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Ever wonder how the jig saw puzzle first came to be? I can see it now, some guy getting mad at his wife, tearing up her picture then thinking, "uh oh" as he frantically tries to put it back together before she comes home. After deciding that this was actually fun, he runs around the house, excitedly tearing up pictures, and throwing the pieces on the coffee table, only to have her walk in as he explores his new found hobby. Of course, before he has a chance to explain, she turns him into something that resembles a cross between a jig saw puzzle and what Beetle Bailey looks like when Sarge gets a hold of him. Not a pretty picture.
Actually, truth be known, the first jig saw puzzle was created in London by a mapmaker, and engraver by the name of John Spilsbury, sometime between 1760 and 1762. He actually glued a map to a thin sheet of mahogany and cut it into little pieces using a fret saw. The purpose behind this was to facilitate the teaching of geography. If you would like a more detailed history on the "Picture Puzzle", please visit "The Americana SmorgasBoard", where I got this information.
Years ago, shortly after Al Gore first created the web, (uh huh), I came across my first website that featured the so called "Swap Puzzle". It basically was like a jig saw puzzle except all the pieces were square, and unlike the slide puzzles, you didn't have a hole in the corner when you were done. The pieces were moved around by clicking on two of them, and they would swap places. I tried it and instantly became addicted. Unfortunately, in those days, websites were limited by size and the proprietor of the web site only had room for one puzzle. Fortunately, he changed the picture on a daily basis and I was content with that. Then, his website disappeared and I was devistated. After searching the web, I found about six other pages with the same style puzzle, one or two pictures each, but they were never changed. (Whimper.) So I tracked down the source of this java applet, and created my own sites where I also used it to a limited degree. I say limited because free web space is still rather limited in size, at least till now.
This is where I put in a plug for my new found hero and web space provider, FortuneCity, who thru the kindness of their heart, now provides amateurs like myself, 100 megs of free web space to do with what we will, (as long as it is legal and suitable for family viewing.) So this newest venture of mine should hopefully become an ongoing, expansive project. If you happen to come across a picture you would like to see cut up, please feel free to e-mail me, Dartprince.
Now for a brief explanation on how these puzzles work. Depending on the size of the picture and the difficulty of the content, the puzzles will be cut up into anywhere from 40 to 200 pieces. The link to each puzzle will state how many there are. When the puzzle opens, it will look like a full size picture, but will be cut into little rectangles and mixed up. Clicking on 2 of the pieces will cause them to swap places. Across the top of the puzzle will be a small bar with 4 headings on it. The first says "Moves", which simply tells you how many times you have made a swap. The second says ""Correct", letting you know how many pieces are in the right place. The 3rd heading says "Reveal". Clicking on this will put an X thru every piece that is in the wrong place. Some people will leave the X's up to make it easier to solve the puzzle. If you use the reveal button, bringing up the X's, the button becomes "Hide", so that you may remove the X's. The last heading says "Mix". If for whatever reason, you don't like the way the pieces are mixed, you can click on this and the applet will remix them. (OK, fine.)
So, are you ready for a quick demo? Good. I will make this real easy, only 9 pieces. I like to play in poker tournaments at Flipside.com. This picture is one of myself with one of my better poker hands. (I took first place that nite thanks in part to this hand.) By the way, if you like to play cards, come to Flipside.com and download the games for free or you can get the cd from Hoyle. With the cd, you get the program to make your own face as I did, something you can't do with the download version.
Already familiar with it? Ready for a bigger challenge? Then come on in and enjoy yourself. That's what this site is for.
