The Hoefnagel Puzzle Club

A lot of the puzzles I'm blogging these days are rented from the Hoefnagel Puzzle Club. Most of the puzzles are Artifact, but they're adding other makers at a steady clip, with some really good variety represented. (Disclosure: I sold a number of puzzles to them in return for credit when they were starting out. I don't resell many puzzles from current hand-cutters because I want to support them as much as possible, but I like the idea of puzzles circulating to others who can enjoy them and hope that the rental option introduces people to new cutters they might then patronize. My promotion is self-interested because the more people sign up, the more puzzles they can offer--I hear that they hope to add a Stave!--but I am not being compensated for this post.) 

The model is a 6-month or yearly fee, plus about $10 for shipping each puzzle; you get new puzzles once you have put the previous ones in the mail. If you are a voracious puzzler, this is a no-brainer for novelty and variety, and you don't have to figure out how to store or dispose of the puzzles either! Shipping has, of course, been affected by the USPS disaster, but things are improving rapidly and I have not been without a new puzzle pack for a week since the club started.

Separately, Artifact (the parent of the Puzzle Club) is participating in a speed puzzling challenge, which I have also paid to enter. Until I read the rules, I didn't realize that one could use a spatula to speed up assembly--though not in this contest! I'm relatively fast, but not a speed demon, so I am interested to see where I'll place.