How to Play
Jigsaw puzzles have been around for more than 260 years — far older than most board games we still play today. London cartographer John Spilsbury is credited as the maker of the first commercial jigsaw puzzle in the 1760s. He glued a map of the world onto a thin sheet of mahogany, then cut along each country's borders with a marquetry saw — not purely for fun, but as a teaching tool to help children learn geography. He called his creation a "Dissected Map". Spilsbury died young at 30 in 1769, but his wife carried the business forward, and the word "jigsaw" itself only became the common term later, around the 1880s.
This app's digital version simplifies that format into small picture pieces you arrange directly on screen (no maps involved). Drag each piece to its correct spot until the full picture comes together — pieces that land correctly lock into place automatically, so they won't shift again even if another piece brushes past them.
Tips
Just like a physical jigsaw, working from the edges inward is still the most effective approach digitally.
- Place straight-edged pieces (usually corners and border sections) first to build an outer frame before tackling the middle.
- Group pieces by similar color or pattern — this narrows down candidates much faster than trying pieces one at a time at random.
- If part of the picture has a distinctive feature (a face, text, a unique object), finish that area first as a visual anchor for the pieces around it.
- Pieces that are already locked in don't need re-checking — spend your effort on pieces whose position is still unclear.