Digital Jigsaws

When it's wicked cold outside (like only 2º at my home this morning, and -11º last Thursday) most sensible people don't want to play in the snow.  That simply invites frostbite and hypothermia.  No, a truly sensible person holes up indoors and looks for ways to pass the time.

One good time-passer this winter has been the jigsaw puzzle.  It makes watching dull TV shows  — like last night's glacial Academy Awards ceremony — easier to handle.  But I'm talking about digital jigsaw puzzles.  You don't have to buy and store a traditional box puzzle, or set up a card table for several weeks, or worry about puzzle pieces being eaten by the dog.  These jigsaw puzzles fit nicely on your tablet computer and can be assembled in a few minutes, or a few hours, with finger swipes.

Jigsaw puzzles have been around for about 250 years.  According to Linda Hannas, author of The English Jigsaw Puzzle: 1760-1890, a London printer named John Spilsbury started publishing "dissected maps" in 1763.  Puzzles manufactured in the 18th and 19th centuries were hand-cut wood affairs with educational themes. More interesting subjects were soon being offered.  Cardboard puzzles appeared in the late 1800s, but did not catch on in a big way until the 1920s when die-cutting made puzzle production more economical.  Even today the jigsaw puzzle remains a favorite pastime, especially for the summer cottage crowd.  For more information on jigsaw puzzles, click here.

If you want to try a digital puzzle, go to the App Store and look a free app called Jigsaw Puzzle by Critical Hits Software LLC.  This gives you a free High Def puzzle each day, and other collections are available for purchase.  With an upgrade you can even turn your own photos into puzzles!

Note that if you're concerned about your eyesight, you can enlarge the size of the pieces using the same shrink/expand finger gestures that work with other apps.  You can also adjust the number of pieces, from a couple dozen up to 400!  It seems to me that these games should be good exercise for your brain! •••