Puzzle Companies: Manufacturers and Distributors
Here is a list of companies that either made or sold puzzles, with emphasis on some of the older companies. This is not comprehensive but contains only the ones that I have come across. I will keep adding to it as I find more. I try my best to find the lifespan of the companies but if I can't find that information, then I will indicate the earliest and latest dates I can find, which I indicate with an asterisk *.
| Company | Country | Duration (* = earliest/latest verified date) | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamleys | England | 1760 - active | Founded by William Hamley. Started as Noah's Ark. World's oldest toy store. Mentioned in Hoffmann |
| Catel | Germany | 1780 - 1791 | Founded by Peter Friedrich Catel. |
| Bestelmeierische Laden | Germany | 1793 | Founded by George Hieronimus Bestelmeier. |
| Jaques & Son's | England | 1795 - active | Mentioned in Hoffmann |
| Villard & Weill | 1834 - 1968 | ||
| Au Nain Bleu | France | 1836 - active | Founded by Jacques-Edouard Chauvière, Louise Chauvière. |
| Passmore's | England | 1853* - 1923* | Founded by Frederick Passmore. Mentioned in Hoffmann |
| McLoughlin Brothers | United States | 1855 - 1920 | Acquired by Milton Bradley |
| Bland's | England | 1859 - 1898 | In 1898, Bland sells his business to Hamleys. Mentioned in Hoffmann |
| Milton Bradley | United States | 1861 - active | |
| Embossing Company | United States | 1870 | Founded by Charles Lansing, Robert H. Pruyn, John Townsend Lansing, Robert C. Pruyn, Charles W. Hyatt, John Wesley Hyatt, Isaiah Hyatt. |
| Watilliaux (WX Paris) | France | 1874 - 1907 | Founded by Charles Watilliaux. |
| R. Journet | England | 1878 - 1976* | Founded by Robert Journet. Robert Journet started a toy shop in 1878 in Paddington. His father hand-made the first puzzles in the early 1890's. |
| Parker Brothers | United States | 1883 - active | |
| Mauclair-Dacier (MD Paris) | France | 1893 - 1904 | Mauclair was an employee of Watilliaux. When he left the company and set up on his own in 1887, he became a major rival |
| Chad Valley | England | 1897 - active | |
| B. Shackman & Co. | United States | 1898 - 2018 | Founded by David Shackman, Bertha Shackman. |
| Simonin-Cuny (SC Paris) | France | 1898 - 1904 | Founded by Lucien Napoléon Simonin, Gérardmer Cuny, Agathe Cuny. |
| Stanyon's Magic | England | 1900 - 1920 | Founded by Ellis Stanyon. Magic was a journal published by Stanyon during 1900 to 1914 and 1919 to 1920. He was a magic dealer in London but also sold some puzzles, like Stanyon's Superb Cabinet of Puzzles. |
| International Card Company | England | 1903 - 1919 | Founded by Harry Percy Gibson. Supplied stationers with card and printed products. Sold to the De La Rue Company. |
| Ideal Novelty & Toy Company | United States | 1903 - 1938 | Became Ideal Toy Corporation |
| Jouet et Jeux Francais (JJF) | France | 1904 - 1931 | Merger of Mauclair-Dacier (MD), Simonin-Cuny (SC), Wogue et Lévy (AWGL) and Perret Paul |
| NK Atlas | France | 1904 - 1924 | Founded by Léon Nicolas, Charles Keller. acquired by Georges Bonnet, who continued to produce a variety of games under the GB mark |
| Revenaz Tabernat (RT) | 1904 - 1913 | Founded by Revenaz, Louis Tabernat. Bought Watilliaux house in 1907 and became Les Jeux Reunis in 1913 | |
| S.S. Adams | United States | 1906 - 2009 | Founded by Soren Sorensen Adams. Purchased by MagicMakers, Inc in 2009 |
| Western Puzzle Works | United States | 1908* - 1933* | |
| Mysto Manufacturing Company | United States | 1909 - 1916 | Founded by Alfred Carlton Gilbert, John Petrie. Changed to A.C. Gilbert Company |
| Les Jeux Reunis (LJR) | 1913 - 1946 | Formed from Revenaz & Tabernat and Watilliaux - re-issued many old designs but in larger boxes | |
| A.C. Gilbert Company | United States | 1916 - 1966 | Founded by Alfred Carlton Gilbert. Gilbert bought out his Mysto business partners and founded the A. C. Gilbert Company |
| Standard Trailer Co. | United States | 1917* | |
| H.P. Gibson and Sons, Ltd | England | 1919 - active | Founded by Harry Percy Gibson. Formed after selling International Card Company. |
| Sherms, Inc. | United States | 1920s* - 1960s* | Founded by Robert Sherman. |
| Hasbro | 1923 - active | ||
| Hanayama | Japan | 1933 - active | Founded by Naoyasu Hanayama. Started cast puzzle series (Huzzle) in 1983 |
| Ideal Toy Corporation | United States | 1938 - 1982 | Sold to CBS |
| Schaper Manufacturing Company | 1948 - 1986 | Founded by W. H. “Herb” Schaper. Acquired by Milton Bradley | |
| Naef Spiele | Switzerland | 1954 - active | Founded by Kurt Naef. |
| Chadwick-Miller (CMI) | United States | 1957* - 2007* | Chadwick-Miller Inc was a Boston based importer of low-cost gift items and stationery products sourced mostly from Japan. These products were branded as Chadwick-Miller although CMI was not a manufacturer. |
| Peter Pan Playthings Ltd | England | 1963 | Aquired in 1973 by Berwick Timpo. Sold to Bluebird Toys in 1987 |
| Mag-Nif Inc | United States | 1963 - active | Founded by William W Knox. Knox was founder and president/CEO from 1963 to 1997 |
| E.S.R., Inc. | United States | 1963 - 1970s | Founded by William H. Duerig, Irving J. Lieberman. |
| Reiss Games, Inc. | 1971 - 1981 | Founded by Robert "Bob" Reiss. | |
| Pentangle | England | 1971 - 2018 | Founded by Ron Cook, James Dalgety. Registered as Paradox Engineering Ltd. to avoid infringing the rights of the band Pentangle. In 2000, the name of the company was changed to Payday Games Limited. |
| The Green Gate Company | 1972* | ||
| Tucker-Jones House, Inc. | United States | 1975 - active | Founded by Dennis Sucilsky, Donna Sucilsky. Producers of Tavern Puzzles |
| LiveWire Puzzles | Canada | 1979 - 2018 | Founded by Frank Gregory. https://www.puzzles.ca/ |
| Toys From Times Past | United States | 1980 - 2021 | Founded by Don and Dawn Shurlow. |
| Why Knots | United States | 1980* - 1981* | Founded by Joel Langer, Sharon O'Neil. |
| Bits & Pieces | United States | 1983 - active | Founded by Eli Segal. In 1980, Eli Segal acquired American Publishing, a jigsaw puzzle manufacturer located in Watertown, MA. Three years later, the company launched "The Great International Puzzle Collection," and Bits and Pieces was born. |
| Binary Arts | United States | 1985 - 2003 | Founded by Bill Ritchie, Andrea Barthello. Changed name to ThinkFun in 2003 |
| Tensegrity Systems | United States | 1986 - 1995 | Founded by Cary Kittner, Stuart Quimby. Changed name to Design Science Toys Ltd. around 1996. |
| Puzzletts | United States | 1986 | |
| GO Images, Inc. | United States | 1986* - 1986* | Founded by Doug Engel. Series of rotating disc puzzles |
| Fiddl'Widdit | United States | 1989 - 2013 | Founded by Marichu Hernandez, Paul Wood. http://www.sonic.net/fiddlwid/ |
| Puzzle Master, Inc. | Canada | 1991 - active | Founded by Allan Stein. |
| Pelikan | Czech Republic | 1992* - active | Founded by Josef Pelikan. After the death of Josef in 2005, the company was taken over by two of the original employees, Jakub Dvořák and Jaroslav Švejkovský. |
| Wireworks | Canada | 1995* - 2001* | Founded by Mike Talgoy. |
| Design Science Toys Ltd. | United States | 1996 - 2005* | Formerly known as Tensegrity Systems. Ended around 2005. |
| Karakuri Creation Group | Japan | 2000 - active | Founded by Akio Kamei. |
| ThinkFun | United States | 2003 - active | Formerly known as Binary Arts. Aquired by Ravensburger in 2017 |
| Creative Crafthouse | United States | 2003 - active | Founded by Dave Janelle. |
| Artifactory Puzzles | Unitied States | 2008* - 2018* | Founded by Thomas Moeller , Jeremy Moeller. Father and son team sold wooden interlocking puzzles for many years at Portland Saturday Market |
| Project Genius | United States | 2009 - active | Founded by Brandi Pinsker, Stephanie Trammell. |