Jan van Haasteren Expert Puzzles
The Jan van Haasteren Expert puzzles are puzzles for real die-hard puzzlers. If you, as a puzzler, like a challenge. These are the extra difficult, next-level puzzles! Are you ready for it? As a puzzler you have to have perseverance and you should not give up easily to make these puzzles. The level of difficulty is determined by the design or color of the background. All Expert puzzles consist of 500 pieces.
What are Expert puzzles – in a video?
Other features of the JvH puzzles in the Expert series
A) One or two family members are central
In each Expert puzzle, 1 or 2 family members of Jan van Haasteren will be central to the puzzle. The family members are part of the fixed recurring elements that you can find in the Jan van Haasteren puzzles. An overview of Jan van Haasteren's relatives:
– Jan van Haasteren himself
– Tax Official (Tax Inspector)
- Police officers
- Stepmother
- Father in law
- The thief
- Saint Nicholas
- Santa Claus
– Dog Max
– Cat and the Mouse
- Turtle
– Super snail
- Calamari
- Crab
– Shark fin
B) First Expert puzzle in January 2022
The first Expert puzzles appeared in January 2022 and were 'Sharks Everywhere' and 'Picnic Fun'. This Expert line was announced by Jumbo in December 2021.
C) They are Vertical puzzles
The first 5 puzzles in the Expert line are all Vertical puzzles. These are often no longer made because they are less fun to solve. However, since these puzzles all consist of 500 pieces, this is not too bad. With a vertical puzzle of 1000 pieces you have to hang far over a puzzle when it is vertical and that is very inconvenient. With a puzzle of 500 pieces you don't have 'this problem'. The dimensions of these vertical puzzles of 500 pieces are 35×49 centimeters. These are the dimensions of all JvH puzzles of 500 pieces.
D) The boxes are a different color
The boxes have a different color than the 'normal' JvH puzzles. The default color is dark blue and the color of the boxes of the Expert puzzles is Green-ish. Each Expert puzzle has a number on the front of the box, with the numbering starting with a 1.
A few quotes from puzzlers?
Note – the puzzle 'Sharks Everywhere' is often stated as the most difficult to complete, so if you want to go for the hardest one... Below are a number of quotes from puzzlers:
Picnic fun.. A lot easier than the sharks everywhere puzzle
Where is max? Thanks to your tips, it is finished, this was a one-time action.
Sharks everywhere. Finished! How difficult he was! Very fun to make!
Sharks everywhere. almost done 🙈🙈 what a challenge 😁
This is “real” puzzling. 👍Now the Sharks
Sharks everywhere. What a challenge this puzzle was, but we succeeded
Sharks Everywhere was a little more difficult than this picnic, but the leaves of this one were also quite a challenge!
No 2, picnic fun, I find the easiest. No. 1, sharks everywhere, and No. 3, where is Max, equally difficult and No. 4, presents everywhere, the most difficult.
“Sharks Everywhere” (500 pcs.) made. Phew, finally done! This is a “biter”. Especially in the beginning (except for the boat in the middle) I thought several times about quitting.
Took longer than the 1000 and 1500 pieces of the "normal" puzzles.
“Sharks everywhere”, tough but a fun challenge
Sharks everywhere. I don't know exactly how long it took before it was finished. But all in all it has been quite a challenge.
Presents everywhere 500 pieces Saturday evening started now finished 🥵 I found it more difficult than the shark puzzle
Overview of all Jan van Haasteren Expert puzzles
| Image | Number of pieces | Box No. | Name Dutch | Name English | years | draftsman | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 500 | 1110100812 | Hooray, Jan is 90! (Expert Puzzle – 8) | Hooray, Jan 90 years! (Expert Puzzle - 8) | 2026 | Robert Derks | 28 February 2026 | |
 | 500 | 1110100525 | Lame (Expert Puzzle – 7) | Ewe shall not pass (Expert Puzzle - 7) | 2025 | Robert Derks | 7 March 2025 | |
 | 500 | 20092, 1110100633 | Presents everywhere! (Expert Puzzle – 4) | Gifts Galore! (Expert Puzzle - 4) | 2022 | Jan van Haasteren | August 2022 | |
 | 500 | 20089 | Sharks Everywhere (Expert Puzzle – 1) | Shark Mania (Expert Puzzle - 1) | 2022 | Jan van Haasteren | January 2022 | |
 | 500 | 20090, 1110100632 | Picnic Fun (Expert Puzzle – 2) | Enjoying a Picnic (Expert Puzzle - 2) | 2022 | Jan van Haasteren | January 2022 | |
 | 500 | 1110100031, 1110100634 | Where is the leak? (Expert Puzzle – 5) | Where is the leak? (Expert Puzzle - 5) | 2023 | Dick Heins | August 2023 | |
 | 500 | 20091 | Where's Max? (Expert Puzzle – 3) | Where's Max? (Expert Puzzle - 3) | 2022 | Dick Heins | August 2022 | |
 | 500 | 1110100312, 1110100635 | Good Night (Expert Puzzle – 6) | Good Night (Expert Puzzle - 6) | 2024 | Jan van Haasteren | 17 February 2024 |
Expert puzzle 8 – 'Hooray, Jan is 90' – tips
This is the puzzle:
and this is the box:
I made this puzzle myself and have shared my strategy (tips) here on how to solve it.
Video 1:
Video 2:
Video 3:
Video 4: