Project record
Three teams, one association, and a puzzle pin that had to be re-engineered
Three CCHA teams ordered separately in the same season — including a multi-piece puzzle set that needed rebuilding before it could be produced.
Chaska · MN
Gallery
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The brief
Three teams from one Minnesota association, three separate orders, two different families — and a puzzle-piece pin set that had to be re-engineered so it would survive production.
How the design got made
- Beat 1Association with decentralised, team-by-team purchasing
- Beat 2A three-piece puzzle ticket design pushed the limits of what metal can hold
- Beat 3Production art direction: 'that right piece cant have all those little cuts on one side… it will never hold up in production'
- Beat 4Gold glitter used on the state-shaped element
- Beat 5Player numbers in white on a black puck for legibility
The full account
The same association, buying three different ways
Three teams from one Minnesota association placed three separate orders in the same season: a 10U A team, a Squirt A team, and a Mite team. Two of the three were handled by the same parent; the third by a different family entirely.
Nobody coordinated it, and nothing about that is wrong — it's simply a different model from an association that buys once for everybody. It means three designs, three proof cycles and three sets of minimums, and a higher price per pin than a combined order would have reached. Some associations prefer the autonomy. It's worth knowing what it costs.
The puzzle set
One of these designs was a multi-piece pin — separate pins that lock together into a larger image. They trade extremely well, because a collector who has one piece wants the rest.
They are also the hardest thing to make. The first version came back from production with a problem:
"that right piece cant have all those little cuts on one side and little pieces on the right to connect the 2 it will never hold up in production"
The main element had to be split in two before it would survive stamping and handling. That is the constraint on every moving or interlocking design: thin bridges and fine protrusions fail, and they fail after tooling if nobody catches them before.
They got caught at proof stage, which is the cheap place to catch them.
Small details that carry the design
Gold glitter used only on the state-shaped element, rather than across the whole pin. Player numbers set in white on a black puck, because numbers at pin scale need contrast or they disappear.
Neither is expensive. Both are the difference between a design that reads at arm's length and one that doesn't.
Specification
| Team | Chaska Chanhassen Hockey Association (CCHA) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Hockey |
| City | Chaska |
| State | MN |
The banner threshold
This order sat under the threshold, so no banner was included. The line falls at 1,000 pins at 2.0 inches or larger: at that point the size step costs $0.20 more per pin — $1.07 to $1.27 — and brings a free 3ft × 6ft banner plus 100 bonus gold-metal or blackout pins with it.
Worth checking before you commit to a quantity: the bigger pin is frequently the cheaper total order.
What the customer said
No publishable customer sentence exists in this order thread, so none is shown. Everything below the header on this page is drawn from the order record itself: sizes, quantities, proof rounds and dates. Nothing here is a testimonial, and we do not write one.
Questions this order answers
Glitter is mixed into the enamel of a chosen colour rather than applied on top, so it won't rub off. It's specified per colour — one glitter colour, or several.
It's commonly used on a single accent area: the shape of a state, a star, a puck. A 1,500-pin association order ran one glitter colour across the whole run; another design used gold glitter only on the state-shaped element.
Sourced — Multiple 2025–26 orders
Some, yes. Very thin connecting bridges, lots of small cut-outs on one side, and delicate protrusions are the usual failures — they won't survive stamping or handling.
We flag it at proof stage rather than after tooling. On one multi-piece design the main element had to be split in two before it could be produced.
Sourced — Production art direction, 2025
Yes — puzzle sets where each pin is a piece of a larger image are made, and they trade extremely well because collectors chase the full set.
They need more engineering than a single pin. Pieces need enough metal at the joins to survive handling, which sometimes means splitting an element or simplifying an edge.
Sourced — Minnesota association three-piece design, 2025
Yes, and it's usually the better deal. One Minnesota association covered every team with a single 1,500-pin order on one invoice, which cleared the banner threshold and brought the per-pin price down for everyone.
The alternative — each team ordering separately — means separate designs, separate minimums, and separate proof cycles. Some associations prefer that autonomy; it just costs more per pin.
Sourced — Brainerd AHA 2025 vs CCHA 2025–26