A missing puzzle piece is a relatively rare occurrence, considering the millions of puzzles that we sell. Very infrequently a piece is actually missing from the box but, more likely, the piece has simply been misplaced somewhere in your home regardless of how experienced and careful you are with your puzzles. We ask customers to allow a few days, keeping an eye out as they go about their day-to-day routine. Nine times out of ten the piece will show up, and not necessarily in the same room where the puzzle is being constructed – or, sometimes, not even in the same house! Here are just a few of the many comments we’ve received from customers who were sure they were missing a piece:

“This is a household of adults, and we have been very careful to make sure it could not be found.” (They later called when they did, in fact, find the piece.)

“You were right! It was stuck on the back of a magnet!!!”

“After receiving your message, we once again searched everywhere imaginable and went through the puzzle pieces one by one for about the 13th time. My husband found the corner piece just lying under the table.”

“Praise the Lord!!! I can’t believe it! It was under the table brown side up. I was on my hands and knees and still didn’t see it. A friend came in and I said we were missing a piece. He looks down and says ‘Here it is.’ Thank you for your advice and help.”

“Your letter inspired my wife to consider another possibility and locate the missing piece. Now we can proudly display our family project.”

“I took your advice and widened my search and found the piece – Have no idea how it got that far away from the table.”

“The most amazing thing. On Monday I cut out the barcode and was going to send it to you. Then I got sidetracked and started cleaning. Swept the dining room (which of course has been swept many times since the week before Christmas). Noticed something jammed under the leg of the table………..got down, pried it out and voila! The missing piece!!! I was so amazed that I called my daughter at work. Neither of us could believe it.”

“Guess what we found……..a little missing piece of FDR’s head.”

“We found it!!!! We are so glad because it just made us sick to think we had worked so long on that beautiful puzzle to have a piece missing.”

Thanks for your prompt reply, but we finally found it hiding in plain sight on my oriental rug. It was the same color as the puzzle piece. Only way we found it was when my husband got down and looked sideways at the level of the rug.”

“I wrote to you about a missing piece and you were exactly right! We found the missing piece yesterday out on the back porch. We’re blaming the cat.”

“Well, wouldn’t you know it. In the light of a new day, we found the piece. There is a TEXAS-size smile in our home.”

“You wrote to me asking me to continue to look for our missing puzzle piece. You were so right. We found it. But I am very disappointed you were unable to tell me exactly where to look! Since you have all those years of experience and stories I thought you might be able to know that this piece had disappeared under the baseboard in our dining room. Upon a thorough spring cleaning it partially came out with the use of a vacuum cleaner. Thank you again for your puzzles and your extremely interesting e-mail. Here is one to add to your stories.”

“Last night when I put the puzzle away and put my placemats back on the table, there was the piece under the place mat.”

“My little girl found the last piece on her Dad’s bathroom counter. I’m not sure if she brought it there or if our kitten did.”

“An extended family member who was helping me make the puzzle came back over the other day. Somehow the missing piece had followed him home.”

"How it got into my sweater/sweatshirt pocket, I'll never know!"

“Great news!” I found both of my missing pieces. One was actually under the felt of the puzzle roll-up system, which was under the puzzle itself. So how it got there is anybody’s guess. The other one is an even bigger mystery. It was under the paper covering the floor of my parrot’s cage. I’ve lived here long enough to know the house isn’t haunted. But I do have some suspicions about my dog and bird being in cahoots to cause some mischief! Seriously though, this is a strange one.”

From an office puzzle club: “I want to thank you for your quick reply regarding our missing puzzle piece and I wanted to let you know that it has been found! It was on the floor of a vehicle driven by an owner of the company.”

“It showed up today. Right in the middle of the living room which had been vacuumed more than once since its disappearance. I am highly suspicious that the cat had something to do with this mystery.”

“Thank you for replying to the loss of my puzzle pieces. We found one and then after another search all over with no luck my 3-year-old granddaughter came in and looked up at me and said ‘Nana, look what I found in my baby’s diaper bag!” The other puzzle piece was placed in my hand.”

(Another granddaughter put it in her little purse, so always check with the grandkids!!!)

“This hitch-hiker piece may have been spirited away by my older brother who passed away several years ago. When we were kids growing up at home he would hide one piece so he could place the last one in the puzzle.”

If you feel you’ve searched thoroughly and still cannot find your missing piece, give us a call at 1-800-548-8009 extension 19.