I love hearing from people who buy and enjoy our jigsaw puzzles. It really does make the day that much nicer when I get an e-mail from someone who particularly enjoyed one of our puzzles.

Just last week I had a nice conversation with a woman from the midwest. Puzzles and shoes are her hobby (I think she actually said shoes first and then puzzles). Puzzles are her way to relax. Living on a fixed income she recognized what a good entertainment value a puzzle provided. With the price of movies and books rising every time you look around, it is hard to find an entertaining activity that is affordable. But puzzles provide the entertainment.

As a person who has been doing puzzles for many years, I have never understood the appeal of very, very difficult or impossible puzzles. I do not see how it can be enjoyable (or a good value) to be stumped by a puzzle. In my opinion, for a puzzle to be enjoyable and relaxing it must be solvable. It might take some time and concentration (and a good lamp for light as I get older), but I want to finish the puzzle. It can't be too easy. But it has be realistic.

Those of your that do super hard puzzles (Buffalo Games has a line of Impossible Puzzles - they are sort of known for that line) tell me the appeal. And what makes a puzzle really difficult. Is it the die lines, the image (or lack of image), the colors (or lack of colors). Help me understand.

JP