by: Playing Grounded
post image: Spring in Sakuragaoka by AYMRC
Puzzles not for puzzlers!
Now that’s a puzzling statement. What do I mean by that? How can a puzzle be for someone who doesn’t do puzzles?
- Answer: That’s a good question, and one that we have found out by our experience from the years we’ve spent trying to market our puzzles. One of the first responses we see from those in social media is, “I’ve never seen this brand before.” Well, guess what? We’re not new. Playing Grounded® has been around for about 7 years.
Why haven’t you ever seen Playing Grounded® puzzles before?
Answer: For a short time retailers such as Puzzle Warehouse (which I know you’re all familiar with) did carry our brand, but, as it turns out, our puzzles were more expensive than what the average puzzler wanted to pay—unless they’re wood, which they feel has more value.
Don’t misunderstand me, we do have some everyday puzzlers who have taken the plunge and have come to become loyal members of our little following after experiencing our brand first hand.
Who buys our puzzles?
- Answer: anime art enthusiasts, board gamers, collectors, crowd funders, fans of the artists, geeks and lovers of all things interesting, point of purchasers (they stumbled upon them) and, lastly, people who learned about our brand by word of mouth.
What makes us different and why would you buy our brand when other puzzles are cheaper?
- Answer: Time is money and your time is valuable. Am I right? Since we spend most of our time working, fulfilling our daily requirements, and fondling our phones, we want to make the most out of the time that is left over. There isn’t much and we want to savor as much as we can of it. So, whether it’s games, gardening, golf, or in this case, piecing a puzzle, we need to derive some sort of satisfaction from our endeavors (i.e. a dopamine brain boost that makes us feel all warm and gushy).
- That is the niche that we were looking to fill.
- That is the grail of our business model.
- That is why we see our puzzles as more of an investment than a purchase.
What you see is what you get and what you get is what you pay for.
Here is what you get on the return of your investment:
- Our art selections are truly unique and the love of finding these treasures and sharing them with those who can appreciate their worth is the rocket fuel that propels us forward.
- Only 500 of each title are ever produced (with rare exceptions). When they’re gone they’re gone, which makes them special and often valuable to collectors of the art.
- We only choose art that has the crispest, clearest resolution. We will never use blurry, fuzzy or pixelated images for our puzzles.
- We are extremely persnickety when it comes to puzzles, so we work with one of the best puzzle manufactures in the industry to meet those standards.
- We use the finest materials available, from vivid offset printing, to 2 mil puzzle blue board and a textured-linen mate laminated finish.
- The die blades are always super sharp and leave each piece with the cleanest cuts.
In Conclusion:
Our puzzles cost us much more to produce than you might think, but we feel that the investment we make is worth the difference. It gives us the satisfaction of making something that people really look forward to seeing on their coffee and kitchen tables and often adorning their walls.
From the moment you hold a Playing Grounded® puzzle box in your hands you’ll feel the difference. From the high quality of our boxes, to the perfect fit of our pieces, we want your investment in our puzzles to leave you with an overall uplifting experience!
