The Magic Puzzle Company
Puzzling is magic
Jigsaw puzzles are fun, it’s a group activity that doesn’t have any hard time requirements. They’re low commitment, yet it’s easy to lose track of time when you were only intending to put in one piece. Their simplicity also means it’s easy for everyone to take part in.
Last Thanksgiving, the holiday where puzzles are most prominent for my family, I encountered the work of the Magic Puzzle Company for the first time. It feels like this is a company made by and for people who like jigsaw puzzles, enough to wonder about how to improve and change the experience.
(Image taken from the Magic Puzzle Kickstarter page, showing sections of all three puzzles for series one)
There are times when a puzzle can become frustrating if it’s an image that wasn’t meant to be a puzzle. I’ve learned to fear images that involve the sky when it comes to puzzles, since it always leads to a mass of pieces that are too similar to easily tell apart, forcing you to set them aside until everything else has been built out.
The puzzles from the Magic Puzzle Company are all original illustrations, they were made to be puzzles. This means all the colors are clear and distinct, no ambiguity on if two pieces are really meant to go together or not. On top of that each image is full of little details for you to notice as you piece it together, enhancing your appreciation of the artists work. Each puzzle even comes with a checklist of little details you can search for in the puzzle.
Another problem that can arise when puzzling in a group is trying to get a look at the picture you’re trying to put together, which has resulted in a few cases of having to look at the box itself because someone else is hogging the reference poster. Puzzles from the Magic Puzzle Company come with two posters showing the full art, which naturally is easier to share.
Even the act of disassembling the puzzle has been simplified. The pieces are contained inside a resealable packet, so they can be neatly and safely put back inside it rather than lying loose in the box. There’s also no ‘puzzle dust’ to put up with.
On top of solving various puzzle problems, the Magic Puzzle Company also tries some new things, or at least ones I’ve never seen another puzzle do. The puzzle pieces do not have uniform shapes and sizes, some will be rather big while others have distinctive shapes.
Edges are no longer just for the exterior of the puzzle, in these magic puzzles you’ll have to line up pieces by their edges to complete the puzzle. Being able to stray from the standard of pieces with four gaps or connectors and edge pieces with one flat edge and three gaps or connectors is what enables some of the more unusually shaped pieces I’ve encountered, like one that resembles a little cat head and consists entirely of rounded edges.
When you open up each puzzle box you’ll see a packet warning you not to open it until you’ve completed the puzzle. That’s because each of the magic puzzles comes with a surprise ending.
This next section will be discussing the nature and mechanics of the secret ending of the magic puzzles. If you don’t want to spoil the surprise, skip ahead to the next pull quote like this.
If you’ve been questioning how a certain part of the magic puzzles work, you’re on your way to uncovering the secret ending. Recall what I said about how edge pieces can be found in the middle of the puzzle. That’s because each puzzle is ultimately divided into three distinct sections connected only by lining up the edges.
When you complete the puzzle it’s time for the magic shift, where you realign the sections of the puzzle as instructed in the secret ending packet. This will create an empty space at the puzzle’s center, which you will fill in with the secret ending puzzle pieces. There is no reference image to guide you here, but there’s so little to work with that it will be completed quickly.
The artists who work with the Magic Puzzle Company must be truly skilled to create artwork that works flawlessly with both forms of the puzzle. There’s no glaring inconsistencies in the images before or after the magic shift, only a change in context of what you see. I’m not an artist myself so this doesn’t mean as much, but I can’t imagine how difficult it is to illustrate something meant to be broken up in two different ways and still make perfect sense.
Thanks to being stored in a separate resealable envelope, the ending twist can be preserved for future assemblies.
Spoilers end here.
On a note about the Magic Puzzle Company itself, the ability to gift their puzzles to someone else when you’re done with them is highlighted as a feature on their website. Currently there are three series of three puzzles each, though not all are in stock last I checked.
I could easily see myself going through the whole roster of magic puzzles, and I’ve already signed up to be informed of when new series are released. This is the first time I’ve been excited for a puzzle in the same way I get excited for a video game or book.
How about you, the readers? Do you enjoy puzzling? Any entertaining puzzle stories? I have some I might share in the comments.
As a last note, Happy Valentine’s Day.
At recent Thanksgivings (including the days before and after Thanksgiving itself) my family has been tearing through puzzles, taking them down in a day or two. One time there was the greatest horror a puzzler can face, a missing piece that couldn't be found.
The day after Thanksgiving itself one of the relatives dropped by and turned out to have hidden the piece, he didn't think that we would already have the rest of the puzzle completed. Naturally this is something we've been sure to remember whenever it looks like a piece might be missing. Who knows, maybe he even hid a piece that you've been looking for.
Sorry for the delay in responding to your interesting post on Magic Puzzles. I found what you wrote compelling as I was an enthusiastic puzzler in my youth. I will certainly look for these puzzles and share them with my family next Christmas.