Why Online Jigsaw Puzzles Are the Next Big Thing in Gaming
Free Time
A couple weeks ago I was on vacation with a bunch of my relatives out in New Hampshire. If you aren’t familiar with New England in the United States, well it’s a very picture-esque area in the North East, surrounded by mountains, rivers, forests, etc. Everything just moves a little slower out there. A lot of Americans are just rushing, hurrying, always in a manic state. So sometimes we need to just slow down and take a breath once in awhile.
We didn’t really plan much of anything to do outside of booking a large house in the mountains. We had direct access from the back yard to the local river which was great for tubing. But we didn’t make any hard plans for the rest of the trip. The house was massive with a lot of space for gathering and activities, in the basement there was a great little nook with a MASSIVE round table and a large picture window. So we thought well, why not some board games and some puzzles. So we had packed a few for the trip and brought them with us along the way.
The leaves in New Hampshire are just starting to turn for the season, which is a MASSIVE tourist attraction for them as the entire landscape goes from greens to gorgeous shades of amber, orange and reds. It’s truly a sight to see. So on the first night we utilized the large table to dump out a 1000 piece puzzle.
Folks would come and go, work on it for a little bit and maybe move on to something else. It was like this for the first three days before completing, which was amazing. They instantly started a new one once it was completed. It was a great experience for the whole family to contribute when they wanted to and as much (or as little) as they wanted to.
Puzzles are a strange but wonderful thing, as a kid I would often get a puzzle every year during Christmas season, but if I am being honest, I hated them and would NEVER do one. But as an adult, I find them relaxing, good to keep the mind sharp.
A Puzzling Time
Since the COVID-19 pandemic many puzzle manufacturers had seen a massive increase in sales as people were looking for new hobbies and activities to do when travel wasn’t permitted. So a lot of studies went into the benefits of “puzzling” as it’s called. Turns out many studies has shown that they can help improve visual-spatial reasoning, short-term memory, and problem solving skills as well as help defend against dementia.
Since puzzles stimulate both sides of the brain both with the logical and the creative sides it helps almost put us in a state of meditation and release stress. In my families case the view that was surrounding us only added even more to it all.
But what happens if you want to experience something like this, but you don’t have a large space to dedicate and leave out a giant puzzle? What if you don’t have a lot of time to work on one? Perhaps you need to worry about pets or little ones getting their hands on it and destroying hours worth of work in a matter of seconds?
Well let me introduce you to puzzlefree.game. It’s a very cool browser based platform that allows for you to create and do puzzles at your own leisure, no mess, no rules, you decide how you want your puzzle experience to go. The entire thing is fully customizable with no cost, hidden fees, or micro-transactions.
You can choose from TONS of subject matter such as landscapes, seasons, animals, etc etc. BUT, that’s not all. The have included an AI-generated feature where you can ask for a specific prompt of a scene or subject matter like architecture puzzle and it will create a custom art for you to make into a puzzle.
You can even upload whatever you want as a picture and it will make it into a puzzle for you to solve making the possibilities to be endless for puzzle lovers. Other customization options include background music, progress tracking (which allows you to stop and it saves your progress) and then for those who want a more competitive experience, you can have rankings and challenges as well.
Overall it’s an amazing experience for people of any interest or skill level whether young or old. I tested it out from my computer, phone and tablet through their respective web browsers and it always ran fantastically. It’s very intuitive, and it just WORKS.
Which you wouldn’t think would be an uncommon thing, but in today’s gaming environment we often see many incomplete things hit the market. The fact that they do not charge for this experience makes it even better. PuzzleFree.Game as also revealed that they are also planning on apps for android and iOS. So no matter where you are or how you want to have your puzzle experience, this is hands down a GREAT option.
Pros:
- Free
- Clean and User-friendly interface
- Never ending supply of puzzles due to AI-Generation and ability to use custom photos.
- Did I mention it’s FREE?
Cons:
- No Android or Apple App (yet), but it’s coming
- No ability to work on a puzzle together with a friend or family
In Closing
As we enter my personal favorite time of year, the “ber” months: September, October, November and December and think about all the wonderful things that come with them. The leaves changing, temps cooling, pumpkin spice everything, Halloween and then all of the fun and magic that arrive with the Christmas season, it’s the best time to slow down, relax and take stock of everything we have in life.
One of the best ways is curling up with a coffee or hot chocolate and partaking in some of your favorite hobbies or past times, maybe even discovering a new one. Puzzle game would be well worth your time and a great way to stay sharp and relax away the stress.
Article By Kevin Austin
