Giveaway – Comment and win a puzzle
24/03/2026
Happy with your newly purchased puzzle, you can’t wait to dive into the pieces and start composing the picture.
You break the seal, lift the lid with excitement… and there they are: little clusters of puzzle pieces still stuck together!
An almost tender scene, as if they refused to separate.
But why does this happen? Is it a mistake? A flaw? Or is there something more curious behind it?
Spoiler alert: this is more common than you think!
When you open a new puzzle box, you may notice that some puzzle pieces are still attached to each other, often in groups of two, three, or even four pieces.
It is natural to wonder whether this is a defect or a manufacturing error.
In reality, this situation is simply a side effect of the puzzle-making process.
The puzzles are made from a large sheet of printed cardboard.
Next, manufacturers feed the sheet into a die cutter : a machine that presses a shaped blade (the die) onto the cardboard to shape the pieces with extreme precision.
The type of machinery used for cutting greatly affects the final result.
If the machine does not apply uniform pressure, some dies will fail to completely separate the tiles, leaving small connection points between each tile.
For this simple reason, they arrive in the package still attached and must be separated manually.
Yes, even well-known brands and quality manufacturers can achieve this kind of result.
It is not a defect , but a consequence of mechanical cutting.
The important thing is that the pieces are easily separated and maintain good precision in their interlocking.
Absolutely not. The fact that some puzzle pieces are still attached doesn’t indicate poor quality.
On the contrary, in many cases it can be a positive sign , especially if the puzzle was cut with a finer and thinner die, an indication of more careful and artisanal workmanship.
This type of die, precisely because of its delicacy, can leave micro-connections between the pieces, giving rise to those small groups of tiles still embraced in the box.
It’s a detail rarely found in puzzles produced with more industrial and automated methods, where the cutting is often more aggressive and standardized.
So, if you find pieces sticking together, you may have on your hands a puzzle made with more attention to materials and manufacturing process .
In conclusion, the puzzle pieces still attached are a small curiosity of the puzzle world, not a defect.
Separating them by hand can even be the first gesture that connects you to your new game, before you even start composing it.
So don’t worry: your puzzle is ready to be completed piece by piece!
