Putting together puzzles is a favorite pastime of many different people and families. They come in all kinds of sizes and have themes that cater to a wide variety of interests. However, even though people have been doing puzzles for a long time, not much is known about the manufacturers behind them and how puzzles are made.
This article will explore the history of various popular puzzle companies to showcase how each one has contributed to this fun leisure activity.
It is hard to know exactly how many puzzle manufacturers there are because this information has not been documented. However, it can be estimated that there are over 100 both inside the US and in other countries. With that said, this section will highlight some of the most common US jigsaw puzzle companies:
Hasbro Inc is an American toy and game company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. They are the third-largest toymaker globally, having a part of the market in North America and on other continents. Some of the major Hasbro franchises are My Little Pony, GI Joe, Baby Alive, and Mr. Potato Head.
Besides traditional jigsaw puzzles, other puzzles available from Hasbro include:
Ceaco is an American puzzle maker founded in 1987 and has dedicated itself to making high-quality, beautiful, and innovative puzzles for the whole family. They have relationships with well-known artists like Thomas Kinkade and are dedicated to keeping up with trends in puzzle manufacturing to deliver the best products.
Ceaco organizes the jigsaw puzzles on their website by pieces, theme, and artist. They have Disney puzzles, scenic puzzles, dinosaur puzzles, and so many more of all sizes.
Sun’s Out is a wholesale puzzle company that operates online and distributes its puzzles to other online stores. Their puzzles are sorted by category or interest. Examples of categories include:
All Sun’s Out Puzzles are made in the US, and there is something for everyone due to the many shapes and sizes of the puzzles.
Ravensburger is a puzzle and game company created in 1883 by Otto Meir, who sought to combine education and play through toys, games, and puzzles. They dabble in all kinds of products, including puzzles, computer games, and board games, and their products are marketed to both children and families.
Ravensburger products are sold both in stores and online. They also sell their products internationally to Europe.
Art and Fable is a small, female-owned puzzle company that prides itself on using the illustrations of lesser-known artists to bring fantasy depictions and forgotten fables back to life. Their goal is to produce high-quality, fun puzzles while also giving back to charities they feel strongly about.
One thing that sets their puzzles apart from most manufacturers is that they are made with a unique velvet touch material, whereas other puzzles are made with cardboard, wood, and other hard materials. This creates a whole new touch experience for your puzzle-making adventures.
Every puzzle is made of recyclable materials and comes with a full-size print of the puzzle image. The box top stands so you can always see the image you are going for when completing the puzzle, and it comes with a resealable bag to store your puzzle when you are done or need a break.
White Mountain Puzzles is a small family-owned puzzle company located in Jackson, New Hampshire, and founded in 1978 by Cronan Minton and Ted Wroblewski; their sons now run the store. White Mountain has been in business for over 35 years, and every puzzle is made in the US and built out of blue chipboard on recyclable paper.
The 1000 piece puzzles at White Mountain are the largest in the puzzle industry at 24 x 30 inches, and they always make sure that their puzzles are original, colorful, entertaining, educational, and recognizable (this Route 66 puzzle is a great example).
White Mountain puzzles can be purchased online, and you can sort through their catalog by pieces, theme, difficulty, and artist.
Mechanical puzzles are self-contained contraptions made of one or more parts. The puzzles are solved by manipulating the parts and using logical reasoning, as well as dexterity skills. Examples include brain teasers, secret puzzle boxes, and interlocking puzzles.
Here are some of the top US mechanical puzzle companies:
Eureka Puzzles is a puzzle shop located in Brookline, Massachusetts. Their goal is to provide products that give mental stimulation and provide lasting value. They have over 1000 jigsaw and mechanical puzzles, as well as 1500 games, 1000 puzzle books, and 500 science learning items.
Their products can be brought online or in their brick-and-mortar store. They also host weekly game nights, host a summer camp for kids, and have a service called On the Spot, where they bring their puzzles and games to corporate events and other occasions.
Kubiya Games was founded in Brooklyn, New York in 2012 by Kobi Levi, a New York-based designer and carpenter. They specialize in handmade mechanical puzzles, brainteasers, escape room puzzles, and brain games. Kubiya Games seeks to bring back long-forgotten puzzles and games for the whole family to enjoy, and their goal is to share their love of wooden puzzles with people of all ages.
You can buy their puzzles online or by visiting their physical location in Brooklyn.
Creative Crafthouse is a wooden puzzle and brainteaser company located in Hudson, FL that specializes in wooden puzzles for all ages. Their goal is to make entertaining and sometimes challenging puzzles to help people build their logic, reasoning, and analysis skills.
Creative Crafthouse is small and family-owned. They make most of the puzzles right in their store, and you can buy them online or by visiting their Hudson store.
Word puzzles, as their name suggests, are all about searching for, spelling, or filling in words to make stories. Examples of word puzzles include crosswords, word searches, spelling games, anagrams, ambigrams, and rebus word puzzles.
Here are a few of the best word puzzle companies in the US:
Cypress Cove Publishing was founded in 2011 in Lafayette, Louisiana by Neal Bertrand. They publish all kinds of fiction and nonfiction books, in addition to puzzle books; their puzzle books contain crosswords, sudoku, word creation, word searches, mazes, and more at various difficulty levels to keep the idle brain busy.
Cypress Cove puzzle books are made for all ages to enjoy. You can purchase their books in stores or on Amazon.
Penny Dell Publishing was created in 1996 when Penny Press and Dell Publishing merged, and they now publish over 85 magazines and over 60 puzzle books available in bookstores, through the mail, and on their website. They have crosswords, sudoku, and word seek puzzles suitable for adults and children for hours of entertainment.
There are so many different types of puzzles, and along with that, manufacturers and publishers of these puzzles. Whether it is a jigsaw, mechanical, word, or another type of puzzle, they are all meant to help you develop skills like logic and reasoning in a fun way. Learning these skills helps you enjoy life more fully, so it’s always interesting to learn about the companies that help make that happen!
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