Our First Year
by Jen Thompson
When we started the speed puzzling timer at this past week’s Puzzle Night, there was a frenzy of puzzlers frantically opening their bags to get to their puzzle. We were using our new, re-usable canvas bags for the first time, and I was worried that we’d run into snags. I’d spent many hours modifying these bags to work for speed puzzling by inserting grommets into the straps, and I knew that sometimes the grommets could catch in the drawstring opening. I was so nervous that an eager team would get stuck in this high-tension moment after the timer starts, and I was ready to jump in to help if needed. But as the first few seconds passed, it was clear that everyone was well on their way to sorting and hunting down those edge pieces. I was so relieved that the bags had worked!
One of our new re-usable bags, ready for its inaugural use!
These moments of uncertainty have come often over our first year since launching Assemble Puzzlery, but overall Erica and I are exceptionally happy with what we’ve been able to accomplish. Erica and I decided to partner to launch this business in the spring of 2025. First meeting through our kids’ shared activities, we quickly bonded over a shared restlessness. We were both feeling the strain of our careers and a world that felt increasingly divided. But as we despaired over a few cocktails one evening at our local watering hole, we narrowed in on an idea that brought us both a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm - wouldn’t it be great if we could be having this conversation over a puzzle? What if we were to organize something that provided people with the environment where they could escape the solitude of their home and connect with others - over the fun and satisfying activity of doing a puzzle together?
As we continued pondering this in the light of the next day, our appreciation for this idea continued to grow as we recognized all the benefits - puzzles are fun! Puzzles are good for our brains and cognition! And the love for puzzles bridges people of all ages, races, ethnicities, gender identities, socioeconomic status… what better activity than puzzling to bring people together? We knew we had landed on an idea that would be fun and a worthwhile way to spend our time to make a meaningful contribution to our community.
As our visions for what this would be were still forming, we brainstormed on ideas for a name for this organization that would appropriately capture our intent. We narrowed in on the word “Assemble” to describe the action we wanted to take in bringing people together (which of course also applies to those puzzle pieces!) and “Puzzlery” as a classic way to describe the nature of our business.
Launching this business was a lot to add to our already full plates of work and family life, but somehow the extra work has brought more energy to our lives as we’ve started building this community, absorbing the wonderful feedback, and appreciating the full benefits. As we started organizing events, we immediately received many positive comments from our guests about how much they were enjoying the opportunity to puzzle in a social setting. We’ve also developed relationships with other puzzle-focused businesses, especially those that are local, who have been very supportive and welcoming as we immersed ourselves into the puzzle community. And we have been thrilled to support the hosting venues for our events by increasing their customer traffic on an otherwise slow night and reinforcing their presence as a community hub.
The most rewarding benefits of our hard work has been the experience of seeing puzzlers have a good time - whether it’s forming new friendships or deepening existing ones. And the comments of support and appreciation have continued to flow from this community with great generosity. As we continue to develop Assemble Puzzlery into the community hub we want it to be, we are incredibly grateful for the support of this wonderful community of puzzlers.
And those canvas bags? Well, it turns out that on a couple of them, the straps have already ripped free of their original stitching... which means that they’ll need further modification to withstand the repeated opening and closing that’s needed for our many speed puzzling competitions to come. It’s the latest logistical challenge of starting something new - but I am excited to tackle the challenge and continue assembling this dream into something even greater.
Erica and Jen at a recent Puzzle Night event.