Custom Puzzle Boxes

Base, lid and pieces of a jigsaw box

A puzzle box is a shallow base and a lift-off lid that slides over it, with the pieces loose or bagged inside.

Most jigsaw boxes are two trays, one sitting inside the other. The lid is usually shallower than the base, so it is easy to grip and lift while the pieces stay in the base, which then doubles as a tray to sort pieces into while solving.

The two halves can be made from folding boxboard glued at the corners, or from greyboard wrapped in printed paper. Wrapped greyboard is stiffer and survives repeated use, which suits puzzles that are done more than once or passed on.

Sizing by piece count

The box holds the pieces, not the finished picture, so it is sized by volume rather than by the puzzle's flat size.

A finished 1000-piece puzzle can be around 70 by 50cm, but the loose pieces fit in a box a fraction of that size. What matters is the volume of the pieces, which depends on the piece count, the piece size and the thickness of the board they are cut from. Tell us those three and we size the box from them.

Leave room for the pieces to move and for any bag or poster inside. A box filled to the brim is hard to close once the pieces have been tipped out and put back, because they never pack as tightly as they did when bagged at the factory.

• Size to the volume of pieces
• Thicker piece board needs more depth
• Leave room for re-packing

The picture is part of the product

People solve the puzzle by looking at the lid, so the picture has to be sharp, true to colour and big enough to read.

The lid image is not just decoration. It is the reference used to find where each piece goes, so colour matching between the lid and the puzzle print matters more than on most boxes. Send us the same image file used for the puzzle and we set the lid from it, so the two can be compared on the proof.

A large picture needs a lid big enough to show detail. For very busy images or high piece counts, a printed poster of the full picture inside the box is a common extra. The sides usually carry the piece count, the finished size and the title, so the puzzle can be picked out of a stack.

• Lid picture is the solving guide
• Match lid colour to the puzzle print
• Piece count and finished size on the sides

Puzzle box or game box?

A puzzle box is a simpler cousin of the game box: no trays, a lighter build and one picture doing all the work.

A board game box holds many different components and often needs fitted trays to keep them apart. A jigsaw has one kind of component, so a plain base is enough and the box can be lighter.

That makes a puzzle box cheaper to make than a game box of the same size. The lid picture carries more weight, though, so print quality and finish are where a puzzle box is worth spending on.

Finish and lid fit

A lid that is too tight traps air and is hard to lift. One that is too loose falls off when the box is picked up.

The lid has to slide off easily, because it comes off and goes back on many times. Shallow lids with a small clearance over the base work best. A thumb notch cut into the base is a simple way to help the lid lift without lifting the whole box.

Gloss lamination makes the picture brighter and easier to read; matt is calmer and shows fewer fingerprints. Either way, the coating protects the picture from scuffs as the box is slid in and out of a cupboard.

Puzzle box or tuck-end carton?

A lift-off lid box is the right pick for standard and large jigsaws. A small tuck-end carton is the right pick for mini puzzles with a low piece count.

Mini puzzles can fit a tube, a tin or a small tuck-end folding carton for less. Chunky puzzles for toddlers often come in a tray-style board or a frame, which holds the pieces in place rather than loose.

Whichever box is chosen, we leave space for any age warning or safety mark the puzzle has to carry and set it out on the proof. Packaging for young children's puzzles should avoid small loose parts that could come away, and puzzles sold online also need an outer carton, as a lift-off lid can open in transit.