Note: My apologies for some of the formatting peculiarities of this post. For the life of me, I can't figure out why the spacing in this post isn't behaving.
Hey Puzzle Bomb Fam!
As a creator, it's always so rewarding to hear from folks who are interacting with the stuff you create. Pretty much from the very beginning, Will Miro has been a constant source of encouragement, sending me regular emails regarding what he thinks about each puzzle.
It's so interesting to see how he so often picks up on "rules", feelings, and various solve strategies that I build into each puzzle. He even sometimes notices aspects of a puzzle that I didn't even realize! :D
He even keeps his own personal database of his thoughts and images of each Bumfuzzled, along with his current top 10. That's some dedication!
Here's what he has to say, along with some of my own thoughts about his observations.
Bumfuzzled #1: Enigmatic Gewgaw
Will: Enigmatic Gewgaw was my first puzzle from Puzzle Bomb. I had been looking for a wooden jigsaw puzzle with unconventional shapes, and this was exactly that. But it was also so much more, and quickly won me over to the shape-centric approach, where each piece is a single color, and can't be matched to neighboring pieces based on a more traditional overlaid image. This was also my first edgeless puzzle. And my first puzzle with cutouts/voids.
I don't know why, but to begin I sorted the pieces by color. Which didn't help at all. Until I was almost done with the puzzle and realized the puzzle follows a color rule: a piece never touches another piece of the same color. Arg! I wished I had spotted the rule sooner, but what a fun, hidden mechanism.
What a great puzzle. I was hooked.
Chad: It's funny... back when I designed this, I was super amateur, and really had nothing in mind. The color "rule" wasn't meant as anything other than an aesthetic choice at the time, but as I matured as a puzzle designer, my choices became much more intentional.
Chad: It's funny... back when I designed this, I was super amateur, and really had nothing in mind. The color "rule" wasn't meant as anything other than an aesthetic choice at the time, but as I matured as a puzzle designer, my choices became much more intentional.
Bumfuzzled #2: Greenwood Burg
Chad: Will wasn't a super collector early on, and missed this one. I'm trying to dig one up for him!
Will: 34 Keys is such a great puzzle. I loved the devious key shapes that weren't actually keys, the repeating heart shapes, and the criss-crossing keys.
It must have been such a challenge to alternate the background color such that two background pieces of the same color never touch.
Bumfuzzled #4: Wiggler Concavity
Will: My favorite part of Wiggler Concavity was how rapidly I could progress a chain once I got it started. Many of the chains mostly just sit along side each other, so it's satisfying to finally find the piece that binds them together. The big colorful circles were fun. The green 'plugs' were surprisingly tricky. The only part I didn't like was the orphaned innie in the green ring.
Chad: Funnily enough, that orphaned innie is one of my favorite details, as it causes the ring to connect to every color of "chain", plus one deceptive void connection.
Chad: Funnily enough, that orphaned innie is one of my favorite details, as it causes the ring to connect to every color of "chain", plus one deceptive void connection.
Bumfuzzled #5: Dashing Locks
Will: Dashing Locks is much trickier than it looked, but super fun. The main two areas of this puzzle feel quite distinct. Even with so few face pieces it took me awhile for that section. The hair is so wavy that even when I was down to my last piece it was difficult to place it. Just missing out on my Bumfuzzled Top 10.
Chad: In the two distinct areas, think this is the first puzzle where I really went for a jarring/unexpected connector type for a puzzle, option to segment the face into squares vs. the very expected wavy hair. This idea of areas of distinct connector types is something I often utilize to this day.
I also distinctly remember this puzzle being the one where I began to feel confident as a puzzle designer, almost in disbelief that the Lord had blessed me with this skill that I previously didn't believe I had. It remains one of my favorite Bumfuzzles to this day.
I also distinctly remember this puzzle being the one where I began to feel confident as a puzzle designer, almost in disbelief that the Lord had blessed me with this skill that I previously didn't believe I had. It remains one of my favorite Bumfuzzles to this day.
Bumfuzzled #6: Bucolic Mechanoverse
Will: Bucolic Mechanoverse's purple and green were easy fun at the beginning, but then it started getting tricky. Something I really enjoy about these puzzles is discovering the 'rules' for each. Like, "oh, all the white strands are interconnected and converge in the middle, and only the white and the green penetrate the frame's edge". The rules make each puzzle like a mini-mystery. I really appreciate all the thought put into the craft of the cuts. More than other jigsaw puzzles these give me the feeling of playing a game.
My favorite part of Bucolic Mechanoverse was a tricky bulb on the top left edge that turned out to be two pieces working together. The bottom of the large hot air balloon in Aerostat Eve had a similar trick, where I was looking everywhere for that shape, to no avail. I like that I can't immediately know how many pieces it will take to fill a given space.
Chad: It's interesting to hear Will say these puzzles give him the feeling of playing a game, as I've been a board gamer for most of my adult life. It definitely influences my approach to designing puzzles.
I also love how he clued into green/purple being the ideal starting point, as that was my "trick" in this puzzle. This puzzle is very hard if a solver doesn't pick up on this.
I also love how he clued into green/purple being the ideal starting point, as that was my "trick" in this puzzle. This puzzle is very hard if a solver doesn't pick up on this.
Will: There's a lot going on in Aerostat Eve. Any one section seems like it should be easy, but there are so many sections, and the balloons in particular have some tough interplays of color. As with others in the series, I love how different sections will have different styles of cuts. The most satisfying part of this puzzle was locking together the long swirls of air.
Chad: Yup, this puzzle was mostly an excuse to do lots of curly cues, as folks tend to find that connector type very satisfying! :D
Will: Epochal Interlinks. Wow. There were so many sneaky tricks built into this one, it was like trying to solve a maze but the maze maker is watching and keeps switching things up to keep me on my toes. The color rule was helpful, but the negative space gave no assurances that an outie would present itself as the match for an innie.
Beginning with this puzzle I'm enjoying solving without the frame, and without the picture, on maximum difficulty, and it was great fun to see the various sections come together.
It's an awesome visual when complete. A fascinating Rube Goldberg machine.
Chad: I'm not sure what I hit on with this puzzle, but it remains the all-time best seller!
Bumfuzzled #9: BUBL Machinator
Chad: Another of the very few puzzles Will missed. My favorite detail on this one is the light beam!
Bumfuzzled #10: Chromacular Meander
Will: Solving Chromacular Meander is like prepping for an eye exam where I have to distinguish tiny changes in hue.
Favorite piece: one that begins in a green circle and hangs down to connect a whole bunch of different sections. When I fit that one in it really locked things together. This one made me wonder about the design of individual pieces, the shape/personality of a piece, and how the solver might interact with that piece prior to finding its home. Like the plot of a book/movie, where each piece serves a purpose to further that plot.
Chad: This felt like an eye exam when designing as well, but for an entirely different reason. Checking for connectivity was a real chore on this one, as none of of chromatic path connects, but is only connected via the nude border pieces. All those tiny connectors were a real strain to interpret!
Bumfuzzled #11: Abyssal Absorption
Will: I don't know why, but Abyssal Absorption was hard, hard, hard. The top and bottom should have been easy; the purple circle should have been easy; and especially the central 3x3 should have been super easy. But none of it was easy.
Bumfuzzled #12: Vertex Ruse
Will: Loved, loved Vertex Ruse. In a Portland boardgame restaurant my wife and I spent ~2.5 hours solving it. Once we got a sizable chunk done we applied the frame, which made us realize that the innies/outies perfectly alternated, which was a big clue and allowed us to shape sort the last third. We also referenced the frame for the height/width dimension to help us with the border mid-puzzle.
Every one of these icons was a delight to figure out. It was like having 80+ mini-puzzles to solve. We knew it would be hard going in, but there were so many sneaky curves and angles, where we really had to use all the information on the piece to figure it out. The monkey tail and fish tail stumped us for a long time in terms of what they could be. The padlock piece that extends into another piece's space was particularly clever, as on its own it seemed like it broke the grid and so wouldn't fit anywhere. With only about 5 pieces to go we realized we had made some mistakes and so had to do some detective to figure out which incomplete icons had flaws.
First icon solved was the smiley face; last piece completed the butterfly/octagon/bell/sign post.
I continue to be amazed at what Puzzle Bomb can achieve with cuts. The detail on the back of the knight/horse head is incredible. It was so fun to zero in on minuscule details (like on the bases of the crown and potted plant) to distinguish otherwise similar-looking pieces.
Chad: Out of every Bumfuzzled, this is the puzzle that feels most like a game or Soduku puzzle. It got a very love it/hate it response. For me, it's the one I've redone the most times just for fun, and I'm proud of the very unique solve experience it offered!
Will: Skyline Oasis was tough. Without looking at the image, I had only the vaguest memory of the design, and there's a lot going on here. The oozing drips were a lot of fun. The image evokes Cloud City or some other alien world.
Trickiest pieces: two of the connectors I had swapped.
Bumfuzzled #14: Unmasked Bosc
Will: I was excited about Unmasked Bosc after reading the corresponding blog post. For whatever reason it was the green areas that I was looking forward to the most, perhaps because it looked the most challenging. I'm impressed at how many different connector shapes are in the green area, and in general with how few false fits there are in Puzzle Bomb puzzles.
The zipper was the last to go in; perhaps it has to be that way; but that made it very tricky to have it zip up the sides. I got a chuckle as I did the vertical stripe with it various shades of wood, now that the blog has revealed how each shade has its own name during the manufacturing process.
Chad: This is one of my personal favorites, despite having one of the weaker receptions sales-wise. I love all the wacky swirls!
The shades of plain wood pieces Will is referencing is the very official terminology I use with my manufacturer when I'm darkening the nude colored pieces: darker and more darker.
The shades of plain wood pieces Will is referencing is the very official terminology I use with my manufacturer when I'm darkening the nude colored pieces: darker and more darker.
Bumfuzzled #15: Waning Geometries
Will: Waning Geometries was hard, but came together more quickly than the later Hexagonal Landscape. The circles were my point of attack, but the voids created lots of challenges where I was searching for shapes that didn't exist.
My favorite thing about this puzzle is that even when I was down to just 5 pieces, it was still difficult to find where they went. Last piece was the dangling blue in the bottom right, which I actually needed help from my wife finding because I just couldn't see it.
Bumfuzzled #16: Simian Cask
Will: Simian Cask was fast and lighthearted. It's great to have so much variety in the complexities and image style. Though the vertical pieces in the barrel were definitely a challenge.
Chad: The woodgrain effect is one of my favorite details in all the puzzles I've designed!
Bumfuzzled #17: Tricky Trapeziums
Will: Tricky Trapeziums was a fast, fun solve. Really appreciated the originality here, and having to think about interiors and exteriors, and how the interior of one enclosure might spill out to be its own enclosure.
For being so tightly packed together, the shapes are only loosely connected. I've really enjoyed tracing the routes, as if these were neighborhoods in a city. When I map it I'm surprised to see that there's only 3 loops in the circuit.
Chad: I love how Will rediscovered the mapping I had to do when ensuring I had proper connections here!
Bumfuzzled #18: Skyward Spectrum
Will: Skyward Spectrum is a gorgeous visual; very fun to work on the different plumes, and slowly figure out their placement relative to each other. By the time I got down to the big chunky tan pieces everything just fell into place. My 4 year-old enjoyed helping to place the planes.
Chad: Probably my favorite if judging my puzzles from a purely visual standpoint!
Bumfuzzled #19: Cartographic Divide
Will: Cartographic Divide was fantastic. When I was first getting into puzzles a few years ago I was reminded of a wooden jigsaw puzzle I had as a kid (~10 pieces), and how fun it was to have such irregular shapes. Cartographic Divide really scratched that itch.
This puzzle was super tough. Each shape has so many features, it's a real struggle for my brain to come up with an image/vocabulary to hold in my mind as I hunt around for a piece. I was unprepared for and delighted by the difficulty.
I've been sharing pictures of solved Bumfuzzled puzzles with my dad (he's the one who got me into puzzling). He joked, "The designer of this puzzle is a sick man."
Chad: I'll take Will's dad's response as a compliment!
Bumfuzzled #20: Towering Repast
Will: Towering Repast was a delicious solve. I'm always on the look out for 'rules' hiding in these puzzles, and here it was the logic of how a burger would actually be stacked. So if I built a slice of cheese, I could guess that it would go directly above a patty. And I could guess that there'd be just one layer of each type between each bun. Not all my rules guesses panned out, but it was interesting nonetheless. I enjoyed the classic diner style.
Will: I was scared of Gooey Galaxy because of so much empty space, but the frame made it fun, and then I could solve it from the outside in. Plus each circle quickly found at least one connector.
This is an example of a puzzle where, as I'm disassembling it I think, "No problem: green board, and then pink and purple strands stretching across". But by the time I have just a pile of pieces I think, "What have I done?"
Chad: I enjoyed flipping my usual "no frame or border" approach upside down here. This one is incredibly difficult if you don't use the standard puzzle logic of assembling the border first!
Bumfuzzled #22: Tin Virtuoso
Will: Tin Virtuoso looked daunting. Getting the first piece together in the printout was a challenge. I thought, I just took this apart; I know it fits together; why can't I find even a single match? But as soon as I found one pair, the printout was a breeze.
The rest was really fun. The winding coils were great, but my favorite pieces were the gears.
Chad: The unicode section actually ended up being less tricky than I thought it would be. The first time I assembled it, I was surprised!
Chad: The unicode section actually ended up being less tricky than I thought it would be. The first time I assembled it, I was surprised!
Bumfuzzled #23: Arboreal Abode
Will: I was really looking forward to Arboreal Abode because the image is a delight. I thought it would be on the easy side, no such luck. The curved window tops teased some help, because I could orient them; but even some of those required multiple pieces before the window void was apparent. I started with the green, but by the end I had large disconnected chunks that needed to be stitched together.
This puzzles gave me the feeling of playing with blocks with kids when they were younger.
Bumfuzzled #24: Majestic Breach
Will: Majestic Breach has such an eye-catching, kinetic image. It drew the attention of my 8 year old and 5 year old; both helped out a bit.
I started with the whale, then the color bands, then the background, and finally the water, which I enjoyed the most.
Chad: I'm glad Will enjoyed the water, as it was the biggest pain to design! :D
Chad: Will hasn't done this one yet, but given his appreciation for the "rules" and solve strategies of a puzzle, I think he'll really enjoy this one!
Will: Polychrome Slalom marks the beginning of the subscription era. It was one of the quickest solves, and has perhaps the most delightful image. My kids loved looking at this as it came together.
The snowflake shapes in the top are great, and made things particularly challenging because their symmetry meant I often needed several pieces for context before I could join together two sections, lest I link them at the wrong angle.
Like in Vertex Ruse, the cuts here are amazing, especially in the miniscule voids of the ski trail snowflakes. The snowflake protrusions in the top section give the feeling of snow behind the snow, a real whiteout.
Chad: I'm so glad Will, and others, found the image delightful, as it's probably my personal least favorite from a visual standpoint. The feedback on this one was a big relief to me, as I thought maybe I "missed" with this design. I do particularly love the solve process for the top snowflake section, though!
Will: Hexagonal Landscape is among the hardest of the series. The connectivity rules make for a really difficult solve. White and orange mostly connect to themselves via hexagons, and with other colors via squiggles; but for other colors it's the reverse.
The central hexagon became my entry point, but even that was complicated by the incursions from other colors. And most of the void spaces had me hunting for pieces that didn't exist. This was fun.
Chad: Yup, those green and pink rings are the logical starting point, but as Will mentioned, I had to twist that a bit with all the incursions!
Top 10
Will also shared his top 10:
1. #12 Vertex Ruse
2. #8 Epochal Interlinks
3. #19 Cartographic Divide
4. #17 Tricky Trapeziums
5. #23 Arboreal Abode
6. #3 34 Keys
7. #20 Towering Repast
8. #18 Skyward Spectrum
9. #14 Unmasked Bosc
10. #10 Chromacular Meander
Feel free to share your own favorites, and what you enjoyed about them, in the comments as well!
Until Next Time!
I hope you enjoyed seeing the puzzles through Will's eyes rather than mine for a change! Thanks so much, Will, for sharing with us!
Blessings,
Chad aka the Puzzle Bomb Design Guy
Blessings,
Chad aka the Puzzle Bomb Design Guy
3 comments
Gosh, I’m almost afraid to try now. Not sure my brain can do this. I will though. I very much enjoyed Will’s comments and seeing all the puzzles as well. I think his comments might just help me out. I’m going to print this out!
I have so much puzzle envy right now – dying to do all of these! The designs and colors just light up my brain with dopamine or some other happy chemical.
I’m glad I’m not alone, Will! I’ve done basically the same as you have here!