Puzzles Make Versatile Gifts

Puzzles of all Kinds Great for Christmas

Tue. Mar. 09, 2010

Puzzles are one of the most popular and enduring gifts to give at Christmas.

Because of the variety of puzzles available - from jigsaw puzzles to mazes to books of puzzles - there are puzzles suitable for everyone on your gift list.

#1 Hottest
Brain Age
$19.82 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#2 Hottest
Apples to Apples Game Party Box
$29.95 Click here to order Usually ships in 1-2 business days

#3 Hottest
Rubik's Cube Brain Teaser Puzzle with Helpful Hints
Even if you've been living on Mars since the 1970s, you've probably heard of Rubik's Cube, the bestselling puzzle in history. Just in case, though, here's a recap: it's a 3-by-3-by-3-inch cube with rotating faces made up of nine squares that can be scrambled into (so it's said) 43 quintillion combinations. Getting the cube back to its original position (so that all nine squares of the same color make up each face) is incredibly challenging for most, though it can be mastered and solved. For those not gifted with superhuman spatial intuition, this mindbender comes with a solution hints booklet, which examines the cube's properties and offers clues for solving the puzzle. Whether it's a difficult toy or retro '80s kitsch you're seeking, Rubik's Cube is for you. --Rob Lightner
$6.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#4 Hottest
Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game (PC
$18.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#5 Hottest
Scrabble: Classic Edition
After all these years, it's still hard to get a triple word score, the tiles are still made of wood, and there's only one "X" in the whole box. The game of Scrabble has sparked feuds and a near-cult following. All the fuss is over a spelling game that hasn't had an upgrade in 50 years. It takes a little luck and a lot of skill to make high-scoring words out of seven little letters, sometimes with an overabundance of vowels and letters that don't go together--sometimes there's Q without U. Two to four players battle it out on the board, and while some players might be proud of impressive words ("I spelled gestalt!"), skilled players know how to use the premium letter and word squares on the 225-square board to their best advantage. This crossword game has strict rules (no names, no slang) and comes with a warning label: "Choose a dictionary first to avoid any ugly word disputes." --Lynne Sampson
$14.23 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#6 Hottest
Rubik's Cube
$9.95 Click here to order Usually ships in 1-2 business days

#7 Hottest
Sorry! Family Game Night Edition
This classic game of luck, strategy, and determination is easy to grasp for children as young as 6 years old, yet it's fun for adults and older siblings too. By drawing cards, players move their game pieces around the board, hoping to eventually accumulate all their pieces at the final destination--home sweet home. Sorry is known as the game of "sweet revenge," since players can send each other's pawns back to the starting line, thus forcing one another to lose ground and begin all over again. This kind of frustration may be hard for children under age 8 to handle. In fact, young ones typically crumble into tears of outrage when their pawns are cavalierly sent back. The only recourse is to teach children how to plot their own revenge, which makes them feel as powerful as superheroes.
$16.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#8 Hottest
Apples to Apples Jr
$17.75 Click here to order Usually ships in 1-2 business days

#9 Hottest
Farm Magnetic Animal Set - LeapFrog Interactive Fridge
$15.99 Click here to order In stock soon. Order now to get in line.

#10 Hottest
Hoyle Puzzle
$18.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#11 Hottest
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Four Swords
Got Game Boy Advance friends and a Game Link Cable? Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a retelling of the venerable series' first game with a quest for up to four players--all from one cartridge. The game is a mix of action and puzzles where Link must travel between the Light and Dark worlds to rescue Princess Zelda.
$18.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#12 Hottest
Loaded Questions
$22.50 Click here to order Usually ships in 4-5 business days

#13 Hottest
Heroscape
The Heroscape line of toys is like the all-star game of make believe. While other games might focus on a specific era of history, the age of chivalry, perhaps, or the Jurassic period, Heroscape puts everyone together on one enormous madcap battlefield. Vikings, World War II soldiers, ninjas, mutant monsters, samurais, dinosaurs, dragons, they're all there, done up as tiny, highly detailed figure. It would be sort of comic if all the players didn't look so gosh-darn serious. 85 interlocking terrain tiles are also included so you can craft exactly the landscape you wish for all the action to happen on. Multiple dice are featured along with game cards and detailed instructions on how to play. We liked the boundless imagination of this game and the open-minded versatility of its imaginary protagonists. --Charlie Williams
$39.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 1-2 business days

#14 Hottest
Lumines
$19.82 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#15 Hottest
Mousetrap
Build a better mousetrap? We dare you. Naturally, the object is to trap mice in the mousetrap, while avoiding getting trapped. By rolling the die, you proceed around the game board, collecting cheese pieces and building a mousetrap bit by bit. Once complete, you set the wheels in motion, as it were, to try to capture the opposition's mice. But this is no ordinary trap. With this contraption you start by turning the crank, that rotates the gears, that push the lever, that moves the shoe, that kicks the bucket, that sends the ball down the stairs and into the gutter, that leads to the rod that releases a second ball, that falls through the bathtub and onto the springboard, that catapults the diver into the washtub, that causes the cage to fall and--whew!--hopefully, capture a mouse. The last "mouse" left uncaptured wins --Alison Golder
$17.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#16 Hottest
Jenga
$15.00 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#17 Hottest
Electronic Handheld Touchpad Sudoku Game w/ Pen Stylus - 2,000,000 Puzzles
$29.95 Click here to order Usually ships in 1-2 business days

#18 Hottest
Outburst Remix
$21.95 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

#19 Hottest
Rubik's Twist
$11.98 Click here to order Usually ships in 3-4 business days

#20 Hottest
Toss Across
$14.99 Click here to order Usually ships in 24 hours

This year, think of puzzles for stocking stuffers or gifts under the tree for almost anyone!