History of Jigsaw Puzzles Timeline

J.K. Straus was another notable maker of hand-cut wooden jigsaw puzzles in the United States in the early 20th century.

Madmar Puzzles was one of the prominent American producers of hand-cut wooden puzzles during the early 20th century.

Par Puzzles was among the important makers of hand-cut wooden puzzles in the United States in the early 20th century.

Milton Bradley Premier Puzzles was one of the significant early-20th-century American lines of hand-cut wooden jigsaw puzzles.

Pastime Puzzles, made by Parker Brothers, was among the prominent makers of hand-cut wooden puzzles in the United States during the early 20th century.

By the early 1960s, Tower Press had become the world's largest jigsaw-puzzle maker.

Waddingtons acquired Tower Press in 1969, following Tower Press's position as the world's largest jigsaw-puzzle maker in the early 1960s.

Image source: Waddingtons

More sophisticated but still common jigsaw puzzles come in large formats of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000 pieces.

Ravensburger formerly made the type of puzzle referenced in the historical account from 2000 until 2008. The account also notes that three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles exist.

In the 1933 Laurel and Hardy short Me and My Pal, several characters attempt to complete a large jigsaw puzzle.

In the 1941 film Citizen Kane, Susan Alexander Kane, played by Dorothy Comingore, spends her days completing jigsaw puzzles after the failure of her operatic career.

Image source: Citizen Kane

Jigsaw puzzle pieces were first used as a symbol for autism in 1963 by the United Kingdom's National Autistic Society, in an image showing a crying child wiping an eye.

Image source: Autism spectrum

The Rolling Stones included “Jigsaw Puzzle,” sometimes styled “Jig-Saw Puzzle,” on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet.

Image source: Beggars Banquet

“Lost in Translation” is a 1974 poem about a child assembling a jigsaw puzzle and also functions as an interpretive puzzle itself.

Georges Perec's 1978 novel Life: A User's Manual, his most famous novel, tells a story about a jigsaw-puzzle maker in the form of puzzle pieces.

Radiohead released “Jigsaw Falling into Place” in 2007 as part of the album In Rainbows.

A 2017 study used jigsaw puzzles to examine differences in visuospatial abilities between boys and girls.

In 2017, the journal Autism concluded that using the jigsaw puzzle evoked negative public perceptions of autistic individuals.

The puzzle piece was removed from the cover of the journal Autism in February 2018, following criticism of the symbol's negative implications for autistic individuals.

In 2021, researchers studied children between three and five years old by asking them to complete three different types of jigsaw puzzles.

In 2022, Andorra issued a commemorative €2 coin whose national side featured puzzle pieces symbolizing the Principality of Andorra and the countries of the European Union.

Competitive jigsaw puzzling grew in popularity during the 21st century, with regional and national competitions held in many countries.

The most expensive puzzle to date was sold for US$27,000 in 2005 at a charity auction benefiting The Golden Retriever Foundation.

On 25 September 2011, students from the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, assembled the referenced puzzle at Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

A puzzle referenced in the historical account received the Jury Honorable Mention at the 2018 Puzzle Design Competition.

The puzzle referenced in the account was assembled on 7 July 2018 at Dubai Multi Commodities Centre in the United Arab Emirates.

Annual World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships have been held from 2019, extending competitive puzzling into an international championship format.