Jigsaw Puzzles for Adults
Detailed scenes and a few famous paintings with enough going on to hold your attention for an evening, or for several. Lakes, old towns, a Paris cafe table, Grand Central at rush hour. Choose the picture and set the piece count from 4 to 1000, and it opens free in the browser with the board saving as you go.
Pictures worth a proper sit-down
Emerald Lake
Santorini Sunset
Grand Central Main Hall
Inspired by The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Wildflower Valley
Brooklyn Bridge at Sunset
Café Table for Two in Paris
Inspired by Water Lilies by Monet
Lofoten Fishing Village
Brownstones in the West Village
Rice Terraces at Sunrise
Candlelit Board Game Table
Lisbon Hillside View at Sunset
Inspired by Café Terrace at Night
Canal Boats beside a Flower Market
Kyoto Garden Bridge in Autumn
Yosemite Valley Morning
Vintage Motorcycle Workshop
Red Rock Canyon after Rain
Timber Framing around a Market Square
Pick by the evening you have
Half an hour. Santorini Sunset at 104 pieces. White houses, blue domes, orange sky. The shapes are so bold it plays faster than it looks, which makes it a good warm-up on an unfamiliar device.
A weekend. Emerald Lake at 300. Stones show through the near water while the far water reflects the trees, and that difference is what carries you through a picture that is mostly green and blue.
A week of evenings. Grand Central Main Hall at 600 or The Great Wave off Kanagawa at 1000. The hall has windows, arches and a crowd to sort by; the wave is one of the few pictures where every piece of foam is slightly different, which is exactly the point.
How long they really take
From finishes on this site: a typical player spends about 20 minutes on 104 pieces, nearly 2 hours on 300 and nearly 9 hours on 600, spread over several sittings. Very few people finish a 1000-piece puzzle in one go. The subject matters as much as the count. A street with signs and windows moves quickly; a field or a sky at the same piece count takes longer, so pick the picture with the time in mind.
Paintings
The famous painting puzzles are new images made in the style of Van Gogh, Monet, Vermeer and Hokusai. Brushwork is kind to a puzzler: every stroke leaves a direction to follow, so Water Lilies and Cafe Terrace at Night make satisfying 600s even though neither has a hard edge in it.
With other people
A room lets a few of you build the same picture at once, each on your own screen, with everyone's pieces showing up live. Sign in, open one from the Rooms page, pick the picture and count, then send the link. It suits friends in different cities and book clubs that fancy something other than talking. Public rooms are open if you would rather join strangers at a table.
What you do not need
An account, a download or a timer. The board saves on the device you are using, and an account adds things like your finishes on a profile and the same saved game on your phone and your laptop. When 300 stops putting up a fight, the hard puzzles are where the stubborn pictures live, and the daily puzzle gives everyone the same picture each day without having to choose.