I’m a self-confessed jigsaw addict.

Every time I dissemble a completed jig saw puzzle, I tell myself, ‘Well, that was a waste of time’. I could have cleaned the whole house, written five chapters of my novel or completed an aerobic exercise regime. That would be something to show for the time I frittered away playing with tiny pieces of cardboard.

But a few weeks later, there I am again, opening another box, sorting the pieces into straight edges then colours, assembling an image to match the one on the box lid. The problem is, I have over fifty puzzles stacked in a cupboard, friends and family keep giving me more for gifts and also used puzzles are remarkably cheap at op shops. Lately I decided to stack some of my puzzles in decorative piles in the sunroom. I chose the Parisian ones for this and added a picture of Paris above them on the wall. Paris is always a good idea! So Audrey Hepburn said.

Apparently, I am not alone in my hobby if you can call it that. During Covid lockdowns many people discovered the joys of puzzles and maybe books too, as they struggled to fill their days inside. My interest in puzzling goes way back but welcome all you new puzzlers. Your puzzle collection will never be lacking. There is a great variety to choose from.

All shapes and sizes

Jigsaws come in all shapes, sizes and piece numbers. The most popular is the 1000-piece format but some die hard addicts go for larger piece numbers. Children’s puzzles vary between 100 and 500 and feature bigger pieces. Mind you, when we are older it can be harder to see the detail of the small 1000 puzzle pieces, so this is a bit puzzling in itself. I think child puzzle piece size is more about stopping kids eating the pieces rather than for their eyesight or dexterity. Once while engaged in a puzzle, a visiting Jack Russel jumped up and ate a bunch of the pieces of my puzzle in progress. He thought they were dog chow. His disappointment was obvious as he spat out a mess of chewed up cardboard. My completed puzzle was not complete but featured random holes thanks to little Toby. So be wary of small canines.

The most popular puzzle shape is the rectangle, but I have square, round, amorphous and even edgeless puzzles. I once had a 3D one of an English village. There are also puzzles with no pictures to guide you. Agatha Christie ones like this teasing aspect.

If you’re looking for a jigsaw puzzle with a difference, a Quordle jigsaw may be for you. The pieces are “different” with curves, and many are shaped in the form of animals and plants. I was fortunate to receive one as a gift so did not have to buy. They are quite expensive due to their hand-crafted wooden pieces.

History of jigsaws

Jigsaw puzzles originated in 18th-century England as educational devices to teach geography to children. The invention is attributed to John Spilsbury, a London mapmaker. It was 1760 and John had the bright idea of pasting a paper map onto wood board and then using a fretsaw or jigsaw he cut the map into portions. The wooden pieces were given to students to be reassembled. A great interactive hands on geography lesson. How clever. I doubt today’s kids would be much good at this. Maps of the world are rarely in classrooms now.

Once this concept seemed a success, manufacturers used dissected pictures covering such subjects as history, the alphabet, botany, and zoology. The use of scenic pictures began in the 1860s and ’70s, in Great Britain and the USA.  Jigsaws became popular in the early 1900s and had a revival in the Great Depression of the 1930s as an inexpensive amusement. By then the whole process of manufacture was automated not by hand. We witnessed another revival during the Covid pandemic when outdoor amusement and social interaction was limited.

During WWII wood was in short supply so cardboard took its place. Puzzles of this era usually featured scenes of battles or warships and airplanes. I guess even the guys got involved then. With the advent of movies and cartoons, these became the subject of jigsaws too. Children particularly liked the cartoon scenes. Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety being firm favourites. Jigsaws also featured nursery rhymes, alphabets, poems and even times tables. Being a chemist, I had to have one of the Periodic Table of elements. It even has an accompanying quiz, so you get to learn some chemistry while you have fun.

Jigsaws and Covid

We witnessed another jigsaw revival during the Covid pandemic when outdoor amusement and social interaction was limited. I did a few myself during this time. It would have been good to have a few during my lockdown in Italy and France in early 2020. My husband and I became stranded in Europe in March 2020. We travelled for medical reasons to a clinic in Genova Italy. I had severe CRPS at the time and went for a cure. But Covid erupted while I was in hospital, and we became stuck, landlocked by closed borders. A puzzle or two then would have been excellent to while away the months in lockdown in a foreign country. But the shops closed and deliveries not happening. You know how it was.

Instead, I wrote a book, The Last Hotel, about strangers meeting at Nice airport as they tried to scramble home. It was not easy to get a flight, nigh impossible for many, so these strangers, us included, had to wait it out at hotels. But they kept closing too. Hence my book, The Last Hotel, written in lockdown for the lack of jigsaws. What else could a girl do? My characters however do have jigsaws. They are the strangers who took refuge in the only hotel left open, a pensione. They become a united family of strangers who have to get along until the lockdown order is lifted. A jigsaw or two, yes please. There is a jigsaw scene in this book. Even the young characters in the novel join in to sort the colours, the edges and find the missing pieces. It’s a bonding activity.

Jigsaws involve teamwork, mental gym and they are fun in a very tame way. Amusement for all ages.

Puzzles everywhere

I used the concept of a jigsaw in my first historical novel. A woman from the present puzzles together the bare facts of her Edwardian ancestry. It is a dual timeline novel called Whispers through Time.  Once you start looking, life offers many types of puzzles. Crosswords, Suzuko and Rubik’s Cube are all puzzles. Learning anything can be like doing a puzzle. Languages, mathematics to name a few. You don’t have to be in a nursing home to sit and do puzzles. In fact if you do lots then you won’t end up with dementia in a nursing home.

Vive le jigsaw!

Puzzles live on despite the digital age. You can do all sorts online. There are word puzzles like Wordle, and you can even do a jigsaw online. I’ve never tried as I feel enough of my life is online. I want to escape the computer not embrace it. But I guess if you are stranded without the real thing like I was you could puzzle away via the net. I never thought of this at the time. Internet was a bit dicey anyway.

So, the history of puzzles is not over yet. From the first puzzles invented in ancient Roman and Egyptian times, we have been puzzling away for a long, long time now and still going. Puzzles are good therapy for the mind. They keep you thinking, reasoning and the spatial aspect of puzzles is particularly good. Plus, there is the hand eye co-ordination, a bonus.

Photo by Mikayla Townsend on Unsplash

Joni Scott is an Australian writer. She has four published novels. Two are historical and two contemporary. They are all set in exotic locations so you get to armchair travel as you read and learn stuff. see them on joniscottauthor.com.