A couple weeks ago, we bundled up in our winter gear, piled into our car, and headed up for a day in the Big Apple to see what’s new on the puzzles, games, and plush horizons.

The New York Toy Fair is always exciting, and this year was no different!
 
TF11 treated us to amazing Lego sculptures:

Mega Blocks creations:

giant flexible balance beams:

TV-screen backpacks:

life-like bobblehead dolls:

and the "world’s largest puzzle":

a 32,000 piece jigsaw!

We’re happy to have discovered several awesome games and new jigsaw puzzle lines which we’re anxious to add to our websites in the coming weeks and months. Make sure to check back often, we’ll be featuring our newest items on the front page of SeriousPuzzles.com!

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

~Native American Proverb

We’re all trying to be more kind to the earth – and for good reason: when we leave this earth to our children, we want our earth to be as beautiful – or even more beautiful – than when we were children.  To this end, many companies are taking a greener approach to their manufacturing processes than ever before.  We at SeriousPuzzles.com are happy to announce that even your favorite pastime – puzzling – can be more earth-friendly!  We proudly carry several brands of eco-friendly puzzles:

1) ImagiPLAY

Naturally Safe…
Thoughtfully Produced…
Thoroughly Fun…
Toys With Integrity

 ImagiPLAY wooden puzzles are earth friendly and child safe. Made from plantation-grown, sustainably harvested, chemical-free rubberwood, these unique wooden puzzles are hand-painted with safety-tested paints & stains. Each puzzle is heirloom quality, and makes a beautiful, distinctive, and earth-friendly gift.

2) TDC Games

TDC’s Green Pieces collection is a series of four 500 piece photomosaic jigsaw puzzles that are embedded with actual wildflower seeds! When you are finished with your puzzle, instead of throwing it away, you can actually PLANT the puzzle pieces to offset your carbon footprint!  TDC’s jigsaw puzzles’ board and packaging is made from 100% recycled paper, printed with 100% soy-based inks, and does not come wrapped in plastic. These awesome earth-friendly puzzles are made right here in the United States!

"Eco-Friendly" Collection by TDC

TDC’s 1000 piece Eco-Friendly puzzle collection features 8 poster-sized puzzles with original artwork from artists like Dale Klee and Linda Picken. Each jigsaw puzzle is made from recycled, renewable, biodegradable materials, and soy-based inks, and are printed and manufactured in the USA!

3) Serendipity Puzzle Company 

ALL of Serendipity Puzzle Company’s jigsaw puzzles are made from 100% recycled material with 80-93% post-consumer content. Serendipity uses Forest Stewardship Council certified paper, ensuring it comes from professionally managed forests. In the printing process, water-based coatings and soy-based ink are used. In addition, Serendipity has reduced its packaging by 33%, their puzzles are easily recyclable, and are made in the U.S.A.

Frog Business - 1000pc Shaped Jigsaw Puzzle by Serendipity Puzzle Company

Each jigsaw puzzle made by Buffalo Games uses 100% recycled paperboard with 90% post-consumer content for both the box and the jigsaw puzzle itself. BGI puzzles are recycleable, and are made in the U.S.A.

The Living Seas: Turtle Play - 1000pc Jigsaw Puzzle by Buffalo Games

Jigsaw Puzzle Missing Piece Guide

• Double, triple, and maybe even quadruple check your box to verify the missing piece isn't in there. It's possible the piece could be stuck in the flap or a corner. It could have happened during production, packaging, or transport.
  
  
• Do a thorough search of the room or any rooms that you have used for opening, constructing, glueing, transporting, storing, or even thinking about the jigsaw puzzle. Check under chairs, inside open garbage cans, between the rug & molding; don't be afraid to scour the surroundings for the missing piece.
  
  
• If you've vacuumed recently, check the vacuum bag or garbage can. If you have pets or small children, then your boundary for scanning and searching is far far wider!
  
  
• It could be a practical joke -- a tricky spouse or a child keen on finishing the puzzle may have absconded with the missing piece in the hopes of laying the final piece. Or, they could simply enjoy rendering you confounded on your hands and knees looking for a tiny piece of cardboard. Either way, don't rule out the possibilty of hijinks.
  
  
• And, lastly, make sure that all of the pieces you've placed so far belong where they are. It's very possible that a piece you've already placed may not actually go there. In that case, you're probably missing a different piece -- not much help here, but it will be important later if you're trying to get the right replacement piece.

We’re excited to announce that we have created a paper Serious Puzzles catalog!

Just in time for the holidays, it features a selection of our most favorite brain teasers, jigsaw puzzles, 3D puzzles, puzzle boxes, and more! 

You can view the catalog online (though ALL of our puzzles are always available for browsing & purchase right at SeriousPuzzles.com).

Or, if you’d prefer to receive your very own glossy copy, just shoot us an email at info@seriousshops.com

Make sure to include your mailing address!  :)

Adam, Dan, and I headed up the NJ Turnpike for an exciting trip to New York City to visit the New York Toy Fair being held in the Javits Center in Manhattan. This was Serious Shops' third year (and best yet!) visiting NYTF.

NYTF is a fantastic place to meet up with some of our current vendors, find new products and toymakers, and even catch an early glimpse of the next big thing in the toy world. Of course bringing home toy samples for the kids (and ourselves, of course) is a major plus!

The highlight this year had to be getting my photo taken with Robert Pattinson - you know, Edward Cullen from Twilight? 

Okay, it was just a cardboard cutout, but cool, nonetheless, right?!

We visited the amazing Lego display:

Best item of the show had to be the prototype of the soon-to-be released Rubik’s Slide puzzle on which we’ve spent the last few days mastering the easy level. 

I’m sure it will be a big hit this holiday season! Great brain teaser!

We collected catalogs, tested out puzzles, watched a skateboard demo, shook plenty of hands, walked what felt like miles of aisles, ate super-expensive mediocre food, saw some really unique toys, puzzles, & games, and overall had a really fun, productive time!

Next up: choosing which products to add to our line-up this year.  Stay tuned for new additions like Heye and EuroGraphics jigsaw puzzles!  I’m already looking forward to next year.  

 
Giving a gift? Make them work for it with this clear
acrylic puzzle box. To open it and get to the goodies
within, the recipient must carefully tilt the box to
guide a ball bearing through a three-dimensional
maze, all the way up to the latch.
This moderately difficult maze is a fun test of your
manual dexterity and sense of direction. The inside
compartment measures about 8 ¼"x5 ¾"x1 ¼",
perfect for most paperback books and small hardcovers
or up to two DVD, Blu-Ray, or video game cases.

Disentanglement puzzles, aka disentanglements, are the brain teaser puzzles that usually require the removal / extrication of a ring or long oval piece (known as a shuttle). These puzzles will often employ chains or ropes for complexity and/or aestetics. These types of puzzles have a long, long history dating back at least hundreds of years.

In general, these puzzles, at first glance, will appear to be unsolvable without force. However, upon closer inspection there are "weaknesses" to be discovered in the design. There are design weaknesses of many kinds, but some of the more common can be described as "loose" joints, "suspicious" gaps, or "pull-overs". The more difficult disentanglement puzzles could require the exploitation of more than one of these weaknesses in concert to reach the solution. In fact, some of the more challenging disentanglement puzzles even use recursive procedures to arrive at the solution (like Patience Puzzle, a super classic, http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/patiencepuzzle.html)

ex. of the "Pull-Over" weakness
http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/conestogas.html

ex. of the "Loose" joint weakness
http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/iron.html

ex. of the "Suspicious" gap weakness
http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/ring.html

IMHO, the best disentanglement puzzles are the intersection of visual simplicity and obscurity of weakness. They may not be considered the most challenging puzzles. They look strong, sturdy, and simple. Their weakness is difficult to describe, uncommon, and hard to "see". Here are some of my favorites:

And of course, who can forget the Classic Horseshoe Puzzle...For sale at http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/luchorshoes.html

This puzzle still mesmerizes me. It uses a slip and twist motion only made possible by the links between the horseshoe. With the ring nearly in stand still while the horseshoes twist and slip between it, the horseshoes are suddenly side by side and the ring ready to slip off!

SPOILER Alert -- solution for Lucky Horseshoes here:
For a slow mo video, check this out.

Horse Shoe Puzzle Secret Explanation How To Solve It

 UPDATE!  Congratulations to our lucky winner April @MagicDandelions! Thank you everyone for your interest & please visit again in the future for more giveaways!

I thought I’d start off the weekend right by giving away a brand-new, right off the shelf copy of one of our kids’ favorite puzzles; the Geometric Shapes Maze By Melissa & Doug. You can check out the puzzle maze, right here on our SeriousPuzzles.com site:

A great educational wooden puzzle; it reinforces basic color & shape recognition (shape names are printed on the puzzle), as well as developing fine motor, patience, independent work, sequence, and matching skills.  Our daughter’s favorite way to use this is to challenge me to mix it up the “most” and see how fast she can “unmix” it. A great time, all around! 

Melissa & Doug puzzles are crafted by hand using non-toxic paints, and meet or exceed all U.S. toy testing standards.

Would you like a copy of this fantastic puzzle maze?

Here’s how to get one:

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TO ENTER:

Please visit SeriousPuzzles.com.  Leave a comment on this blog; tell me one thing you learned about us or which puzzle you really loved on our site!

EXTRA ENTRIES: (Don’t forget to leave a comment for every extra entry you complete!)

1.  Sign Up For the Serious Shops Newsletter  (please send us a separate email to info@seriousshops.com letting us know you signed up)

2.  Tell me a product from one of our Serious Shops that you would like to see as a giveaway in the future.

3.  Follow Serious Shops on Twitter

4.  Follow me on Twitter & Tweet this giveaway (you can do this once a day!)

Giveaway is open to US Residents only. Contest will end on August 31st at 12am EST. Winner will be chosen at random and will be announced here on http://www.seriousshops.com/blogs/ & emailed directly. Winner has 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.