This week I’ve seen a lot of posts about things that you like and the personalities that they’re associated with, so I thought, why not apply it to our range of puzzles?
If I call anyone out, I apologise in advance, but I’m also 100% calling myself out in each and every section.
Some people can't resist a beautiful garden. Some want cosy bookshops and overflowing bookshelves. Others look at a Wasgij and think a normal 1000-piece puzzle simply isn't challenging enough.
I’ve had a think about it, and here's what I think your favourite type of puzzle says about you.
🌷 Gardens & Floral Puzzles
You like the idea of spending your weekends pottering around a beautiful cottage garden, surrounded by flowers, with nowhere particularly important to be.
Whether your own garden actually looks like the one on the puzzle box is irrelevant.
You're here for pretty colours, lots of little details and the satisfaction of watching a garden slowly come together without having to do any actual weeding. Bonus points if there's a greenhouse, a vegetable patch, a tiny little potting shed, or friendly critters hidden somewhere in the artwork.
As someone who loves both gardening and garden puzzles, this category has absolutely no bias whatsoever.
📚 Books, Bookshops, Libraries & Bookshelves
Your TBR is probably completely out of control.
You tell yourself you're not buying any more books until you've read the ones you already own, and then somehow another parcel arrives.
Your perfect puzzle has towering bookshelves, cosy reading nooks, little stacks of books everywhere and ideally a cat sleeping somewhere it shouldn't be. You like puzzles that feel warm, cosy and lived-in, and if the finished image looks like somewhere you'd happily spend an entire rainy afternoon, even better.
Essentially, you want your puzzle to look like your dream house.
🍰 Food, Cafés & Bakeries
Snacks are an essential part of the puzzling experience...for some people.
You gravitate towards colourful kitchens, overflowing bakery windows, cosy cafés and tables absolutely covered in food. There's also a very real chance you've bought a puzzle because something pictured on the box looked particularly delicious.
You're here for lots of colour, lots of detail and plenty of tiny things to discover as you puzzle and some snacks while you puzzle…
🧙 Fantasy & Magical Worlds
Why puzzle the real world when you could spend a few hours somewhere considerably more interesting?
Give you dragons, enchanted forests, magical libraries, sprawling castles or your favourite fantasy characters, and you're happy.
There's also a good chance you're a reader, your bookshelves contain an alarming amount of fantasy, and you already know exactly which fictional world you would live in if given the opportunity.
And yes, owning the book, the special edition, the puzzle, and assorted merchandise featuring the same fictional world is completely reasonable.
🎃 Seasonal Puzzles
You don't simply acknowledge the seasons. You commit to them.
Halloween has a specific vibe. Christmas has its own puzzle collection. Spring means flowers and gardens, snow and cosy scenes, sun, beaches, autumn colours - all of it. You’re here for every season.
You probably love traditions and have certain things you look forward to pulling out every year. Your seasonal puzzles are basically decorations that happen to come in 1000 pieces.
These are the vibe puzzles, the ones that make you feel like events can finally start.
🕵️ Wasgij & Mystery Puzzles
You find putting together the picture printed on the box too easy.
You want clues. You want surprises. You want to stare at a puzzle piece for a while trying to work out what on earth you're actually supposed to be building.
You enjoy the challenge as much as the finished puzzle, and you're probably the person who refuses to look up the answer because you will figure it out yourself.
Honestly, I respect the commitment.
🧩 Mini Puzzles
You like a quick win.
There's something satisfying about sitting down with a puzzle and actually finishing it in the same sitting. No puzzle board required. No dining table being out of action for the next week. Just a tiny box, a manageable number of pieces and that lovely little feeling of accomplishment at the end.
You're also probably easily influenced by anything described as "mini", "tiny" or "pocket-sized".
Unfortunately, this means that instead of owning one giant puzzle, you may now own 15 small ones.
I'm not sure we've solved anything here.
🌎 Travel & Scenic Puzzles
Your travel wishlist is significantly longer than the amount of annual leave you actually have.
European villages, colourful coastlines, mountain cabins, famous landmarks... if you can't currently be there, piecing it together on your puzzle board is the next best thing.
You're probably a bit of a daydreamer too. Half the appeal isn't just completing the puzzle; it's imagining yourself somewhere inside the picture.
Preferably somewhere with good food and absolutely no emails.
🐈 Animal Puzzles
You saw a cute animal on the box.
You bought the puzzle.
There really wasn't much more to the decision than that.
Cats, dogs, birds, woodland creatures or something considerably more exotic - you're very easily won over by a cute face. And if the puzzle combines animals with another favourite category? A cat in a bookshop? Dogs in a garden? It's basically already in your cart.
No judgement. This is an entirely reasonable way to choose a puzzle.
So... Did I Get Yours Right?
Maybe you're completely loyal to one particular puzzle style, or maybe your collection has a little bit of everything (guilty).
Personally, I think half the fun of choosing a new puzzle is finding the one that makes you stop scrolling and immediately think, yep, I want to do that one.
Whether that's a cosy bookshop, an overflowing garden, an impossible Wasgij, a fantasy world or simply anything with a cat on the box, there's really no wrong answer.
Although if you're the person who deliberately chooses puzzles that are a single colour... I may have some questions.
