International Puzzle Day: Celebrate the holiday of all things jigsaw

My daughter still refuses to believe it, but there was a time before video games, YouTube, tablets, or television. When people weren't fighting for their lives or having kids, they had to find ways to entertain themselves. Various board games, brain teasers, or puzzles were perfect for that. Years ago, I also fell for the puzzle phenomenon and had a great time with it. True, assembling a picture of a clear blue sky sometimes bordered on self-torture, but the sight of the finished work was always worth it.

But what to do with the finished picture? I always felt bad about taking it apart again, so I started gluing them onto cardboard and hanging them on the wall. When the puzzle phenomenon spread massively in our country in the nineties, almost everyone had some kind of puzzle picture in their living room.

Who is responsible for the enduring popularity of puzzles? Mainly the German company Ravensburger, whose history began back in 1883. From a manufacturer of wooden toys and board games, it gradually became one of the largest puzzle producers in the world with billion-dollar revenues.

Today, you won't just find classic cardboard puzzles in our offer. Puzzles are made of wood, metal, and plastic. They have also expanded into the third dimension. You can build 3D puzzles of famous buildings or machines. Virtual puzzles are also popular, where you can assemble them on your phone or tablet until you go crazy.

International Puzzle Day falls on January 29th and was created thanks to the initiative of enthusiasts who wanted to highlight the importance of brain teasers and puzzles in everyday life. The first celebrations took place in the 90s in the USA, from where the tradition quickly spread to other corners of the world. Every year on this day, various events are held where you can try new types of puzzles, share your successes with others, or simply celebrate the joy of solving and discovering.

The history of jigsaws

Puzzles as you know them today have their roots in the 18th century. The first creator is considered to be the London engraver and cartographer John Spilsbury, who around 1760 came up with the idea of mounting a map on a wooden board and then cutting it along the borders of individual countries. It served mainly for geography lessons – children fixed their knowledge of geography by connecting the pieces, and they enjoyed it at the same time.

The word "puzzle" itself comes from English, where it means a "mystery" or a "jigsaw". The term "jigsaw puzzle" comes from the fact that a special bow saw (called a "jigsaw") was used to make the puzzle. Thanks to this saw, the puzzle got its typical piece shape and also the name that spread to the whole world.

In the 19th century, wooden puzzles gradually spread from England to other countries and became a popular way to spend free time. Back then, however, craftsmen made them mainly by hand, so puzzles were relatively expensive. A big breakthrough came at the beginning of the 20th century, when a new technology for die-cutting pieces from cardboard began to be used, which significantly lowered the price and made them accessible to the general public.

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, puzzles experienced a real boom because people were looking for affordable home entertainment. At that time, a weekly subscription was even launched, where you could buy a new puzzle every Monday. After World War II, production accelerated and improved thanks to modern technologies, and puzzles became a common part of home entertainment.

Today, you can get puzzles made of paper, wood, and plastic, in many different variants from traditional motifs to 3D models of monuments. And although the principle remains the same, this classic entertainment is constantly moving forward with new ideas and technologies. Whether you reach for a historical wooden puzzle or a modern 3D piece, you are continuing a tradition started by John Spilsbury more than two centuries ago.

Puzzles and the Guinness World Records

The largest number of pieces assembled in one place

According to the Guinness World Records, in 2011 in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), 1,600 students gathered to assemble a puzzle with an incredible 551,232 pieces. This allowed them to create the largest assembled puzzle (in terms of the number of pieces) in the world.

The largest commercially available puzzle

You can find several giant puzzles with hundreds of thousands of pieces on the market. For example, among the most famous is the "Disney Memorable Moments" puzzle from Ravensburger with 40,320 pieces, or extreme pieces reaching up to 51,300 pieces. Most such sets have an area of several square meters after assembly, and assembling them can take months.

Speed records

There are also categories that judge the fastest puzzle assembly. For example, there are competitions in speed assembling smaller 250-piece sets. Here, record times are in the order of tens of minutes or even less – the shortest officially recorded time is around 13 minutes.

imago and puzzles

Of course, puzzles must not be missing from our store's offer. We don't try to fight the competition with the size of our offer (it would be a lost battle from the start), but we try to select interesting pieces falling into the sci-fi, fantasy, and gaming genres. Which puzzles are worth paying attention to?

Studio Ghibli Puzzle - The Boy and the Heron, 1000 pieces

We love the works of this Japanese studio, which is responsible for some of the most famous and beautiful anime films in the world. Sometimes gems appear in our offer that can challenge many a puzzle maniac. This is exactly the case with the motif from the latest film The Boy and the Heron. A clear blue sky puzzle is nothing compared to this drawing on a pure white background. 🙂

Pokémon Puzzle - Pikachu, 1000 pieces

A similar dose of patience will be required for this amazing Pikachu puzzle. It's an ideal gift if you want to drive someone crazy. Can you find how many Pikachus are in the picture?

Warhammer Puzzle - Guilliman vs Abaddon, 1000 pieces

Every wargaming fan knows that assembling and painting miniatures is at least half the whole experience. So why not continue with assembling! Especially when Warhammer has such beautiful pictures. This also applies to the scene of the battle between the Primarch Guilliman and the chaos guy Abaddon.

Dungeons & Dragons Puzzle: The Rise of Tiamat, 1000 pieces

The Dungeons & Dragons brand also boasts a similarly breathtaking visual. Their band of artists regularly produces images that every fan would want on their wall, not just in the game. Among the most beautiful is definitely the motif of Tiamat, the iconic mother of dragons.

Terry Pratchett Puzzle - Discworld, 1000 pieces

When you say Discworld and Terry Pratchett, you must also add the name of illustrator Paul Kidby, who, alongside the late Josh Kirby, is responsible for the visual side of Discworld. If you are a fan, you will surely appreciate the puzzle in the form of a painting of 140 most famous Discworld characters. The box also includes a poster with a legend for individual characters.

Harry Potter 3D Puzzle: Hogwarts - Great Hall, 850 pieces

Finally, I'm choosing one representative in the 3D puzzle category. Among the most beautiful and challenging is the Hogwarts castle from Harry Potter. In this set, you will find the first half of the whole castle - the Great Hall. A true collector naturally wants to have the whole castle, so this piece can be expanded with the Astronomy Tower – in total, you get to a nice 1725 pieces.

author Karel Krajča