The Yes Puzzle Blog
Every article on the site, newest first: mechanical puzzles, jigsaws, brain teasers, puzzle boxes, and the science of solving. New articles publish on a rolling schedule; subscribe to the RSS feed to catch them.
A Starter Shelf of Wire Disentanglement Puzzles
Six wire puzzles from pocket-money simple to genuinely nasty, chosen to build skills in the right order.…
What to Do When a Puzzle Box Jams or Sticks
Most stuck puzzle boxes are not broken. They are either being solved incorrectly or they have swollen with the seasons. Both have safe respo…
Solving Jigsaws With Other People Without Getting in the Way
Four people on a puzzle rarely go four times faster. Most of the loss is coordination: two people searching the same tray for the same piece…
Storing Puzzles Long Term: Boxes, Bags, and Climate
Attics and garages destroy more puzzles than heavy use ever will. What archive and library conservation guidance says about temperature, hum…
Puzzle Libraries, Swaps, and Where Old Puzzles Go
Public libraries lend jigsaw puzzles by the hundred and run self-serve swap stations. Here is how those schemes work, what to check before d…
How to Choose a Puzzle for Someone Else
Most puzzle gifts fail on logistics rather than taste. Here is how to think about time, table space, difficulty and age labelling before you…
Japanese Puzzle Boxes You Can Buy Right Now
Real Hakone himitsu-bako and Karakuri work, from a 12-step starter box to a 21-step heirloom, all available from stock.…
White Mountain 1000 Piece Jigsaws Worth Your Table Time
Six American-made 1000 piece jigsaws from White Mountain, chosen for images that sort well and solve better.…
Selling and Trading Puzzles: Pricing, Honesty, and Condition Notes
A used puzzle listing lives or dies on one question: is it complete, and how do you know? A practical guide to verifying, describing, pricin…
Hanayama Cast Puzzles: A Buyer's Guide by Difficulty
Six Hanayama cast puzzles worth owning, ordered from friendly to fiendish, plus the set to buy when you cannot pick just one.…
Wood Selection for Puzzles: Grain, Stability, and Movement
A puzzle piece with a clearance of a few thousandths of an inch lives or dies by how much its wood moves. Here is what shrinkage numbers act…
Puzzle Boxes as Gifts: Presentation, Difficulty, and Etiquette
A puzzle box makes a memorable gift or a quietly resented one, and the difference is usually difficulty. Here is how to choose for the recip…