Welcome To Jigsaw Puzzle Country!

Ranked #2,283 in Hobbies, Games & Toys, #22,640 overall

Fascinating Jigsaw Puzzle Stories

Until you start looking, you might not know that there is a whole world out there of people who love a good jigsaw puzzle and who are, in one way or another, engaged in this puzzling pastime! What follows are some interesting and often moving stories about people and their passionate hobby of working jigsaw puzzles.

On this page you will find human interest stories about people like Ted Howard whose love letter jigsaw puzzle took 15 years to solve, Gemberly Tan-Cagalingan the young lady who solved the world's largest puzzle and about George and Laura Bush's jigsaw puzzles. You'll also find out a bit more about why working puzzles is good for you, the strategies that people employ to solve puzzles and, of course, some fantastic jigsaw puzzles.

A Puzzling Story 

Ted Howard's Love Letter Jigsaw Puzzle Takes 15 Years To Solve!

A story of love and dedication.

Finally, more than 15 years later, a husband has reconstructed the love letters he sent to his wife. Mollie Howard shredded the letters that Ted Howard wrote into more than 2,000 pieces after she caught someone else reading them.

In 1993, Mr. Howard began rebuilding the letters. (A real puzzle if ever there was one!) He spent five hours per month for 15 years working this puzzle.

Mr. Howard said, "I still miss Mollie terribly but having the memories helps me through. The letters brought back so many good times."

He is writing a book with the stories contained in the letters so that they will not be forgotten and it will be called, A Week At Stanton. He wrote the letters as he travelled throughout Europe as a farmhand in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Holland in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

"It was love at first sight. No two ways about it. I was at a village feast (fair) and this girl jumped off the carousel and came careering into me. It turned out to be Mollie. That was July 19th, 1948."

They married in 1955 when Mollie was 18 and Ted was 23 and went on to have three children and six grandchildren. Those grandchildren will be lucky to have this romantic story in print -- maybe one of those letters should be made into an actual jigsaw puzzle!

Child's Play? No Way! 

Gemberly Tan-Cagalingan Solves The World's Largest Puzzle

That means 24,000 pieces!

People love this puzzle! Around the world, addicted jigsaw puzzle fans want to solve it. 'Life' is the world's biggest puzzle at 24,000 pieces. When finished, it measures approximately 168.5 inches x 61.8 inches.

Life, The Greatest Puzzle
was created especially by Royce B. McClure of New Zealand. Mr. McClure has had over a hundred puzzles published. To create this one, he used his years of experience in designing puzzles. He strived to make sure that the challenge of this puzzle was equivalent to the pleasure it gave.

Mr. McClure's artwork came from paintings that were airbrush works done between 1990 and 2006. This puzzle has variety, activity, color, beauty, drama -- the makings of Life. Much will not be seen until it is assembled and it will surprise puzzlers as they work it through.

If you thought that solving jigsaw puzzles was child's play, think again! At 24,000 pieces, this puzzle was no easy task! However, it was not a match for Filipino Gemberly Tan-Cagalingan. She earned the title of The First Asian who finished the largest jigsaw puzzle in the world.

Ms. Tan-Cagalingan opened the puzzle and found that it was separated into four individual plastic bags. Some people solve each bag and then put the four sections together but she did not want to take that approach. She believed that doing so would be like solving four different, smaller puzzles so she put the contents of the four bags together before she started.

Ms. Tan started doing puzzles when she was 11 and is 26 now. She had done 200 to 300 puzzles (up to 3,000 pieces) prior to tackling this mammoth puzzle. She would love the opportunity, if time allows, to do a bigger puzzle in the future.

Her completion time for Life, The World's Largest Puzzle was 233 hours and 5 minutes.




Click here to buy
Life The Greatest Puzzle
from Amazon.

Photobucket

Finally, The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle on Video

Now that you have read about it, here is a chance to have a really good look at it. Not only is it the world's largest puzzle but it is beautiful, too!
The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle
by nodge22 | video info

58 ratings | 71,167 views
curated content from YouTube

Easy Ways To Increase Your Intelligence

Jigsaw Puzzles boost intelligence

Genes account for 80 percent of your IQ and education follows. Take continuing education courses. Learn one new thing every day! Hobbies such as reading, crossword puzzles logic puzzles and (you guessed it) JIGSAW PUZZLES are all excellent. So whenever you are working that jigsaw puzzle, you are increasing your intelligence!

Photobucket

Jigsaw Strategy

"A person's jigsaw strategy closely reflects both their personality and level of skill."

-- Dr Hilary Johnson, University of Bath

Jigsaw Puzzle Solving Style Reveals Your Personality

Jigsaw style - are you hoarder, border obsessive or opportunist?

Have you ever experienced 'jigsaw rage?' Researchers at the University of Bath studied this issue and discovered that people have different approaches to puzzling and that, when there are two different approaches, there can be trouble.

What sort of trouble you say? Well how about when your brother hides the last piece in order to be the winner? How about when your spouse does not allow you to touch 'her' part of the puzzle. How about when you withhold the extra pieces and refuse to allow your partner to touch them?

University of Bath researchers used jigsaw puzzlers to study how people collaborate. They had individuals work on a 120-piece jigsaw puzzle, either alone or in a group.

They discovered categories of puzzlers including hoarders, border obsessives and opportunists.

Hoarders will shield parts of the finished puzzles or hide the picture on the lid from others.

Border obsessives must complete the border before they move on to the rest of the puzzle. They often dominate groups -- controlling decisions and behaviors.

Opportunists sort piles by criteria. They use different ways to solve the puzzle - from the top to the bottom, from a major part of the picture, etc. Opportunists did better when completing a puzzle alone.

Puzzlers altered their approach when they were asked to work in a group, especially if the person they worked with was of a different personality style.

The strategy you use to solve your puzzle likely is indicative of your personality and level of skill although in a lesser way than the extremes shown during puzzle solving.

What Type of Jigsaw Puzzler Are You?

Loading poll. Please Wait...

President George Bush's Favorite Jigsaw Puzzles

Artwork by British painter Howard Robinson

President George Bush is apparently a fan of jigsaw puzzles. His puzzle of choice? Puzzles depicting the artwork of British painter Howard Robinson.

He enjoys Mr. Robinson's puzzles so much that First Lady Laura Bush had Mr. Robinson paint the President's dogs, Miss Beazley and Barney, for his 60th birthday.

Mr. Robinson explained, "never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the President of the United States of America would be sitting in Camp David doing one of my puzzles."

The Presidential Pets 550 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle By White Mountain

The puzzle that was commissioned by Laura Bush for George Bush's 60th birthday featuring their dogs.

Celebrate German Jigsaw Puzzle Day on September 28th

Town of Ravensburg (think Ravensburger puzzles) claims the world's largest puzzle!


Photobucket


Photobucket



This year, the townsfolk in Ravensburg joined together to put together the world's largest jigsaw puzzle with more than one million pieces! 15,000 people participated assembling 1,141,800 pieces in five hours. They would up covering a 6,500 squre foot or 600 square meter piece of town square. 4,000 smaller puzzles were assembled and then joined to create this very large puzzle.

The claim has been submitted to the Guiness Book of World Records but has not been approved yet. (October 2, 2008.)

Town Lays Claim to World's Largest Puzzle
by AssociatedPress | video info

8 ratings | 4,970 views
curated content from YouTube
Important!

"Your brain is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets."

Can You Work Jigsaw Puzzles Like Ryan Divine, 5 Time Tri-State Puzzle Champion Does In This Video?

Ryan Divine demonstrates why he is the 5 time Tri-State Jigsaw Puzzle Champion in the music video for our Maldroid's third single "You Can Have It All."

Maldroid - You Can Have It All
by maldroid1 | video info

402 ratings | 46,750 views
curated content from YouTube

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle Maker shows his Unique Craft on ABC

New England master craftsman makes handcrafted, one-of-a-kind wooden jigsaw puzzles using personal Photos, graphics, and fine art. He is only one of three people who produce jigsaw puzzles by hand in the United States. Each puzzle is 100 percent handmade to order in sizes ranging from 4" x 6" up to 42 inches x 58 inches with as few as three pieces to as many as 5000 plus puzzle pieces.
Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle Maker shows his Unique Craft on ABC Mor
by LonSeidman | video info

28 ratings | 72,095 views
curated content from YouTube

More Jigsaw Puzzles

More information, great puzzle sources, lots of Halloween, Christmas and Melissa & Doug Puzzles.

Welcome To Jigsaw Puzzle Country!

Until you start looking, you might not know that there is a whole world out there of people who love a good jigsaw puzzle and who are, in one way or another,...

Looking For Christmas Jigsaw Puzzles?
Each year my family works on Christmas jigsaw puzzles during the month of December. We put a Christmas themed puzzle out and occasionally someone stops and puts...

What Is A Wrebbit 3D Jigsaw Puzzle?
Wrebbit 3D Puzzles. What are they? Simply put, Wrebbit 3D puzzles are three dimensional jigsaw puzzles first created by the Wrebbit company in Montreal. They...

Top 10 Melissa and Doug Jigsaw Floor Puzzles
Melissa and Doug floor puzzles are plenty of fun, that is for sure! I still remember how fond my sons were of jigsaw puzzles, particularly the giant ones that...

Melissa and Doug Holiday Jigsaw Puzzles
Melissa and Doug holiday jigsaw puzzles are beautifully made, quality puzzles for very young children. There are puzzles available for many of the popular holidays...

Presidential Pets: The President George and First Lady Laura Bush Jigsaw Puzzle
When President George Bush was to celebrate his 60th birthday in 2006, First Lady Laura Bush wanted to present him with a special present and she came up with...

Melissa and Doug Jigsaw Puzzles
Melissa and Doug Jigsaw Puzzles are high-quality, hand-crafted children's puzzles that will fascinate your child. Their assortment includes every type of puzzle...

Fall For Halloween Jigsaw Puzzles
Do you want to harvest the excitement of Halloween? Doing a Halloween jigsaw puzzle may just be the answer to help you s-t-r-e-t-c-h out the fun!

Are You Puzzled by Jigsaw Puzzles?
The golden age of jigsaw puzzles was during the 1920s and 1930s and in 1933 there were a whopping 10 million puzzles sold per week! Puzzles were an affordable...

The Best Melissa and Doug Jigsaw Puzzles (2011)
Melissa and Doug is a company with an excellent reputation for crafting quality and fun children's toys.

Read More Stories From the World of Jigsaw Puzzles

The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle Official Site
The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle site which includes more fantastic photos and the Hall of Fame of people who completed the puzzle first.
How to Successfully Mount Your Large Puzzle
This link will take you direct to successful steps for mounting very large puzzles.

Do you work jigsaw puzzles?

submit
  • Reply
    CruiseReady Jan 29, 2012 @ 5:11 pm | delete
    OOh my! Can't even imagine tackling 24,000 piece puzzle. I think the 1000 and 1500 piece ones are more my style. But, I do like the one of Barney and Miss Beazley. That's an attractive puzzle.
  • Reply
    Tipi Jul 20, 2011 @ 10:59 pm | delete
    Whew, jigsaw country indeed! I've always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and like to start them from the middle and work out to the edges......kidding, I'm an edger just like most folks.
  • Reply
    Wednesday_Elf Jun 4, 2011 @ 10:08 am | delete
    I've enjoyed working jigsaw puzzles all my life. A few years ago we got out our collection of jigsaw puzzles again and began one of our favorites. From that moment on, hubby & I had a jigsaw puzzle going continuously for an entire year! Once we finished all the jigsaw puzzles we owned, we donated them to a church thrift store and bought (for about $1-$2 each) several more. We worked the puzzles together and separately. Seems that neither of us could walk past the 'puzzle table' without stopping to place just 'one more piece' (which usually led to 30-60 minutes of puzzle time! :-) It was such fun.

    I'm adding this terrific page full of 'puzzle stories' to my 'Board games & jigsaw puzzles' lens!
  • Reply
    stargazer00 Nov 27, 2010 @ 12:26 am | delete
    I do love jigsaw puzzles though it seems I don't have time to do them any more. I like to start on the border for sure but I will stop and do another part if I see something that looks interesting to work on. I just saw a beautiful button jigsaw puzzle that is now on my wish list!
  • Reply
    Stazjia Jan 18, 2010 @ 9:22 am | delete
    I've always loved doing jigsaws. Once I've started one, I find it quite compulsive and will spend hours on it if necessary. I'd never heard of the biggest jigsaw before and was quite shocked to see how much it cost on Amazon.
  • Load More

Squidoo Lens Review



On Monday, August 8th, 2008 I was thrilled to have this page reviewed on Squidoo Lens Reviews.

by

Treasures-By-Brenda

The world of jigsaw puzzles is a pretty interesting place. Enjoy these human interest stories, which include the puzzle Laura Bush had made for George... more »

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

A Few More VERY Large Jigsaw Puzzles 

Ravensburger Skylines of the World - 18000 Piece Puzzle

Amazon Price: $149.99 (as of 02/16/2012)Buy Now

An 18,000 piece puzzle.

 

Ravensburger The Tower of Babel - 5000 Piece Puzzle

Amazon Price: $46.49 (as of 02/16/2012)Buy Now

A 5,000 piece puzzle.

 

Ravensburger Astrology - 9000 Piece Puzzle

Amazon Price: $75.00 (as of 02/15/2012)Buy Now

A 9,000 piece puzzle.