Jigsaw puzzle

Solving a jigsaw puzzle.

A jigsaw puzzle is a form of tiling puzzle where a larger shape is cut unto smaller tiles that mostly or fully interlock their neighbors so they remain in place once they're set correctly. Though the puzzle can be made of anything, jigsaws are typically made from cardboard with an attractive picture on the facing side. The objective of a jigsaw puzzle is to interlock all of the pieces to complete the puzzle. The earliest jigsaw puzzles were made of wood and date back to around 1760. Although the name would imply that they're cut using a jigsaw, and early wooden puzzles may have been cut with a saw blade, cardboard jigsaw puzzles are typically stamped by a metal die.

Personal

My aunt Diane was a fans of jigsaw puzzles when I was a little boy, and I remember sitting with her and helping her solve them as a child, although I didn't have the attention span to play them for a long time. Around the age of 10 or so I had pretty much figured out how to efficiently solve puzzles, and I began seeking out jigsaws with 5,000 pieces for added complexity. By my early teens, I stopped caring about jigsaw puzzles and, while I still would occasionally help other people with them, I made no attempt to buy my own. There have been a few puzzles in my life that I can vaguely remember doing. When my daughters became old enough to do jigsaw puzzles, I started with them on 20 and 25-piece puzzles with large thick pieces. We did our first 500-piece puzzle after Christmas of 2024, and I enjoy doing puzzles with them.