Jigsaw Puzzle

What is a jigsaw?

A jigsaw puzzle is a picture cut into interlocking pieces that you put back together. The first ones, in the 1760s, were maps glued to wood and cut along the borders of countries to teach geography. The name "jigsaw puzzle" appeared in the early 1900s, borrowed from the saw, although most wooden puzzles were in fact cut with a fretsaw. The classic shape, a square piece with a round tab or a matching blank on each inner side, is what lets the pieces hold each other and tells you which ones can sit side by side.

Here every picture is an original painting made for this game: forty of them, from mountain lakes, lavender fields and night harbours to cosy kitchens, still lifes, foxes, owls, koi, a coral reef and a spice market. Each board is cut fresh from the seed, so the tabs fall differently every time, and the Daily is the same picture and the same cut for everyone.

How to play

Put every piece in its place to finish the picture.

• Drag a piece out of the tray and onto the board. On a phone held upright the tray is the strip under the board: drag a piece upwards to take it out, and swipe along the strip to scroll it. Held sideways, the tray is the column beside the board.
• Drop a piece near its own place and it slides in and locks with a soft click. Anywhere else it goes back to the tray, with no penalty.
• Tap a piece to select it, then tap its place on the board. On a keyboard, Tab to a piece, press Enter, walk the frame over the board with the arrow keys and press Enter to drop it.
• Guide shows the whole picture faintly on the board. Turn it off for a harder puzzle; your choice is remembered.
• Edges keeps only the border pieces in the tray until they are all in, the way most people start a real jigsaw.
• Hint puts one piece in for you: the one you have selected, or else the first one you can see in the tray. Each hint adds 30 seconds to your score.
• Score. Your time from the first touch of a piece to the last piece in, plus 30 seconds for every hint. Lower is better.

The board sizes are easy (4 by 4, 16 pieces), medium (6 by 6, 36 pieces) and hard (8 by 8, 64 pieces). A board in progress is kept on your device, so a reload carries on where you left off.

Strategy tips

1. Frame first. Turn on Edges and build the border: corner pieces have two straight sides, edge pieces one. With the frame in place every inner piece has fewer places to go.
2. Read the tabs. A piece with tabs on top and bottom cannot sit next to a neighbour that also points a tab at it. Matching the shape narrows the search before you even look at the colours.
3. Sort by colour and texture. Sky, water, foliage and stone each have their own brushwork. Scroll the tray once and note where the pieces with a clear landmark are: a boat, a window, the moon.
4. Work outward from what is placed. A gap with three neighbours already in is the easiest gap on the board.
5. Keep the guide for the start. It helps to place the first landmarks; switching it off later makes you look at the pieces themselves.

FAQ

Is Jigsaw free to play?

Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account needed.

Where do the pictures come from?

They are original paintings made for this game, forty in all: landscapes, cosy interiors, cities at night, markets and festivals, still lifes, animals and the four seasons. None of them shows text, logos or real people.

Can I rotate the pieces?

No. Every piece lies the right way up, which keeps the puzzle comfortable on a phone. The challenge is finding where each piece goes, not turning it.

What is the daily puzzle?

Every day everyone gets the same medium puzzle: the same picture, the same 36-piece cut and the same pieces in the tray, so times compare directly on the daily leaderboard.