Recently I was contacted by a new puzzle company, looking for feedback from puzzlers about their new product; they’d love to hear your thoughts about their puzzles.
Starz Puzzles are a new brand of wooden jigsaw puzzle and their product seems quite new and different. Unlike many other companies their puzzles are made of solid maple hardwood – not plywood or MDF; in addition, they print the images directly onto the wood, there is no paper involved. They also have designed a new star-like piece shape, which according to Starz allows for an unlimited puzzle, an infinity puzzle. Are you intrigued? I am.
Please check out their website by clicking the link above, and if you’re so inclined please leave a comment here letting them know your thoughts. Any feedback, good or bad, is welcome; they would very much like to know what those of us who actually assemble jigsaw puzzles think. Even though I haven’t actually assembled one of their puzzles I’m giving them my feedback as well.
Thanks so much for your help! 🙂
My Jigsaw Journal 
Beautiful, in my opinion, a bit pricey
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Mine too. I’d love to try them, but it’s out of my price range.
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I am with Noreen. I will give them a try, but it will be a wonderful treat.
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Agreed, although I don’t think I’ll be able to try them at the moment. They are gorgeous, though.
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I’ve seen the idea of the infinity puzzle before, here: https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/product.php?code=336
Personally, I like the idea of a puzzle that is finished at some point, but a small infinity puzzle might be nice. Star puzzles looks good, but even more expensive than other wooden puzzles. It would have to be a really special image (anyway, I don’t expect they’ll be available in Europe).
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I have no idea if they’re available worldwide. I think they have a great idea with the unique piece shapes and the reprinting over puzzles, but it’s not at a price that everyone can afford. It costs money to make a great product, so I understand the pricing even if I can’t really afford it. I’m certain there is a market for them, but it may not be with some of my thrift store shopping readers. 😉
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Nice concept and they have some beautiful images but expensive. The idea of reprinting over the puzzle is intriguing and may make it more cost effective. They would make a lovely gift.
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The reprinting is what intrigued me the most, what a fantastic idea, right? And I’d love to see first hand what the puzzle is like with the image printed directly onto the wood. They definitely have a novel approach and some great new ideas.
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Thanks for information, Stacey!
my opinion on this new company is:
1. range of pictures is quite nice. i find some of them very interesting
2. product is pricey. i agree with others in the comments above
3. printing right to the wood block, not using paper is a new and rather popular technique nowadays.
in russia there are some small family-run puzzle companies, that produce wooden jigsaw puzzles without glued paper on them. image is printed right ono the wood. it helps saving prodiction costs. i tried this puzzles and i find them good ones
4. in wooden jigsaw puzzle industry a unique piece cut matters. if it is a unique hand-crafted product, the price is VERY high.
if it is a laser-cut product, but with beautiful and complicated whimsies, specially designed for each picture – the price is HIGH (Liberty, Artifact for example).
If it is a laser-cut product with geometric cut, repeated shape – the price is NOT very high. because no drawer/ designer/cutter is needed neither for creating unique piece cut not for cutting it.
price for wooden jigsaw puzzles come from a combination of these factors. when we see a puzzle with a plain computer designed cut and it is cut with laser, we do not understand what we pay for. why is the price so high?
5. i looked thru items in their shop and was not satisfied with the pictures of a particular piece cut.
i really like the way, Liberty and Artifact show their puzzles. they show us all elements of a puzzle and we make decision “to buy or not to buy” according to these schemes.
here i can’t make a decision on 2 pieces, shown.
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i hope that my reply is useful)
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Thank you N for your great comments!
I agree, one of the main factors for me is the ability to see the piece shapes and what the completed puzzle actually looks like. They do have some lovely images and great ideas, and hopefully all of our comments will be useful to their marketing team and perhaps they will address some of the issues.
I may love the image and piece shapes, but if I can’t afford it I’ll just have to love it from afar. For me that’s the bottom line.
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IMHO wooden puzzles are overrated. I have some and even though the quality is excellent I’m just not impressed. And I’m not impressed with this new company and their puzzle concept. I will always love cardboard puzzles.
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Thanks for your input. Although, enjoying wooden puzzles doesn’t mean that we can’t love cardboard ones as well, I love them both. 🙂
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