The word jigsaw relates to the original method of manufacture of the earliest jigsaw puzzles which involved using a picture painted onto a piece of flat wood cut it into several pieces with a jigsaw. These original wooden jigsaw puzzles were manufactured as early as the middle of the 18th century in England and, because they were cut by hand, had loose fitting pieces and irregular shapes. Jigsaw puzzles are an unusual yet enduring pastime. Despite early and uneven puzzle manufacturing attempts the appeal of taking a perfectly good picture, breaking it up into a thousand pieces only to put it together again has endured.

Painting on wood has a history that is hundreds of years old and in fact dates back to Roman times when the deceased often had their likenesses painted onto their coffin lids. Early European family crests were often painted in oil onto wooden decorative shields. It is difficult to accurately determine the circumstances behind someone deciding to cut up a perfectly good picture into irregular pieces only to re-assemble them as a completed jigsaw puzzle. Be that as it may jigsaw puzzles, as a hobby with an ever growing enthusiast base, are over 250 years and are here to stay. No doubt the challenge appeals to the problem solving dimension of the hobbyist’s nature.

The London mapmaker, John Spilsbury is credited with the initial commercialization of jigsaw puzzles around 1760. It is worth noting that old fashioned world maps are still a hugely popular theme of puzzle hobbyists. It has been suggested that Spilsbury’s world maps were painted onto wood with the purpose of cutting them up by country into large piece jigsaw puzzles to be put together by children as an educational aid to improve their geographic knowledge.

Today’s jigsaw images are as diverse as there are different photographs. Remaining popular is the countryside panorama usually of foreign locations. Castles usually French and German ones, as well as mountains and rivers, have been popular jigsaws for over a hundred years. Adult puzzles start from 250 piece puzzles with the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle being the most popular. Nowadays puzzle manufacturers use cameras, computers and software to make the most complex jigsaw puzzle images conceivable. From Bill Gates face made up of various banknotes to all white (no image) puzzles, there is a puzzle enthusiast for every jigsaw puzzle no matter how challenging.

Today’s jigsaw puzzles today are, for the most part, made of a high density cardboard known as greenboard. They are fully interlocking which means that once fitted together a section of connected pieces will hold together tightly. The board has an image printed onto it and the sheet is then passed through a press with a puzzle die in between that exerts over 200 tons of pressure to ensure a clean, uniform and fully interlocking cut. The puzzle pieces are small and tricky and require a strategy in order to assemble them: perfect for the puzzle hobbyist and his or her puzzle skills.

No two puzzle pieces in close proximity should be the same shape. There are 14 basic jigsaw puzzle piece shapes that range from pieces with four knobs to the zero knob pieces which will have four indentations. There is every permutation in between, e.g. three knobs to one indentation, etc. Shapes can vary in basic structure from square to oblong again employing the complete range of knob/ indentations. 1000 piece puzzles are actually made up of 1026 pieces and are the best selling jigsaw size.

Jigsaw puzzle pieces can be very similar in basic shape leading to all sorts of problems. This is most frequent especially when dealing with solid colours. A puzzle strategy would be to arrange together the same shaped jigsaw puzzle pieces with the same orientation allowing you to spot subtle differences in puzzle shape. By removing the distraction of the picture and turning the jigsaw puzzle pieces the puzzler can study the puzzle pieces from the back without the puzzle picture as a distraction.

The 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle is the most popular jigsaw puzzle size. Catering to the most extreme puzzle enthusiast, puzzle companies make puzzles which have 24,000 pieces. They are over 5 feet high and over 14 feet wide and can occupy a puzzle team up to twelve months. The puzzle hobbyist can hone his or her puzzle skills in competition where contests are conducted by jigsaw puzzle manufacturers and prizes for the fastest puzzle assembly. It would take a competitor about an hour to make a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

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