-speaking world, with strong distribution across the rest of Europe. International availability has improved through online channels. Prices for standard 1,000-piece puzzles run approximately €14–€20. For more on the creative side of the global puzzle market, our Puzzle Brands Spotlight archive and our Puzzle Trends section both cover how brands are pushing the creative boundaries of the format.
