Bumfuzzled is Heading Back to Kickstarter!

Hey puzzle friends!

If you're reading this blog, it's probably because you just got our email, and want to know more. Well, here goes!

Puzzle Bomb's Beginnings on Kickstarter

Many of you likely remember that our very first Bumfuzzled launches were on Kickstarter. Our initial choice to use the platform was simply because we didn't have tens of thousands of dollars to produce puzzles, so a preorder made perfect sense to get the money up front, getting us the money we needed, while also eliminating the risk of traditional manufacturing and sales.



And it worked! Our first major campaign for Bumfuzzleds #1-#4 attracted over 1,000 customers, and nearly $100,000 in sales. This is far better than any quarter we've done on Shopify! It's the entire reason Puzzle Bomb was able to get off the ground!


Moving Solely to Shopify

After a few successful Kickstarters, we decided we no longer needed Kickstarter to float Bumfuzzled, now that there was an established customer base, and we had the funds for print runs. Kickstarter takes a 5% cut of sales, so this move was also saving us some money (or at least, so it seemed).

Our last 4 quarterly launches have been on our Shopify store without use of Kickstarter.


The Problem

While sales on Shopify have been OK, Shopify misses one crucial element... it doesn't naturally draw in new customers. On a typical Kickstarter campaign, about 30% of the customers are brand new to Puzzle Bomb, just by virtue of folks discovering the project on their platform. This is huge for a small company like Puzzle Bomb. Even though we don't need the preorder element to fund our runs, over the past year, we found this marketing element is still very much needed.

2024 was our worst year financially (not much better than break even!), as it took a ton of Meta ad spending to bring in new customers. Naturally, you lose some customers over time, so it's imperative that you're always finding folks who love your product!


The Return to Kickstarter

So what will the new projects look like? Two important points:

Timing - We're going to launch each quarterly Bumfuzzled wave approximately 2 weeks prior to start of the quarter. So, this next project will launch March 18th. The preorder will run for two weeks, with the pledge manager immediately following.

We're still doing the manufacturing ahead of time, so we will start shipping the puzzles as soon as the Kickstarter funds clear, rather than the typical 8 month wait for Kickstarters. So, you'll still receive your Q2 puzzles in April as you typically would.

Pricing - For the past year, Bumfuzzled puzzles have been $59, or $149 for the full set. During this Kickstarter window, we are reducing the price of the new puzzles to $49 per puzzle, or $129 for the full set.

With all of the uncertainties in the world right now, with many companies (including ourselves) taking a tariff hit on goods produced, almost everyone is increasing prices, putting more financial pressure on the consumer. While our products are a luxury good, we'd at least like to do a small part in relieving this pressure on our customers, as well as give a small thank you for the minor extra hassle of backing a Kickstarter vs. placing a Shopify store order!

Please Follow Our Kickstarter!

Pre-launch followers help us in Kickstarter's algorithms, causing them to display it in more places, which in turn mean more folks discover Bumfuzzled. This small act on your end makes a big difference, and we so much appreciate it!


You can follow the project here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/puzzlebomb/bumfuzzled-spring-2025-collection

As always, thank you all so much, and if you have any questions, please leave a comment!

Love and blessings,
Chad