Colorado Factory Has Pets' 'Wall of Shame' for Product Destroyers

A puzzle factory's exhibit has gained attention for its unique tribute to a common problem—what happens when your pet gets hold of a puzzle piece?

In a special section of the Liberty Puzzle Factory in Boulder, Colorado, sits an infamous "wall of shame" filled with pictures of pets who have committed the ultimate crime in the eyes of puzzle lovers everywhere—consuming or mutilating precious puzzle pieces.

Elle, a puzzle fan from Austin, Texas, was delighted by the exhibit during a visit, capturing a picture and sharing it on Reddit, where thousands of people have subsequently been left in stitches.

"I thought it was hilarious and spent a good amount of time looking at it. I received permission to snap a picture. I wanted to share it with Reddit because I thought it would bring joy to anyone who saw it," Elle told Newsweek.

Established in 2005, Liberty Puzzles creates wooden jigsaw puzzles inspired by a history of family memories enjoying puzzles together.

Kamie Kennedy from Liberty Puzzles told Newsweek: "As puzzle makers, we know there is nothing worse than spending hours/days on a puzzle only to find out you are missing a piece. So, we developed the ability to replace an individual piece for any puzzle we make. When we started getting requests, we noticed that a lot of culprits were pets."

As a sort of "quid pro quo" for making and sending the missing piece, they asked customers to send pictures of the culprits.

"Over the past 19 years, we have amassed enough pictures to create the now-famous, joyous "wall of shame" within our factory. We are a pet-friendly company, so when we see those hilarious mugshots it softens the blow of the extra work they cause for us," Kennedy said.

The Wall of Shame boasts a montage of mischievous pets caught in the act. Elle revealed it was "mostly dogs," although she did notice one fish.

"There are over 500+ images on the wall, mostly of pets—dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, pigs" Kennedy said. "We add to the wall almost weekly."

"Our puzzles are made of wood, not cardboard. As such, people often wonder whether our wood smells like dog bones or sticks because dogs dominate the wall of shame," he said.

After Elle shared a picture of the wall on Reddit's r/mildlyinteresting subreddit, it gained more than 29,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments.

One commenter called it "criminally adorable," while another suggested: "They should make a puzzle of the wall of shame."

It wasn't just animals on the wall either, other examples of things that appeared to have maimed a puzzle piece were an automatic vacuum, a washer and even Game of Thrones character Cersei, for reasons unknown.

"While I figured I would get some reaction to it, I did not expect this level of attention. I'm glad to bring so many people joy and, in doing so, shine a light on a small business," Elle said. "The Liberty Puzzle Factory deserves all the recognition it can get. The puzzles are works of art."

Update 01/24/2024, 04:30 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional comment from Liberty Puzzles.