Minimega is branching outside of the screen with their new Bonza Jigsaw Puzzles! Ben and Punya Huxter created Bonza Word Puzzle for mobile storefronts back in 2014. After a decade of growing the brand with games like Word Laces, Bonza Phrases and a recent partnership with Netflix Puzzled, this Bellingen, NSW duo have decided to bring their charming puzzler to the tabletop.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Ben at PAX Aus earlier this year, exploring this new and exciting step for the Bonza brand, along with the processes behind the transition, the unique position Minimega has with Bonza, Jigsaw Puzzling championships, and more.
When did you decide that a physical puzzle would be the perfect medium to expand Bonza Puzzles into?
Ben Huxter: Well, it comes from two directions. One, I felt like there was space in the market for something like this. I knew, since Covid, there has been a bit more of a shift towards physical play; people wanting to spend more time doing face-to-face things together with their family. But also personally, I felt like I wanted to spend less time on a screen in my work life and more time working with my hands. So that’s sort of what was driving this personally.
And how many different puzzles do you currently have so far in stores?
Ben Huxter: We’ve got six 100-piece puzzles, which are smaller and quicker. They’ll probably take about 30 minutes to an hour. We also have two, larger 200-piece puzzles. Those will be more like a two hour challenge for a small group of people.
The larger puzzles are Animal Kingdom and Cities of the World, while the smaller ones are Australian Animals, Sports, World Cuisine, Australian Cities, Musical Instruments, and Colours.
They’re currently available at various retailers, distributed through MJM: Kmart, Target, Big W, The Gamesmen and QBD Books.
Noticing how much each of the puzzles are, I was curious as to reason for such an accessible price point. Was there a specific decision behind that or…?
Ben Huxter: Yeah, so the smaller puzzles are $10 each, while the big 200-piece boxes are $15. They’re priced so that as many people can play them as possible. That’s really what it’s about. We want everybody to play them. We don’t want to push anybody out, so if somebody comes here and they’re unsure about whether it’s something they can afford, then I’m going to give them a box.
The way I see it, we’ve been coming to PAX for so many years. We were here two years ago with a prototype of this puzzle and it was only because of the people at PAX that we’re able to play it and give us insights that I was able to iterate, change the product and move it around. So in my opinion, this has been designed by the people of PAX as much as been designed by me, so I’m happy to share.
In a world where everything is being priced out, things like this are amazing! Do you have a specific demographic that you’re aiming for with Bonza Jigsaw Puzzles?
Ben: I guess it’s for everyone, but there are some smaller, niche targets that we’re looking at. One is the jigsaw puzzle community. We’ve had a lot to do with the word puzzle community because we’ve been building word puzzles for a long time, but it’s only really recently that we’ve moved into creating something that could be considered a jigsaw puzzle. I went to the Queensland Jigsaw Puzzle Championships in Brisbane with my daughter and we met Rihanna and Mel who won the competition with their time for a 500 piece puzzle of 22 minutes. We got to talking and realized that they are actually in an Australian jigsaw puzzling team so we spoke to them about doing a sponsorship.
We’ve now got a Bonza logo on a green and gold jersey and the Aussie All Stars headed over to Spain a few weeks ago to compete and represent Australia (and Bonza) at the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships where they came home with fourth place in the teams. They’re really happy with their result and we’re really happy to be working together with some of the jigsaw puzzling elite.
Ben then showed me a small chart that he had created to keep track of the fastest times people had cracked on each of the Bonza Jigsaws. Ben mentioned how he saw it as a fun and interesting way of introducing a new product to the puzzling community. You can find these times on the Bonza Instagram page.
So how long or difficult of a process has it been to go from the App to a physical game? What did that journey look like?
Ben: So, back in April 2023, we were invited to show one of our digital products as part of the Powerhouse Late Gaming Session at the Powerhouse Museum. I took that opportunity to follow through on that idea that I’d had where I really wanted to put something tactile in front of people. So what I did was I took a packet of Bananagrams, super-glued the pieces together, put them into boxes and took them to the event. The goal, really, was just to see if anyone was interested at all. Before we knew it, everybody was very interested in what we were doing with these small puzzles and it gave us enough confidence to know that “Okay, we’re on a pathway here and we can move forward with it”.
We met some new people, learned a lot about manufacturing, learned a lot about creating print artwork, a lot about logistics. You know, these things get built in a factory in China, they get put into a container ship, they get sent over here. There’s particular timelines to consider, there’s costs to consider, there’s different parties to consider. Digital distribution is so easy, you can just click a button and hundreds of people have it all over the world but physical distribution is a whole other kettle of fish. So it’s been a lot of learning, a lot of interesting characters as well, but it’s been fun along the way.
That’s fantastic! Do you have any plans for charity or school programs? I know you’ve been giving boxes out all weekend.
Ben: Yeah. So a couple of days ago I was very happy to be approached by Lisa from the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge. They talked about how important it is to have STEM in schools and they were looking for other people to collaborate with that are also in that space. She’s not the only one! There’s been a few teachers that have had a look at what we’re doing here, and I think they understand that for kids especially, it’s really important to have an interactive experience to help retain this sort of information. We’re sitting right in that sweet spot where we’ve got some level of interactivity, we’ve got a combination of reading and trivia and knowledge. So we’re very happy to share with them some insights that we’ve got and we’re also happy to donate boxes for them to give away as prizes for their challenge.
Earlier that weekend, Ben had spoken to me and asked if my mother was into jigsaw puzzles. After reaching underneath his stall’s table, Ben presented me with a puzzle to give to my mother. It made the perfect birthday gift, which just happened to be that weekend. I’m now planning on getting her some more of the puzzles for Christmas.
Again, you can pick these puzzles up at Kmart, Target, QBD Books, Big W and The Gamesmen.
For any of our other PAX Aus 2025 coverage, you can follow the link here
NextPlay received a Bonza Jigsaw Puzzle
