"The puzzle maker from Vermont, not far from the border with Canada, boasts of making the most difficult models in the world… but also the most expensive. The small company of 25 employees counts among its loyal fans Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos… and the Queen of England."

Forbes
10 MAY 2011

The Accutron Show - Listen
3 NOV 2020

"The 'Rolls-Royce of puzzles' drives its fans round the bend"

"Inside the confines of one White River Junction building, sits a world of puzzling possibilities..."

"There’s one of the chapters I go to, this crazy company in Vermont that makes hand-carved wooden puzzles..." – A.J. Jacobs

"There are jigsaw puzzle nights at coffee shops and libraries. Puzzle groups and puzzle games online. Hand-cut wooden puzzles that cost thousands of dollars."

"At Stave Puzzles, they take great pride in their perplexing puzzles."

"The designers and woodcrafters at Stave Puzzles Inc. can be devious, often taking behind-the-scenes pleasure in driving their customers to distraction. Surprisingly, the customers would have it no other way."

“I have a unique relationship with my customers,” says Steve Richardson, president of Stave Puzzles in Norwich, Vermont. “They pay me to torture them.”

Reader's Digest
13 FEB 2017

Vermont Public Radio - Listen
20 AUG 2015

"Steve Richardson, a designer of wooden jigsaw puzzles, says he has a sadomasochistic relationship with his customers, who pay hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars to indulge in the tortures that he devises."

CBS Sunday Morning
2007

"Not only are there costumes and clues involved, but guests will also have to solve Stave Puzzles (knowing for making some of the world’s most expensive puzzles) to figure out who committed the crime."

"The scene: a swanky London mansion. A gala party in full swing suddenly becomes a multiple crime scene, and the authorities swoop in. It’s up to you to help them crack each case and nab the perps."

"Puzzle maker Steve Richardson is that rare inventor who succeeds by intentionally frustrating his best customers."