Suggestions for New Puzzles

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Permalink Reply by David on March 17, 2008 at 10:37am

As I said before, I like the dino dig idea, but I see the problem with the frame. A pile of dirt won't work. The only thing I could come up with is a museum. That's where the bones would end up anyway. Being so close to DC, the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum came to mind. The only other thing that came to mind was perhaps the shape of a specific state (say Colorado or Arizona or something). That was kind of lame, but then I thought of Pangea!!! It would make sense considering that would have been the shape of the world at the time. Just a thought.

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on March 17, 2008 at 6:22pm

Regarding the dino dig idea, you could do a frame that related to the type of environment were the dinosaur was found - eg an Arizona desert theme, or a jungle theme. An alternative might be to make the puzzle entirely out of bone shapes, with no frame, more like Flutterby.

The planet puzzle could have a similar teaser mechanic to the Luxembourg palace puzzle, involving figuring out the correct positions of the planets. Put a few spaceships/probes and comets into the mix, and I think it would be fun.

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Permalink Reply by David on March 17, 2008 at 10:18am

I like the dino dig idea! My daughter would love it too! She has been set on becoming a paleontologist since she was 4 and saw Jurassic Park. A suggestion to go along with this idea is a multi-layered puzzle to accentuate the idea of digging for the bones.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony on March 27, 2008 at 7:29pm

What about a puzzle fashioned after Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? The author uses a lot of Symbolism and visual Imagery thought the book. From the descriptions of the institution as a combine to his description of nurse Ratched. I guess it isn’t all that different from what Steve does to us, but we return for more. Just for the record read the book; don’t watch the movie

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Permalink Reply by Anthony on April 5, 2008 at 4:52pm

What about one after Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier?

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Permalink Reply by Jeanne on April 24, 2008 at 9:56pm

i would really like to see a colorful puzzle with hot air balloons or butterflies.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on April 28, 2008 at 9:20am

Hi Jeanne, You're right on with these ideas. Hot air balloons are very popular and while we have Traditional puzzles featuring them, we don't have any Teasers with hot air balloons. We'll take care of that ASAP! And you will be happy to hear that Cheryl Johnson has been working on a butterfly project for a while now. We are still in the Prototype stage right now but getting closer day by day. Keep watching the sky for these great new puzzles!
Jennifer

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Permalink Reply by Tammy & Joe on April 25, 2008 at 8:06am

I like the library, museum and pirate ship ideas. Another design I would like to see is a scene you would encounter during a walk in the woods. Tall trees with a dense understory of bushes, a few wildflowers, a worn path along a stream, a waterfall in the distance, a few creatures obvious (owl peaking out of a hole in a tree, chipmunk on a rock) but others hidden (such as a black bear behind a bush that wouldn't be noticable until that bush was completed).... The outline would follow the shape of the bushes and trees, cutouts where the sky would be visible, piece shapes like a squirrel, walking stick, hiking boot...

I've just put myself into a mood for a walk. I'm outta here.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on April 28, 2008 at 9:25am

Are you back from that walk yet?! I'm curious to know what you all think... we have a puzzle called Trail Mix which is filled with hikers with walking sticks and we have Hide-n-Seek which is a forest with critters and flowers, etc. Would it be overkill if we had another puzzle of this type? Sometimes I feel like we need to do brand new, fresh ideas, never done before and other times I think we need to stay true to what our puzzlers seem to choose. What do you all think? We love to puzzle you and really listen to what you say :)

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Permalink Reply by Tammy & Joe on May 20, 2008 at 3:40pm

Finally back from that walk.

I guess what I'm picturing is more of a traditional puzzle, something like Crown Jewels with a broken border and some cutouts in the tree line.

Another idea I'm trying to picture (but can't quite get the image of) is an ode to States. For example... I'm in Florida so at first I was thinking an outline of Florida with key landmarks painted in (examples- capital building in Tallahassee, mouse ears or killer whale or tourist in central, pirate in Tampa, art deco buildings in Ft Lauderdale/Miami, Everglades swamp, palm trees, moss covered oaks, orange trees...), teaser pieces could be dolphin, palm tree, manatee, alligator, sailboat, surfer...

I then thought that the state outline is probably not good for the more contour challenged states so how about the Stave clown used in puzzles like Paris Clown, with each state having it's own landmarks and teaser pieces. I realize you probably don't want to do all 50 but you could start with 1 and see how it goes over.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on May 20, 2008 at 4:01pm

Did you bug our office?! If you take a look at the sneak peek area you will see a new puzzle coming soon. It isn't exactly what you describe but it is close. It in turn, led to a brainstorming session on how we could do all of the states as individual puzzles but yet have them able to fit together as the whole country. That's the tough part. We could get a good butt-up type fit but it wouldn't be exact. Is that good enough? Stave standards are so high that I am sceptical of only having a close fit. What do you think? Am I being too picky? Sometimes I think I put off ideas because it won't be perfect...

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Permalink Reply by Tammy & Joe on May 20, 2008 at 5:45pm

Y'all should remember to turn off the webcam when you are brainstorming.

I can't find a sneak peak area but I'm not surprised to hear that you've already thought of the idea.

As for the fitting together problem... how about including an extra piece or more in each puzzle that wouldn't be used in the individual puzzle but would replace a piece in each of the two butting puzzles to join them together. The extra piece(s) would also add some confusion to the single puzzle building experience. Just a thought.


p.s. Strive for perfection. It's what makes Stave the best.

p.s.s. totally unrelated but your comment about a brainstorm session made me think how interesting it would be to see a video on the creation process of a puzzle from first thought to final cutting. maybe i'll start splicing together footage from the webcam, hidden cameras and mics ;) (unless you beat me to the punch again)

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