the Eclipse Puzzle

Celebrate the celestial marvel of a total solar eclipse with Nervous System’s Eclipse Puzzle. One side of the puzzle features the sun and the other the moon. By flipping over the pieces you can turn day to night, as the moon gradually eclipses the sun. The Eclipse puzzle has 248 double-sided wood pieces with 5 special space themed whimsies. It can be assembled in multiple ways: the sun, the moon, a total eclipse showing the moon with the sun’s corona, and three stages of the moon blocking out the sun. The Mini Eclipse Puzzle, featuring 102 pieces, is a smaller version with a black-stained back instead of the moon. The Eclipse Puzzle joins our collection of challenging space themed puzzles including the Infinite Galaxy Puzzle, Cosmic Cliffs Infinity Puzzle and Earth Puzzle.

Inspired by going up to Lake Placid to see the 2024 total eclipse, Jules created a puzzle to commemorate the event. Despite initial forecasts of potential clouds, the day turned out perfect for viewing the rare, awe-inspiring phenomena. We were lucky that NY turned out to be one of the best places in the country to view it.

Since our move to upstate NY in 2019, Jules Khan has become the Puzzle Master at Nervous System. Jesse and Jules were childhood friends, and after reconnecting when we came back to the area, Jules has become an integral part of our studio and an essential element of our navigation of running a business while raising a family. Jules leads day to day production operations as well as being the primary developer on our new Matrix and Coral puzzle cut systems. The Eclipse Puzzle is the first product that he has developed from start to finish, from conceptualization to image and cut. The puzzle features his Coral cut style, which he also conceptualized and developed.

The Coral cut uses a more procedural approach to puzzle design than the simulations of the Dendrite and Maze cuts. The system uses a stochastic search of aggregating arcs to connect pieces. The optimization process ensures that neighboring pieces are well connected while maintaining enough thickness for strong pieces. The resulting cut is whimsical and unexpected shapes. The Coral cut is also available in our custom puzzle app.