Stave Puzzles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Stave Puzzles, Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	Norwich, Vermont, USA (1974)
Founder	Steve Richardson, Dave Tibbetts
Headquarters	Norwich, Vermont
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Jigsaw puzzles
Owner	Steve Richardson
Number of employees	25 (2015)

Stave Puzzles is an American company in Norwich, Vermont. They are famous for making special jigsaw puzzles by hand. The company started in 1974. It was founded by Steve Richardson and Dave Tibbetts. The name "Stave" comes from combining parts of their first names.

Stave Puzzles uses strong, five-layered wood that is about 1/4 inch thick. They make many different kinds of puzzles. These include classic puzzles, tricky "teaser" puzzles, and "trick" puzzles that can be put together in more than one way. They also create 3D puzzles and special limited-edition puzzles. You can even order a puzzle made just for you! Each puzzle comes in a green and blue box, but there is no picture of the finished puzzle on the box. Stave Puzzles is the biggest company in the United States that makes hand-cut wooden jigsaw puzzles.

How Stave Puzzles Started

Steve Richardson moved to Vermont in 1969. He began a game design business with Dave Tibbetts. In 1974, someone asked Richardson to make a wooden jigsaw puzzle. They offered him $300 for it. That same year, Richardson and Tibbetts officially started Stave Puzzles.

In 1976, Richardson bought Tibbetts' share of the company. He paid just $1 and gave him a jigsaw. Richardson then built a small workshop behind his garage. He hired his first employee to help make the puzzles.

Famous Puzzles and Awards

In 1983, Stave Puzzles created their first "2-Way Trick Puzzle." It was called Go Fish. In 1989, they released a funny April Fools' Day puzzle called 5 Easy Pieces. This puzzle had no solution at all! The first thirty people who bought it got their money back.

Many famous people have owned Stave Puzzles. These include Queen Elizabeth II, Barbara Bush, Stephen King, Julie Andrews, and Bill Gates. In 1990, Stave Puzzles was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. It was for having the most expensive jigsaw puzzle. In 1991, a business expert named Tom Peters called Stave Puzzles the "Product of the Year."

Types of Puzzles

Traditional Puzzles

Stave makes classic rectangular puzzles. They come in different sizes. The smallest is about 5 by 7 inches, with 75 pieces. The largest is about 20 by 25 inches, with 1000 pieces. For every 100 pieces, you can ask for five special custom pieces. These can be shapes like dates, names, or silhouettes.

Teaser Puzzles

Stave's Teaser puzzles are designed to be harder than regular puzzles. Stave often gets artists to create special artwork for these puzzles. The artists and Stave puzzle makers work together. They try to make the pictures harder to use as clues for putting the puzzle together.

A Teaser puzzle might have some parts that are like normal puzzles. This makes those parts easier to solve. But in the middle or other areas, there are empty spaces. Many pieces need to fit into these holes. These pieces might be shapes of objects, people, or animals. It's hard to see how they fit until you try them out. Teaser puzzles are rated by how hard they are, from one to four "swords." Four swords means it's the most difficult.

Stave Teaser Puzzle, Bubbles, Four Sword difficulty, 120 pieces, Artist: Dee Rogers

Trick Puzzles

Steve Richardson is known as the "Chief Tormentor" because he invented the Trick puzzle. In these puzzles, some pieces can fit in two or more different spots. However, only one way is the correct solution. A small wooden block comes with each Trick puzzle. It tells you what the goal of the puzzle is.

For example, a Stave Trick puzzle called Champ has 44 blue pieces. These pieces can fit together in 32 different ways! But only one way is correct, where a serpent eats its own tail. Trick puzzles are rated by how hard they are, from one to five "lightning bolts." Five lightning bolts means it's the most difficult.

Limited-Edition Puzzles

Stave creates Limited-Edition puzzles using special artwork. Only a small number of these puzzles are made and sold. Usually, only 50 units are made, but sometimes up to 100. There are four main types of limited-edition puzzles: Double Deckers, Riddle, Mystery Story, and Trick. Some of these puzzles are even hand-painted.

Limited-edition puzzles often come with extra items that fit the puzzle's theme. These items can help you solve the puzzle or play extra games. For example, the Limited Edition Trick Puzzle Time Traveler came with special booklets. These booklets helped link the puzzle to a story about time travel. The puzzle's theme was major events from the years 1000 to 2000. The booklets guided you through fixing problems caused by a time-traveling villain.

Limited-edition trick puzzles are similar to other trick puzzles but have more detailed themes. For instance, Knight at Stavely Castle includes 3D pop-ups. These include a castle front that fits together in many ways and a 3D sword you must remove from a stone. These puzzles are more complex because of their strong themes and extra materials. One puzzle, Olivia the octopus, has 10,000 possible solutions!

Custom Puzzles

Sample Custom Puzzle made from a Picture of a Puzzler's Cat Justin.

Stave also makes custom puzzles. You can work with their puzzle makers to design a puzzle just for you.

Unique Puzzle Features

Stave Puzzles often include special, unique pieces or cuts to make their puzzles more challenging and fun.

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  Phony Corner

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  Whammy Edge

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  Enlarged Silhouette

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  Interacting Silhouette

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  Rebus

List of Limited Editions

Here are some of the special Limited Edition puzzles that Stave has released: