A Closer Look at This 7,000-Piece Fantasy Puzzle

If you’re new to my puzzling adventures over on YouTube, I started using a gumball machine in 2026 as a fun way to work through my ever-growing puzzle to-do pile. As I reach different milestones, I earn a pull from different puzzle categories. One of those categories includes my larger puzzles, ranging from 1,500 to 8,000 pieces, so the selection is still completely random.

This time, the gumball machine selected Ravensburger’s 7,000-piece Six Portals, illustrated by fantasy artist Rose Cat Kahn.

To make the project a little more interesting, I challenged myself to complete it in 10 days. I know that isn’t realistic for most puzzlers, and it certainly isn’t necessary to enjoy a puzzle this size. It was simply a fun personal challenge that I wanted to try. There was also a practical reason for the deadline. I have three cats, including one very dedicated puzzle-piece thief, so leaving a puzzle this large on my dining room table for an extended period of time can be risky.

While I’ll share a little about the challenge here, this blog is primarily about the puzzle, its artwork and what it was actually like to complete. You can also watch my YouTube video for the full day-by-day journey. 

Behind the Artwork with Rose Cat Kahn

Six Portals was illustrated by fantasy artist Rose Cat Kahn. I had previously completed her discontinued 2,000-piece puzzle Dragon Fantasy, and I also own Book Nook by White Mountain which has a fun, witchy atmosphere. Another on my wishlist is Dance at Dusk by Eurographics. All have a beautiful fantasy vibe to the images

Dance At Dusk by Eurographics

Many of Rose’s puzzle images connect to her Centernia fantasy series, so I listened to the audiobook for Centernia: Mark of the Castle while working on parts of the puzzle. It added another layer to the experience, especially once I learned how many of the characters and locations within the artwork connect to her books.

I reached out to Rose to learn more about the creation of Six Portals, and she shared some of the stories and personal details hidden throughout the image.

“I illustrated it between May and October of 2024, and when it was released, it was my 25th puzzle. It’s the largest puzzle I’ve ever designed.”

Creating artwork for a puzzle this large required Rose to think about more than how the finished 7,000-piece image would look. The design also needed to be immediately recognizable when viewed at a much smaller scale.

“For a puzzle of this magnitude, it’s really important that the theme is obvious in such a tiny format. When it’s sold, people may see it while scrolling past a one-inch rectangle on a phone or spot it from across a store, so clarity in the design is everything.”

That clarity was noticeable while building the puzzle. Each portal has its own distinct color palette, setting and mood, which helped me separate many of the pieces into their general sections before I started puzzling.

Hidden Details in Six Portals

Rose described Six Portals as being “loaded with details,” and she shared a few of her favorites.

The Lizard Family

“The three lizards carrying cakes make another appearance, now as a full lizard family! These happy little creatures appear in several of my puzzles.”

The lizards are also referenced in the first chapter of Centernia: Mark of the Castle, during Misa’s dream with Nico in the garden.

The Feltraini Cat

“A feltraini cat makes an appearance in the skies over the water scene. This is a species unique to Centernia.”

Rose also shared that a very similar cat with the same markings appears in Magic Study, which was first released as a puzzle by Buffalo Games in 2020 and later by Arrow Puzzles in Australia.

The Gryphon Statue

“The nighttime panel has a gryphon statue. It references my son’s middle name. It was either going to be Dragon, Phoenix or Gryphon, and Gryphon won the family vote.”

The nighttime panel shows the river district of Katanzarko City, the city of mages. Rose explained that several locations throughout the city are home to gryphons, so the statue fits naturally into the world while also including a personal family connection.

A Familiar Group of Animals

Not every detail in Rose’s artwork connects to Centernia or has a deep personal meaning. Sometimes her family simply gives her a challenge.

“Sometimes I ask my family members what to include, and the challenge is figuring out how to sneak it in.”

In the winter panel, Rose included a very specific group of animals: a bear wearing a top hat, a yellow chick, a blue bunny and a fox.

“Sound familiar to anyone?”

Fans of Five Nights at Freddy’s may recognize the inspiration.

Two 3,500-Piece Sections

Although Six Portals is sold as a 7,000-piece puzzle, Ravensburger divides it into two separate bags containing approximately 3,500 pieces each.

Personally, I appreciated this format. Instead of sorting all 7,000 pieces at once, I could complete one half of the image before opening the second bag. Each section also fit comfortably on my large dining room table. It does make the experience feel more like completing two connected 3,500-piece puzzles than working from one fully mixed pile of 7,000 pieces. For me, that made the project much more manageable without taking away from how impressive the completed image looked. I am someone who does not get joy from sorting pieces. 

Before starting, I had heard several puzzlers mention that “the brown section” was particularly difficult. Looking at the box, I assumed they meant the large brown tree in the first bag where the red frame is... so I decided to start on Bag B.

Priogress Photo: Day 2

However, this was incorrect. They were referring to the darker brown, purple and black areas surrounding the winter and nighttime scenes. Without realizing it, I had chosen the more difficult bag to complete first. 

What It Was Like to Build

I am someone who does not enjoy sorting puzzle pieces, but with a puzzle this large, sorting was necessary.

I spent more than four hours sorting the first 3,500-piece bag, with some help from my husband. I separated the border, the decorative frames around the portals and as many recognizable color sections as possible.

There was still a very large tray filled with brown, black and purple pieces that were difficult to separate any further.

When I opened the second bag, I spent another three to four hours sorting. Eventually, I gave up and created a “holding tray” containing approximately 1,000 miscellaneous pieces. At that point, I wanted to start puzzling instead of spending the entire day organizing pieces.

My Favorite Sections

My favorite part of the puzzle was the winter sky.

Progress Photo: Day 4

I know many puzzlers dislike working on skies, but I’ve always enjoyed them. This section included a hazy mixture of gray, yellow, pale pink and muted blue. The dragons and other small details helped break up the gradients without making the section feel too easy.

The water scene was probably the quickest portal to complete. The bright blues, fish and strong color differences gave me plenty of recognizable details to work from.

I also really enjoyed the green portal, especially the cloudy sky, dragons and waterfall. It had enough texture and detail to remain interesting without becoming overly frustrating.

The Most Difficult Sections

The darker areas surrounding the winter and purple scenes were easily the most challenging.

End of Day 6

Some of the detail in the original artwork became harder to distinguish once it was divided into individual puzzle pieces. In those areas, sorting by color was not always enough. Sorting the remaining pieces by shape helped considerably. Once I had grouped pieces with similar tab and blank combinations, I could work through smaller sets instead of repeatedly searching through hundreds of nearly identical dark pieces.

The purple trees were another particularly slow section. The branches, shadows and background colors made for a lot of pieces that needed to be shape sorted and worked through.

The 10-Day Puzzle Challenge

Although I challenged myself to finish the puzzle in 10 days, those were not 10 full days devoted entirely to puzzling. I was still fitting the project around work, filming, household responsibilities and normal life. Some days I had several hours available, while other days I only had a short amount of time in the evening. By day 6 I had the first bag of pieces done. This felt like such an accomplishment but then my joy was smacked down from the next 3500 pieces I needed to sort. This time though it went by quicker and in general Bag A was the easier of the two.

Progress Photo Day 9

By the ninth day, I knew completing the puzzle on time was going to be close. Thankfully, I had a full day available on Day 10. However, I also decided to call in a little help.

Two of my local puzzling friends came over for the final push. Stephanie, who is on my Nationals team, joined me, along with Jeanne, who was part of a team that won the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship.

Completing the final sections together ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire project. A challenge that began as a solo puzzle became a fun day of puzzling with friends. 

Final Thoughts

Six Portals is a beautiful choice for puzzlers who enjoy fantasy scenes, dragons, hidden details and larger piece counts.

The six individual scenes keep the puzzle from feeling repetitive. Each portal has its own colors, characters and level of difficulty, while the decorative frames help connect everything into one cohesive image. Separating the puzzle into two 3,500-piece bags also makes it more approachable than a completely mixed 7,000-piece puzzle. It is still a major project, but you can focus on one half at a time without needing an enormous dedicated space for every piece.

After learning more about the hidden references from Rose, I found myself looking at the finished image differently. There is so much more happening in the artwork than I initially realized.

Would I complete another 7,000-piece puzzle? Depends on the image.

Would I give myself another 10-day deadline? Maybe not... I think I'd rather sit down and enjoy every detail.

Check out other large piece counts!
3000-6000 Pieces

6000+ Pieces 

Thanks for reading and happy puzzling!

Emilee Frost
@thecasualpuzzler