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.
Laser Cutting vs. Scroll Saw for Puzzle Making
Laser and scroll saw produce genuinely different puzzles, not just the same puzzle by different means. A comparison of kerf, repeatability, …
How to Write Your Own Riddles That Are Fair but Hard
A good riddle is hard before the answer and obvious afterwards. That requires a fairness contract, deliberate use of ambiguity, and testing …
Sustainable Puzzle Materials: Paperboard, Plywood, and Certification
FSC certifies supply chains, not products. Formaldehyde rules cover the glue in plywood. And a laminated puzzle image can push the whole box…
Restoring a Damaged Vintage Puzzle Responsibly
Professional conservation ethics say a good intervention is minimal, documented, detectable and reversible. Applied to a damaged vintage puz…
Missing Piece? Options, Replacements, and Prevention
A missing piece is usually not missing. It is under the table, in the box liner, or stuck to a sleeve. Here is where to look first, what man…
Sleep, Rest, and Why Solutions Arrive After You Stop
Taking a break from a stuck problem measurably improves your chance of solving it, and what you do during the break matters. The sleep evide…
Burr Notation and How Solvers Talk About Pieces
Burr collectors describe puzzles with numbers rather than photographs. Here is what the piece codes and level notation actually encode, and …
Hands-On Skills: What Wooden Puzzles Teach Beyond Solving
Spatial skills training shows solid effects in young children, and hands gather information eyes cannot. Here is what the evidence supports …
Die-Cutting Explained: How Modern Jigsaws Are Manufactured
A modern jigsaw puzzle is a single press stroke through a steel blade maze. Research on board die cutting explains the force involved, why t…
Choosing Your First Puzzle Box: A Practical Guide
A first puzzle box should be solvable in one sitting without help. That points to a fairly narrow set of choices on move count, material and…
Modern Puzzle Box Designers and How the Craft Evolved
The puzzle box changed because its manufacturing did. Workshop apprenticeship, machine tolerance and museum collecting each pushed the craft…
What Makes a Puzzle Reusable and Worth Keeping
Two things decide whether a puzzle is worth a second solve: whether the board survives it, and whether you have forgotten the image. Researc…