Many puzzles are termed “fully interlocking”, meaning that adjacent pieces are connected such that they stay attached when one is turned. Sometimes the connection is tight enough to pick up a solved part by holding one piece. Some fully interlocking puzzles have pieces all of a similar shape, with rounded tabs (interjambs) on opposite ends, […]
Jigsaw puzzles come in a variety of sizes. Among those marketed to adults, 300-, 500- and 750-piece puzzles are considered “smaller”. More sophisticated, but still common, puzzles come in sizes of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,500, 8,000, 9,000, 13,200, 18,000, 24,000, 32,000 and 40,000 pieces. Jigsaw puzzles geared towards children typically have […]
Most modern jigsaw puzzles are made of paperboard as they are easier and cheaper to mass-produce. An enlarged photograph or printed reproduction of a painting or other two-dimensional artwork is glued to cardboard, which is then fed into a press. The press forces a set of hardened steel blades of the desired pattern, called a […]
John Spilsbury is believed to have produced the first jigsaw puzzle around 1760, using a marquetry saw. Early puzzles, known as dissections, were produced by mounting maps on sheets of hardwood and cutting along national boundaries, creating a puzzle useful for teaching geography. Royal governess Lady Charlotte Finch used such “dissected maps” to teach the […]
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often oddly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture; when assembled, they produce a complete picture. Beginning in the 18th century, jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of […]