Ok, in this article l will cover how l invented a successful puzzle, and how you can read between the lines to get your own successful idea going.

So…let’s begin.

• Step 1 – I came up with an idea for a stacking type puzzle, back then the stacking jigsaw black and white versions were big, so l thought that a colour version would be a good idea. The idea flopped, but l learned that you need to bring in at least 3 good ideas to a toy company to have a real shot at getting something accepted.

So steps 1 is come up with at least 3 good ideas (designs) and find a toy company to show your ideas to. You can go to your nearest puzzle shop to find your nearest toy company which could be interested in your idea. You can also try Googling it or the Yellow pages.

• Step 2 – I developed another 3 ideas in between doing 3 models for the stacking jigsaw l mentioned earlier, (the company l showed it to wasn’t interested, but they said that an overseas company they knew about could be) and tried again.

Bombed again?ideas for an invention

So far l had one maybe, and 3 failures. It’s usually at this point that most people would give up, but not me, so l continued. The message to take home from step 2 is don’t give up, regardless of how many times you have failed or that your wife or family is starting to doubt your sanity. Thomas Edison to name a few have been through this process and won. Toy and game inventing is no different, keep trying and success is inevitable.

• Step 3 – This time before l left l was shown an old puzzle book mainly showing 16 – 19 century puzzles.

So l went home with a few ideas and came up with another 4 quick sketches to show them. This time it looked like the same old failure. I showed them 3 ideas l got from their toy and puzzle book they let me look though while l was there last visit, with the usual not interested response.

But…

The 4th idea interested them. Initially they said that they weren’t interested because the puzzle idea would need to be done using a plastic sheet, but then I mentioned that you could make this yourself with the same materials you use with your on-site equipment to make jigsaws with. ideas for an invention

And then the lights went on.

They realized that they could manufacture this on-site, and l had my first success. This took 7 failures to find this.

So the message to take home from step 3 is the more research you do, the greater your chances are of an early success.

It was likely that l wouldn’t have had this success if l didn’t look at their puzzle inventing books, since l have had a lot of failures since then. But l have also gotten very close to a few board games being accepted without any research involved.