I’m Addicted to Jigsaw Puzzles - Deb Richmond, Author

Keep reading. This article comes with a gift.

Thirty-two years ago, I set aside many hobbies to attend college and become a teacher. My children were both in elementary school. I was a single mom, working three jobs and taking college classes. There was no time for dabbling in paint colors, playing computer games, or putting together jigsaw puzzles.

Following my retirement, I was able to return to the jigsaw puzzles. I think I’m addicted. I’ve done 43 puzzles since retiring in May.

The Research on Jigsaw Puzzles

A 2018 study of puzzling people aged 50+ found that the “jigsaw puzzle skill was highly associated with global visuospatial cognition and all measured visuospatial cognitive abilities indicating that solving JPs strongly taps multiple visuospatial cognitive processes including perception, constructional praxis, mental rotation, speed, flexibility, working memory, reasoning, and episodic memory.”

It’s not just a waste of time…

I don’t know what that all means, but it sounds like a good thing. The article explained that tackling jigsaw puzzles allows the brain to transfer mental skills like improved memory, spatial recognition, and reasoning to other learning activities. Surprisingly, word puzzles and sudokus do not transfer skills to other learning activities.

Additional research shows that doing jigsaw puzzles significantly reduces stress, and reducing stress is a significant factor in maintaining healthy brain functions, especially as we grow older.

Jigsaw puzzles also provide a release of dopamine that provides a happy moment, just like eating chocolate, having sex, or use of illegal medications. Forget the drugs. Eat chocolate or do a puzzle. (I’ll let you decide about the sex.)

Interesting Fact

A lenticular puzzle is created by using a double-convex lens. The images appear to change when viewed from different angles.

Take It Easy/Make It Harder

How do you tackle the jigsaw puzzle? I look for the most challenging way to complete it and see if I can make the puzzle last more than one day. Here are some of the approaches I’ve tried. I’m looking for other ways to do the puzzles, so send me your strategies.

1) Build the Border

I did this faithfully for the first round of puzzles. Then I sorted the pieces by color and worked from there. Lately, though, I rarely build the outer edge. It makes the process too easy, and I’m famous for doing things in the most complicated way possible.

2) Top-Down

This is the governmental leadership approach. I frequently start by assembling the top of the puzzle and working my way to the bottom or along the sides. I don’t use this method because it’s harder. I just have trouble reaching the top of the Puzzleboard by Phil. (Sorry, these are only available in the central PA area.) So, I put the sky together first, then slide that section up as I build the parts underneath.

3) The Missing Link

Sometimes, in mid-assembly, I change to sifting through all the remaining pieces to find the missing one. This is fun if the piece has a unique shape or color that I can quickly identify. But I sometimes look for twenty or thirty such pieces at a time because I like a challenge. I guess that’s why puzzling helps build a stronger memory. This was especially interesting when I worked on the 3,000-piece underwater scene puzzle.

Interesting fact

Do you know Amazon has a 24,000-piece puzzle that measures 15 x 6 feet and a 33,000-piece puzzle that measures 19 x 5 feet?

4) Sorting

I bought a neat little stack of square trays for sorting. When I first went back to jigsaw puzzles, I sorted every puzzle by color. That got old, and only delayed the process of getting started. I still use the trays. I put random handfuls of puzzle pieces in the eight trays, but I scan the contents of the trays for colors or objects. I keep moving trays. It’s part of the game to empty a tray and put it off to the side until I’m down to one tray. One benefit of sorting by color, though, is that it forces my eyes to distinguish between fifty shades of green, blue, and brown, a challenge I tend to enjoy.

5) Find a Place in the World

My husband Rich realized he couldn’t afford to buy new puzzles every week, so he uses this method to slow down his progress. He puts the pieces in small containers and works from one container at a time, choosing a single piece and trying to find where it goes in the puzzle. If he locates the spot, he puts it in. If not, he puts the piece back for the next round. Being a very detailed and meticulous person, Rich studies the box cover until he can identify the exact location of the piece in his hand.

6) Working Blind

If the puzzle looks too easy, I work blind. I turn the box upside-down and assemble it without an image to guide me. This is especially fun when doing puzzles with individual little pictures or frames, like the one with 40 London doors or the collection of travel posters. These are my favorite puzzles, the ones with 40 mini-puzzles inside. If you’re a sucker for punishment, turn the pieces upside-down. I did that once with a 1500-piece puzzle. I was gluing the back side for framing, but it all fell apart when I flipped it over.

7) Build the Barn

Sometimes, I build specific objects in the scene and then connect them with the leaves, sky, or flowers around the main objects. This is also fun to do without looking at the big picture.

Interesting fact

You can do jigsaw puzzles online.

https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/

And here: Daily Jigsaw Puzzles

Need a greater challenge?

Do three-dimensional puzzles like these:

3D Puzzle Vase

3D Puzzle Car

3D Puzzle Castle

And now for your gift

Because Rich and I go through many puzzles, we’ve found friends and family to borrow, beg, trade, and share our collections. (Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a local puzzle lending library? That is one of my secret fantasies at the moment. Now you know I’m getting old…)

Our puzzles sometimes travel between four or five friends, and I often lose track of who I gave it to. So, I created a puzzle tracking form. You can print it on regular printer paper or on Avery #8163 and adhere it to the inside of the box cover.

Completed Puzzle Form