Wooden puzzles are some of the most popular puzzles around, and without doubt, the most popular wooden puzzle has to be the classic jigsaw!

Following on from our thoughts on puzzles going mainstream, where we discussed puzzles as an educational tool, it’s extremely interesting to chart the development of puzzles over time. Considering wooden puzzles began as educational tools, but then became increasingly focused around entertainment, it’s an amazing turnaround to see puzzles now being regarded as having educational value again in the public psyche.

With the origins of wooden jigsaw puzzles being traced back to the 1760’s, their rapid ascent to entertainment for adults was met with both excitement and trepidation, with early examples of jigsaws being extremely difficult. With jigsaws being cut along colour lines, it was extremely difficult to make out transition pieces in the image! Having said that, anyone who has had a go at one of those ‘beans’ jigsaws, with an image of baked beans on it, could testify as puzzles still being fairly difficult.

From our perspective, wooden puzzles will always have a special place as they are some of the most classy and eye catching options available, and when designed properly they have longevity and class that other puzzles can’t achieve. The challenge now is in creating new and exciting wooden puzzles, and in the UK there are a number of companies that are pushing back on the typologies of puzzles.

With jigsaws enjoying a renaissance in the past few years, including those 3D jigsaws and the novelty difficult jigsaws hitting the scene, jigsaws have cemented their place as a family favourite. But if the transition is made towards puzzles as educational tools, we think the jigsaw will have strong competition from other forms of wooden puzzles, including wooden cube assemblies, and variations on wood and string combo puzzles, and from an educational perspective, will perhaps come up short against some stronger competition. The challenge is for jigsaws to innovate and reinvent themselves again.

The Gift Marketplace Team

Depending on what you read, puzzles have been a constant throughout human history, with evidence that wooden puzzles and metal puzzles delighting man for as long as records exist. It seems that throughout the ages puzzles have delighted and challenged people in equal measure.

But what makes a good puzzle? Well, something that causes intrigue is paramount, challenging the way people think. To derive creative solutions to what on the surface can appear to be a very simple puzzle. A puzzle should also excite the puzzler; it should stimulate thought and fire neurons in the brain. Without excitement for the puzzle, there will be a lack of drive to solve it. So puzzles should intrigue, excite and stimulate the user.

But should there be more to puzzles than this? Should puzzles be used to expand the mind? To demand new perspectives? To develop innovative and creative abilities? It seems that in an age of ‘knowledge economies’, where ideas are the powerhouse of companies, industries and arguably countries, that all opportunities to develop creative, logic and problem solving skills should be taken. Call it developing the competitive edge if you will.

But there are also more fundamental benefits to puzzles. Grappling with a puzzle for hours not only stimulates the mind and keeps it active, but also aids dexterity and coordination, developing and maintaining those vital skills.

The best thing about all of these skills and attributes is that they apply equally to the young and the older generations. The young can use puzzles to develop these skills, the older generation to also develop but also (and arguably more importantly) maintain those skills and attributes. Cross words and more recently SuDoku are mainstream examples of this, but how long before puzzles become more ingrained in the psyche of people?

The challenge it seems for puzzles, is to change its image from an interesting challenge in holidays or as a unique puzzle gift, to something ingrained in everyday life. As SuDoku has shown, that shift can happen very quickly.

The Gift Marketplace Team

Third up is another magician related puzzle - Houdini’s Cage!

On first inspection this looks like an old sea mine, but the name of the game with this puzzle is to remove the sphere with legs out of the cylinder, without any force used (that means no bending, breaking, removing prongs or end rings!). This one will test the patience, but the reward for removing the sphere and placing it back in will make the hard work worth it!

These puzzles come in a variety of colours, which will be dispatched at random.

Second up is another classic that we all love! Following on from our sand pictures comes the classic metal springy puzzle! For young and old alike, this gift will keep all amused as you try to slink the metal springy down the stairs! Will it make the bottom? Or if you don’t fancy that then simply pass the metal springy between your hands for hours of fun!

This gift comes randomly in silver or bronze.

Christmas comes and goes for another year, but 2009 promises to be a very exciting year at the Gift Marketplace!  To kick off the new year, we have a couple of new puzzles for you all. 

First up is a new range of mathematical puzzles that also double up as magic tricks!  Here at the Gift Marketplace, we have a collection of four pocket-sized curiositities that will cause wonder and excitement!  Anything from being able to detect randomly chosen numbers to enormously complicated sums being swiftly solved and randomly selected digits are added together in a flash. 

You will have your friends and family truly puzzled!

Another review from the Gift Marketplace!

The All Five Puzzle was recently taken for a test drive by the Gift Marketplace team, and first impressions were that this is an extremely well made and beautifully crafted puzzle gift. All of the constituent parts come together to form a chic and exciting ornament for the home!

The All Five Puzzle consists of a large number of pieces, with 5 separate puzzles to complete as you build up the final piece. Those of you with an appreciation for well made puzzles with interesting geometric shapes will find this puzzle a joy to work with!

The puzzle comes in a display box which shows the five pieces of the puzzle separately, and once all the puzzles are dismantled, putting them all back together in the correct order is the challenge! Starting with the smallest puzzle, this then fits into the second puzzle, and into the third etc until you build up the finished article. Here at the Gift Marketplace, it took about an hour to complete, which isn’t the most difficult puzzle we’ve experienced. What sets this puzzle apart is the stunning finishing to it, and uniqueness in its shape and composition. This puzzle is recommended for those who like to have talking points in your home, but desire an enjoyable puzzle that wont have you crawling up the walls!

All in all, a pleasing puzzle which when complete can take pride of place in your living room!

Here at the Gift Marketplace, we’re excited by puzzles, and thought we should provide some honest reviews of some of our puzzles to help in your decision making!

First up this week is the Kings Court Puzzle!

First of all, this is a beautifully made puzzle, and genuinely looks good on a coffee table or sideboard. There are only 4 pieces to this puzzle, but this isn’t a typical wooden cube puzzle where you stack pieces on top of eachother! You need to slide and move pieces in tandem to fit them into the 4×4 cube shape!

After figuring that bit out, the puzzle gets more complicated! You then need to figure out how a marble could fit deep within the puzzle, essentially slotting into the cube somewhere. The problem with the marble is that it restricts the movement of the sliding pieces in the puzzle, so by placing the marble in the puzzle somewhere, it can stop the cube being formed! To complete the puzzle, you need to shift the marble within the cube as you assemble it!

Here at the Gift Marketplace, it took us about an hour to put the cube together, and a lot longer to figure out how the marble fitted in!

Overal a fantastic puzzle, and a firm favourite with the Gift Marketplace for its longevity and aesthetic value. Highly reccomended!

Here at the Gift Marketplace, we try to cater for all puzzle enthusiasts - from expert puzzlers to beginners alike, and we’re proud to announce a new set of puzzles specifically for children!

No matter what your childs passion is, you’ll find a puzzle thats suits all childrens interests! From animal puzzles, to construction puzzles, to dinosaur puzzles, you can find over 40 childrens in our childrens puzzles section.

Educational as well as fun, these reasonably priced puzzles make the ideal entertainment and educational toy!

The Gift Marketplace team

It is with a great pleasure that the Gift Marketplace welcomes back an old friend from many a happy childhood!

New in stock today are sand pictures - two pieces of glass that hold together a combination of liquid, sand and air which when flipped, creates a mesmorising slow flow of sand from the top to the bottom, creating a unique landscape which will fascinate you again and again! Not sure what we’re talking about? Then check the stock in the sand pictures section.

We remember spending endless hours watching the sand slowly drop from the top to the bottom, such a simple concept but a great way to spend hours when you should be working or studying! Whether thats a good thing or not I guess is up to you!

The Gift Marketplace Team

Welcome to the Gift Marketplace’s puzzle blog!

We’re passionate about puzzles here at the Gift Marketplace, and you will find updates on all things happening in the puzzle world here on this blog. We’ll also keep you updated on our gifts and product lines, and any special competitions we may be having! So hit the subscribe button, and we’ll keep you in the loop on all things puzzles!

The Gift Marketplace team