What Is The Trick To Jigsaw Puzzles? 🧩 The GIF Guide

'Tis the season to stay inside, get cosy and crack open a brand new jigsaw puzzle. To finish off 2021 with a major puzzle under your belt, we have turned the best puzzle tips and tricks into GIFs, so you can solve your impossible zillion-piece jigsaw puzzle with minimal headaches and actual enjoyment. 

Before you begin

Picking your puzzle

Choose a jigsaw puzzle that reflect your interests. If you are a fine art lover, a Van Gogh Starry Night jigsaw puzzle will be a more enjoyable puzzle experience for you than a Marvel Spiderman jigsaw.

How many pieces?

It depends. If you plan on spending just a few hours on a puzzle or aren't well-versed in the puzzling arts, start off with a 500-piece puzzle with bright colours that will be easy to distinguish. Once you've mastered the fewer piece puzzles, you'll feel more confident tackling 1,000-piece puzzles. 

Location, location, location

Choose a space for your jigsaw puzzle that's large enough to sort out the pieces into colours and shapes and fit the finished jigsaw puzzles dimensions with enough light so you won't strain your eyes.

Step 1. Dump your pieces and start sorting.

Open your box and empty its contents (just be careful not to lose any pieces on the floor or out of sight or near a hungry dog). It's easier to sort your pieces when they're laid out in front of you. Then, start flipping them over so the artwork side is facing up.

Once you can see all your pieces, start locating the edge pieces (these are the pieces that have at least one straight edge). You'll use these to build the frame of your puzzle.You can also sort the pieces by colour or image, if you're working on a puzzle with a group. This way, everyone can take over one section of the puzzle and complete it quickly!

Step 2.  Build your frame

Complete the outer edge of the puzzle first. The skeleton of the puzzle built with pieces that have at least one straight edge. It's easier to fill in that way.

Step 3. Fill in the fun parts

Now you can start filling in the body of the puzzle! Focus on the most identifiable areas of the puzzle first, saving the more difficult parts for later (e.g. a block colour blue sky). If you want to finish your puzzle quickly, this is the best way to go.

Step 4. Brave the difficult parts

Now that the easy-to-find pieces have been found, you're stuck with the difficult part of the puzzle. Maybe it's all one dark colour and it's hard to discern what goes where, or you're working with a pattern that looks all the same. When you're stuck, sort by the shape of the puzzle piece instead of by colour. 

Step 5. Fill in random holes

The picture will be clearer now. You will start looking at a piece and knowing exactly where it goes, so press it into its correct spot. You will love the satisfying click sound! 

Step 6. Enjoy your hard work!

Well done! You've done it! You've completed a jigsaw puzzle, and for that you should be proud! Take a moment to bask in the glow of the finished artwork, a beautiful image you put together! Bravo, fellow puzzler.

After you're done

You may opt to frame your work of puzzle art if you're not ready to part with it yet. But if you're ready to scramble the pieces and start over again, take the time to disassemble it rather than fold it back into its box. Folding can damage the pieces and make it less enticing to re-complete the puzzle, since it will still be intact in chunks. Disassembling a puzzle means you can gift that puzzle to someone else to complete for the first time.

And another thing, there's no shame in quitting a puzzle, especially if it's no longer fun. Puzzles are meant to be enjoyable to complete, after all, so if you're more stressed than you are happy, it's OK to walk away. Happy puzzling!

Rest In Pieces has the best range of jigsaw puzzles from easy-to-solve 500pc to more challenging 1000pc. Hunker down with these beautiful puzzles that double as art!: