The stamp puzzle concept was pulled out again when it was time to submit another group of puzzles to "Imagine" magazine, this time during the summer of 1997, just after the magazine officially hired me to be a paid contributor of puzzles. This time, to keep the idea fresh, I used a new concept that had struck me during the spring quarter of 1997 while studying at the University of Chicago. Instead of keeping the large grid pattern square, why not make the collection of stamp boxes to be filled in another shape, such as a staircase?

The staircase, using essentially 2 x 2 segments, actually made the puzzle very interesting from a design perspective. Some pieces of the puzzle have only two stamp blocks in a row; other places have as many as four. You can create the puzzle so that it is easier to find the correct combination of stamps at one end and then work your way down (just like a real staircase), or force the solver to start in the more difficult center part and work their way out to both ends.