What are good stocking stuffers for puzzle lovers?
The best stocking stuffers for puzzle lovers are small, start-on-Christmas-morning puzzles in a style they don't already own: a new puzzle book type, a take-apart puzzle, a page-a-day calendar, a mini jigsaw, or a puzzle app you set up together. Below, a family group chat compares all five. We make Sumbriska, the app in the mix, so we've been plain about where it loses.
Updated November 2026 · Christmas Day is Friday, December 25, 2026
The stocking chat: five puzzle gifts compared
Dad's stocking. He does the paper sudoku every morning and has done since forever. Ideas?
Another sudoku book. Safe.
He has four. Half-finished.
Let's compare properly. I'll make a table.
| Gift | Best for | Lasts | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puzzle book (a new type) | Pen-and-paper people | Weeks | Same-type books pile up |
| Metal or wooden take-apart puzzle | Fidgeters, tinkerers | One "aha", then a shelf | Some never get solved |
| Page-a-day puzzle calendar | Routine lovers | All of 2027 | Weekend pages pile up |
| Mini jigsaw | Table-on-Boxing-Day types | An evening | Missing-piece risk |
| Sumbriska (free app) | Number people with an iPhone | Two free regions, plus a Daily board | A screen; extra regions are a subscription |
An app isn't a stocking stuffer. You can't wrap it.
You can wrap a tag. "Christmas morning: one puzzle, with me." It costs nothing and the point is doing the first board together.
What does he actually do in it?
Islands with target numbers. Each bridge carries two numbers and gives one to each end. Flip a bridge and they swap, so one island gains what the other loses. Sum puzzle, no grid. It's the board at the top of this page.
He'd like that it isn't timed.
The Deep and the Daily aren't. Harbor Run is the timed one, if he wants a race. Hints, Undo and step explanations never cost XP.
Fine. I'm still getting him the metal puzzle.
Good. Two different kinds of puzzle beats five sudoku books.
The best puzzle gift is a type they don't own yet, started together.
Honest limits
- Free means regions 1 and 2, the Daily board, The Deep and Harbor Run. Regions 3 to 6 and the side boards need the Voyage Pass ($4.99/month or $29.99/year, auto-renewing, no free trial).
- This page links to the iPhone App Store version only.
- It's a screen. If the stocking rule in your house is "no screens on Christmas", honour it and print nothing; buy the book.
- It is arithmetic. Small numbers on Gentle boards, but sums all the same.
Stocking stuffer questions
What do you put in a stocking for someone who loves puzzles?
Something small they can start on Christmas morning: a puzzle book in a type they don't already do, a metal or wooden take-apart puzzle, a page-a-day puzzle calendar, a mini jigsaw, or a new puzzle app set up together. Match the type to what they already enjoy.
Is Sumbriska really free?
The download is free and includes regions 1 and 2, the Daily board, The Deep and Harbor Run. The optional Voyage Pass adds regions 3 to 6, side boards, Gale Run, the 3-4 ring workshop and cosmetics for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, with no free trial.
Should I buy the Voyage Pass as a gift?
We'd say no, not as a surprise. It is an auto-renewing subscription. Let them play the free regions first and decide for themselves.
Is Sumbriska OK for kids?
Child profiles have no purchases and no links, and the adult area is protected by a PIN or Face ID. There are no ads and no accounts, and no data is collected.
Does it work without wifi at Grandma's house?
Yes. Sumbriska works fully offline.
What if they don't like number puzzles?
Then a jigsaw or a take-apart puzzle is the better stocking stuffer. Sumbriska is arithmetic you can do in your head, but it is still arithmetic.
Who this gift is not for
Word people (pick a crossword book), people who want to hold the puzzle (the take-apart or jigsaw), anyone without an iPhone, and anyone who gets cross at a phone at the table. For a sudoku lover who wants exactly more sudoku, more sudoku is fine. Sumbriska is for the one who's quietly bored of the grid.
What's on the phone
How to give a free app as a stocking stuffer in 3 steps
- Write the tag. "One puzzle, Christmas morning, with me." Tuck it in the stocking.
- Install it together. On their iPhone, with them. If it's for a child, set up a child profile: no purchases, no links.
- Play one Practice board side by side. Then leave them to the Daily board. Don't buy the Voyage Pass for them.
A design decision we made: hints never cost XP. A gift shouldn't punish someone for asking for help on day one.
A Christmas-morning mini story
Stockings at seven. Dad finds a metal puzzle, a satsuma and a tag. He reads the tag twice. By eight the metal puzzle is on the windowsill, unsolved, and he's on a Steady board, muttering "nine's too many". By nine he's explaining bridges to his grandson, who solves one faster. Nobody bought a sudoku book.
Put it in the stocking
Open Number Puzzles in the App Store before December 24, then write the tag.
Related
- Sumbriska: the number bridge puzzleFlip bridges until every island hits its exact sum. A calm number bridge puzzle for iPhone: no ads, offline, two regions free.
- Easier number puzzles than sudoku: rank what bugs youSudoku too hard? Rank what bugs you about it and get an easier number puzzle to start with, plus a plain chart of five beginner options.
- Games like Kakuro: your first week with a bridge sum puzzleLove Kakuro's sums but tired of the grid? Try a 3-island board, see which Kakuro skills carry over, and follow a 7-day first week. Free on iPhone.
- Number puzzles for adults who think they're bad at mathFreeze at numbers? A three-tap quiz picks your starting board, and we show every sum a real Sumbriska solve needs. No timer, no ads.