This is a good time to go jigsaw puzzling

How convenient? National Game and Puzzle Week is Nov. 20-26, spanning Thanksgiving week. 

To celebrate, pop open the family toy chest and fish out a jigsaw puzzle. Have at it. Any number of puzzle builders can participate in the enjoyment.

 

Let’s propose a holiday toast to the inventor of the jigsaw puzzle. Most toy and game historians give the nod to English engraver and mapmaker John Spilsbury.

 

In 1767, he had the idea of mounting a map of the kingdoms of Europe on a thin mahogany board and cutting it into pieces along national boundaries. 

Spilsbury called it a “dissected map.” He then jumbled up the pieces and inserted them into a box and sealed it up. He sold the puzzles at his printmaker’s shop on Russell Court off Drury Lane in London. 

Children were tasked to assemble the puzzles as a way to learn their geography.

 

Sarah Murden of Lincolnshire, England, an author and self-described “history detective,” said that Spilsbury listed some 30 different dissected maps of various locales around the globe for sale. His prices were quite steep, “due to the quality of the wood used….” 

“The puzzles were limited to only those families with plenty of money to spare,” Murden said. 

Yet, the popularity of dissected map puzzles grew, and by the end of the 18th century, London was home to nearly 20 companies that were producing them. 

Early manufacturers of dissected maps cut out the pieces using a hand tool known as a fret saw. The first treadle-driven fret saw was patented in 1865. The foot-powered device (also called a scroll saw or jigsaw in that era) used the same mechanism for operation as the sewing machine, a flywheel driven by a treadle. 

Adults adopted the “hobby of puzzling” as a form of amusement. Brian and Susan Way, owners of Puzzle Warehouse in St. Louis, Mo., have traced the history of jigsaw puzzles in the United States. 

Early on, “a sneeze or a careless move could undo an evening’s work because the pieces did not interlock. And, unlike children’s puzzles, the adult puzzles had no guide picture on the box; if the title was vague or misleading, the true subject could remain a mystery until the last pieces were fitted into place.” 

Parker Brothers of Salem, Mass., produced its first jigsaw puzzle in 1887 and introduced the interlocking style that took “puzzling” to a new level.

 

Another important development was the introduction of die-cut cardboard puzzles during the Great Depression. “Mass production and inexpensive cardboard allowed the manufacturers to cut prices substantially,” the Ways commented. 

“The autumn of 1932 brought a novel concept, the weekly jigsaw puzzle. The die-cut ‘Jig of the Week’ retailed for 25 cents and appeared on the newsstands every Wednesday.” Manufactured by University Distributing Company of Cambridge, Mass., each puzzle had more than 300 pieces and was capable of being solved within three hours.

 

Eighty years later, the jigsaw puzzle was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2002. 

Interest in puzzling spiked along with the COVID-19 pandemic. Puzzle maker Cloudberries Ltd. of London is pressing forward, stating that its nerdy “puzzle boffins” are working around the clock to continue to create challenging and beautiful jigsaw puzzles. 

Cloudberries’ customer service agents are ready to assist. “Problem with your puzzle? Missing a piece? Fancy a chat about anything jigsaw-related, like why your cat loves sitting on puzzles? We’ll answer as soon as we can!”