Hey Puzzle Bomb Fam!
Those who have been around for a while know some of my favorite puzzles are the ones that are extra whimsical, and a bit odd. For example, one of my all-time favorites from a theme/aesthetic perspective is Dashing Locks.
So, when the thought of an alphabet soup puzzle came to mind, I was excited to dive in. A weird and whimsical theme combined with the fun of letter-shaped connectors? Sign me up! The only problem: I had to design it first!
The Initial Layout
For this puzzle, I started with a pretty quick digital layout, just to get the overall composition together. Of course, any respectable soup-related puzzle was going to have to have the iconic Campbell's soup can, so I pulled in an image from the internet as a starting basis, and modified the text a bit as a bit of a puzzle rebrand!
Fun side note: So many iconic products have subtle design details that you don't notice until looking closely. In the case of the Campbell's logo, as I tweaked it for this use, I found that the "E" is the iconic bit that makes the Campbell's lettering instantly recognizable. That break into an upper-case "E" in script form is so unusual! If you change it to the typical lower-case "e", the wordmark almost completely loses its identity. So, I of course kept it, as the new "Puzzells" logo is still instantly relatable due to that "E".
For the rest of the puzzle, I freehanded a blotchy soup spill, and found a font that tried to replicate alphabet soup. The imperfect style there hit it out of the park!
Filling in the Spillage
A lot of the design process is figuring out how to achieve the desired outcome within the constraints of a working puzzle, especially when it's a bit of a mechanical design like a field of letters. I already knew I wanted the connectors to be smaller versions of the alphabet soup letters, and that I wanted a high line-density full of these letter forms.
I first thought I could employ an old trick that I sometimes use, which is dividing a large area into piece-sized cells, and then jutting in the connectors from there, similar to what I did in Haybound Needle. I tried this approach for an hour or so before ditching it. It turns out this approach only works great when the connectors are flexible in size and/or shape. However, in this application, the letters needed to be a consistent size, and couldn't be modified in any way.
I brainstormed a bit, and pivoted to a different approach. I first digitally filled the entire spill-field with letters. Doing it digitally meant I could scoot around and rotate letters until everything fit nicely:
Apparently, I'd also taken on a side quest of redesigning the central "badge" of the can in the interim, settling on a simple puzzle piece design that served to also connect the two halves of the can together.
At any rate, back to the letters, this new approach ensured I was able to achieve the high letter-density and even spacing I was after, not having to shoehorn these letter shapes into pre-existing piece outlines.
I then printed out this file, put it on my light table, and began tracing out pieces that followed all of these letters, filling the final cut pattern with very recognizable letter forms.
Apparently, I didn't take the painter's tape off before I did this scan (my tape of choice when I use the light table), but it shows the very satisfying result of this sketch work. It did result in a fairly high variation in piece size as I was eyeballing the piece shapes, and having to keep connectivity in mind, but the end result of discernable letters was more important than a consistent piece size here.
The Can
Many of my designs seem to present themselves as two or more mini-puzzles, and this puzzle has that on steroids. Before I even decided on the cut scheme, the "letter" portion of this puzzle was already going to be instantly sortable from the can portion due to color.
Because of this, I decided there was no sense in extending the letter connectors to the can section, since the can was already going to have a distinct identity from the spillage. I also knew the can would be incredibly easy if I didn't pull out my bag of "raise the difficulty" tricks, as there are so few pieces of the can colors.
I ended up using a trick I first implemented with 34 Keys, where I replicated slightly modified key shapes throughout the puzzle. It doesn't quite create false fits, but rather pieces that look like they'll fit, but then don't. In this case, I replicated shape forms from the "Puzzells" and "Soup" wording for the connectors of each respective half of the can.
It's still not souper difficult due to the small piece count, but the trickery at least makes it more than a routine exercise!
Coloring It Up
The last step in making this puzzle ready for sampling was the color scheme. The spillage area was easy, as I just wanted it to look like alphabet soup, so orange for the tomato soup, and nude for the letters it was!
Given my Bumfuzzled color-pallette, and the fame of Warhol's Campbell's soup can art, I decided the can could take on that Warhol-esque feel with a very pop art color scheme. Even though it's a very simple color scheme, I did spend quite some time playing with alternative colorings for the can before landing on the final.
Sorry lime green, you're left out of this one!
The Final Masterpiece
As usual, this design then sat in a digital folder for about a year before its turn in line arrived. I was so excited to get this one produced, as it's still currently my absolute favorite Bumfuzzled out of all my designs (I currently have all Bumfuzzleds designed through #50, which will release in February of 2028, Lord willing)!
While I also like some of the more "serious" designs, some designs just make me a bit giddy because they're the perfect match of a bit ridiculous and off-the-wall, but then also visually appealing and incredibly fun as a puzzle. I wasn't let down when the sample arrived and I began to play with it.
Some of the satisfaction of designing my own stuff is that I simply get to make what I want, and don't have to hope someone else makes something that fits my own aesthetics and idea of fun.
Hopefully, my idea of "fun" matches yours here, and I hope y'all are having fun with it!
Love and blessings,
Chad aka the Puzzle Bomb Designer Among Other Things Guy
7 comments
This one was super nostalgic for me as that soup was a big part of my childhood (along with Campbells Cheddar Cheese soup which was my all time favorite).
As mentioned above some of the pieces were similar colors on both sides so this time I was super careful when disassembling it to make sure all the pieces were face up. I actually enjoy disassembling it as well as building it. I take a couple pieces out at a time and try to randomize their locations in the pile so that pieces that fit together are nowhere near each other when I start.
Sorting by color helped a lot here as well, I did this one twice so far, once with the blank backboard and frame and once by itself. Using the pieces outline in the backboard is just too easy so I haven’t done that with any of them but if I introduce one to a younger person I will definitely start that way.
So far this is my sixth puzzle and I find I am looking forward to the start of each month so much more than before lol Cant wait for September and to see what the special 13th puzzle will be this year!
This was great fun for my 5-year-old and me. As I started to join the can to the soup I couldn’t figure out how it was going to fit on the board in the frame, so it was a surprise to frame it and realize I had it at the wrong angle.
My favorite pieces were the two blue ones at the top of the can working together to fit around a connector. The blue section was tough.
I get why you loved this one so much. The different sizes and styles of letters, used both as designs and connectors, made this one challenging and fun.
While the whole can was a fun challenge, I do think the bottom half of the soup can was particularly crazy. I often think the hardest part of these puzzles are the sections that have wood “colored” pieces. When you add in the challenge of not being able to tell if you have the right side of the piece facing up, it makes it so much harder. Between the wood coloring and the repeating letters design, the bottom of the can had me spinning my wheels for a bit.
I saved this one for a while and I just worked it tonight. The can and the false fits were the hardest section for me because I didn’t use any guide images – just the shapes. The spilled soup was easy and full of whimsy. This was a quick one but it was really fun! I can’t wait to see what’s coming in September.
Chad, I love that you have talked about the challenge in finding new ideas for connectors but it feels like you never truly run out, they just spur you on to something entirely new, or new ideas for connectors spawn out of concepts. This one is so novel.
One of the things I love is when you really examine the line between reality and whimsy. It knocks it out of the park because the whimsy is all in the presentation – outside of that, it’s a real thing that we’re all familiar with.
I love seeing the hand-tracing aspect of your puzzle piece design process. The fact that every fit is unique trains us to undo any “close but slightly imperfect” fits that we may attempt.
This puzzle was loads of fun.
Fun puzzle!
While it’s not my favorite Bumfuzzled, it’s certainly in my top 5!
Fascinating behind the scenes look at the design process.
Your announcement around the time of shipping implied that the spilled soup was a lot harder than the can, but I didn’t find that the case for me. It took me about 1:13 for the can, then finished at about 2:30, although I’d put together a few of the soup letter connections when I finished the can.
Great concept and a lot of fun to put together!