A Brief History of Puzzles

Proskuryakova Ekaterina

Download:

Preview:

INTRODUCTION

"Puzzle is a beautiful mosaic" - children say.
"Puzzle is a direction in the field of developing games and activities," the manufacturers say.
"Puzzle is a real art" - connoisseurs and connoisseurs of this unusual and incredibly exciting activity say. At the same time, the question arises: how much such classes are necessary for the child? INpuzzle research workI learn more about puzzles.

I will explore puzzles starting from the history of their appearance, I will also try to enrich my understanding of puzzles.

Undoubtedly, puzzle is a puzzle game, which is a mosaic that needs to be assembled from many fragments of a picture of various shapes.
The puzzle is considered to be one of the most available games developing thinking, attention, memory, imagination and cognitive abilities person. According to psychologists, this list can also include the development of figurative and logical thinking, voluntary attention, perception, teaches you to correctly perceive the connection between the part and the whole, develops fine motor skills of the hands.

The modern world is hard to imagine without board games for children and their parents. Many varieties of games have been invented, but among them there is one unpretentious game that has gained immense popularity all over the world, we are talking about puzzles.

The relevance of my research work about the history of puzzlesis that nowadays in any toy store you can find a huge number of puzzles related to the compilation of pictures. The most difficult of them - puzzles - are addicted even to adults. At the same time, the question arises: how much such classes are necessary for the child? What is it - empty entertainment or useful developmental activity?

Based on the urgency of this problem, there aremy research goals: learn about puzzles in more detail, starting with the history of their appearance, enrich the idea of puzzles as one of the most entertaining educational and educational games for children.

Tasks set during the study:

To give knowledge about the history of the appearance of puzzles, their distinctive features.
Introduce the classification of puzzles.
Reveal the developmental value of puzzles.
Draw attention to interesting facts about puzzles.
To develop a practical interest in collecting pictures from puzzles.

The effectiveness of puzzles lies in the following: colorfulness, accessibility, brevity of information. Use of my personal photos and other photos.

1. The history of puzzles

You can read in various sourcesdifferent versions of puzzles.
According to one version,Germany is the birthplace of puzzles, in which in the 18th century they launched the production of puzzles and their export.

An example of this is the well-known German painting by John Cladius Sarron, carved by Martin Engelbrecht in Agsburg in the middle of the 19th century.

According to the French version, puzzles were invented in France by a professional teacher, Madame Beaumont, who was French but lived and worked in England between 1748 and 1762. She was the head of a private school and published a collection of children's fairy tales.

This collection reported on a new method of teaching geography using cut wooden maps. The Danish version says that the oldest puzzles were made in the Netherlands in the early 18th century from geographical maps as a teaching aid in geography.

most famous John Spilsbury is considered the father of puzzles., a member of the Royal Geographical Society, who cut the map of England and Wales in 1761.

To make the puzzle, he began gluing black-and-white engravings of geographical maps onto a luxuriously thin panel of Lebanese cedar and mahogany, and cutting the resulting sandwich into small, oddly shaped pieces. Each such piece contained some geographical information, and, collecting the necessary sections element by element, the student studied geography.

John Spilsbury received a patent for his invention and opened a store selling puzzle cards, thus putting the manufacture of puzzle puzzles on a commercial basis.

Elements of wooden puzzles did not fit well with each other and the assembled picture could be easily destroyed by a careless movement. Despite the high price (more than the monthly wage of an industrial worker), the novelty caught on, gradually went beyond the classroom and turned into an exciting pastime for the aristocracy. The first John Spilsbury puzzles went on sale in 1766.

For decades, jigsaw puzzles were used only for geographical maps. Then they began to be used to study other subjects, in particular, puzzles from the chronological table with the dates of the reign of English kings and queens were preserved.
What was not further divided into pieces - portraits, images of historical battles and even biblical events, dates of famous people, paintings by famous artists.

In the 19th century, there was a decrease in the cost of puzzles. This leads to their great distribution and popularity. Black-and-white tones change into colors, which increases people's interest in “little bricks of a big picture. Already by the middle of the 19th century, thanks to the widespread use of stamping on cardboard in America, puzzles became much cheaper and became available to everyone. This has led to the widespread popularity of puzzles around the world.

In Russia, puzzles appeared in the second quarter of the 19th century in St. Petersburg and were called "puzzles". The lithographer and artist P. Vdovichev had his own workshop for children's games in St. Petersburg. He produced pictures that had to be colored, pasted on cardboard and cut into pieces, so that they could be folded again. Collecting puzel was considered an expensive, salon hobby.

However, the peak of popularity of puzzles came in the 20th century. Puzzles with art reproductions began to be made as entertainment for adults. The game has become a popular parlor pastime in Europe.

The first factory production of puzzlesthe usual fasteners were opened in 1909 in the USA by Parker Brothers. Enterprising American industrialists decided to make the production of puzzles as cheap as possible and began to make them from cardboard. This allowed to significantly reduce their price and, as a result, led to wide popularity around the world.

Puzzles peaked in America during the Great Depression of 1929-1933. The Great Depression is a period of recession of the entire world economy in 1929-1940, although the term itself is more often used in relation to the United States. In the conditions of overproduction of goods and lack of money supply, inflation, bankruptcy of enterprises, the sale of puzzles has reached an unprecedented value - 10 million dollars a week.

Puzzles were carried away by all segments of the population. Manufacturers released a weekly themed puzzle and held a competition among puzzle lovers. The names of the winners were published in the Sunday editions of the newspapers.

In America, during the time of Prohibition, it came to the point that in major cities jigsaw puzzle competitions were organized. Team competitions were especially interesting, when huge paintings consisting of several thousand details were assembled. Rather frivolous pictures from illustrated magazines, photographs of expensive cars, luxurious women, caricatures, etc. were often taken instead of reproductions. They say that even the famous Dutch gangster Schultz liked to collect a picture or two at his leisure.

Pictures used a variety of. In Russia, Ukraine and Europe, images on the theme of art were preferred, in America - photographs of cars, women, illustrations of popular magazines. Now, it is probably difficult to come up with a topic that puzzles would not be produced on, but one thing is absolutely indisputable: puzzles, having undergone many changes, remain today a game and exciting fun for some, a serious and objective hobby for others.

At the beginning of the 21st century, puzzles continue to gain popularity now on the Internet. On the World Wide Web, there are many variations of this fascinating puzzle with different numbers of pieces and different principles for their connection. Puzzles online attracting the attention of more and more users.

2. Puzzle sizes today

There are currently a large number various kinds and puzzle modifications.
The goal when collecting puzzles is one- get a single picture from the disassembled elements.

Puzzles are divided by the size of the elements and the size of a single picture. Puzzle difficulty is determined by the pattern, but the main criterion is the number of elements - the higher it is, the larger and more complex the puzzle.

The classic size of a small puzzle- 54 pieces (puzzles with this number of pieces and above (up to about 260) arechildren's puzzlesand are designed to develop children as individuals.
On children's puzzles, heroes of fictional characters, cars, frames from cartoons are usually depicted.
Usually,there are sizes of puzzles:

These sizes are relative, and there are many puzzles with a number of pieces close to this category.

Puzzles with sizes exceeding 260 pieces are no longer intended for children to collect and are intended for adults. Accordingly, other, serious life scenes can be depicted on them, and the heroes of children's cartoons are no longer depicted on them. Puzzles can depict geographical places, fantastic scenes, very large puzzles (over 6,000) usually depict only scenes from the Bible, paintings by famous artists (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo).
Large puzzles are a serious hobby. They take a lot of time to assemble.

3. Types of puzzles

Cardboard and wooden puzzles
In addition to traditionalpuzzles on cardboardwith a different number of elements and the type of their cutting: from the common and classic rectangular with protrusions and notches to triangular, round, oval pieces, as well as pieces of other shapes, there are alsowooden puzzlesmade from high-grade wood and covered with environmentally friendly paints.

Such puzzles are offered for the development of babies from 1.5 years old. They can be in the form of a flat picture or in the form of cubes. By subject - the most diverse, but most often - these are animals.

Glowing fluorescent puzzles

Fluorescent or glowing puzzles, the surface of which is covered with a special composition that accumulates light and makes the contours of the main elements of the plot glow in the dark.

Volumetric holographic puzzle balls

Volumetric holographic puzzles - where, depending on the angle of view, the image of the picture changes.

puzzle balls , are plastic balls with slightly concave parts, which, when assembled, form a very strong ball that does not need additional gluing, which can be stored on a special stand included in the kit.

Textured and velor puzzles

Textured puzzles , the surface of which is made of various materials, such as cork, wood or Japanese paper. The collection of such a fell is able to give both aesthetic and tactile pleasure.

Velor puzzles , the surface of which is covered with velvety velor, are very pleasant to the touch.

Volumetric 3D puzzles

3D puzzles are three-dimensional puzzles of medieval buildings, cars, ships, houses with front gardens or the Seven Wonders of the World. The use of a special protective layer allows you to assemble them in such a way that the structure does not fall apart.

Exists Spilsbury International Prize, which is awarded to people who have made a significant contribution to the development of the recognition of puzzles. So, in 2007, the American Ann Williams received this award for writing two books on the history of puzzles and a number of articles on the impact of puzzles on popular culture.

By the way, under the term puzzle , which means "riddle", in the English-speaking world they understand any puzzles in general. And the game about which in question, called jigsaw-puzzle - "jigsaw" puzzles, referring to the original wooden material for the base of the pictures, which was sawn with a jigsaw.

The most popular puzzle manufacturers are:

Castorland, Clementoni, Edit Recordi, Educa, Gibsons, Heye, Jumbo + Falcon, Heye, Piatnik, Ravensburger.
There are also manycomputer puzzles.
In compiling puzzles, championships are held, online competitions are organized.

How to collect puzzles?

From the total mass, we select pieces for the frame: with one smooth edge; with two smooth edges - we will place these details in the corners of the future picture, choosing their location according to the color of the image on the box.
The remaining parts are carefully laid out on the prepared surface, sorting them by color and a similar image. Focusing on the control image on the box, we begin to lay out individual blocks of the image.
Our puzzle is ready. All the pieces have found their place and exist as a whole!

We disassemble the puzzle and put it in a box until the next time.
We decorate the room with paintings and puzzles.
We use the collected picture in everyday life.
We give beautifully designed works from puzzles to our friends.

Interesting facts about puzzles

The weight of puzzles with the number of elements of about 10,000 is more than a dozen kilograms.
The more elements, the less detail - but this diagram is usually valid only for mosaics with sizes up to 200 elements. Above, the dimensions of all elements of the mosaic with the number of parts in 500 and 10,000 are the same.

Mosaic sizes range from small (about 50 sq. cm) to very large (several square meters). For example, the standard size of a mosaic of 500 elements is 47x33 cm. There are also mosaics of a small number of elements (for example, 70) with the same size - especially for young children.

The world's largest puzzlewith an area of about 24 sq.m, created from tiles was assembled in Russia. The plot of this puzzle was the legendary painting of the genius Leonardo da Vinci Monna Lisa (Giaconda).

The world's longest jigsaw puzzle in the Guinness book.

On Sunday morning, September 27, 2004, local residents of the German town of Königsbron began to collect puzzles. Families took to the streets in full force- from three-year-olds to grandparents. Everyone wanted to participate in an event that would glorify their city throughout the world. This time seven thousand people united in unison. The participants of the experiment occupied strategically important positions - someone got a job in a cafe, someone on a bench, and someone right on the pavement.

According to the organizers, local firms submitted more than 4,000 "assemblies" to the competition.

Among the plots are lyrical landscapes, scenes from Disney cartoons and episodes from films. Finished works were glued to a common canvas and covered with cellophane film so as not to get wet from the rain.

According to the terms of the Guinness Book of Records, the length of the puzzle had to exceed one kilometer. The inhabitants of the city showed unprecedented enthusiasm and overfulfilled the plan. Their result is 1235 meters. The longest assembly in the world covered the main street of Königsbron and looked into several side streets.

Money in the form of... a puzzle.

Issued in Liberia in 2001 silver coin, made in the form of ... a puzzle and dedicated to signs lunar calendar. The face value of the coin is 100 Liberian dollars (equal to 100 US dollars).

The coin consists of a central disk and 12 separate parts located around it, made in the form of puzzle elements and connected to each other in an appropriate way. Unbelievable but true - this coin is the official tender of Liberia. In this case, the coin weighs a whole kilogram! In total, 1000 of these coins were issued.

The walls of the houses were decorated with... puzzles.

You can’t confuse a house with a puzzle with anything - the most correct address! In Russia, in Novocheboksarsk, a house appeared, the wall of which was painted with puzzles. From September 10 to 17, 2005, many cultural events took place here as part of the “Cultural Capital of the Volga Region” program. One of them was supergraffiti, when the walls of two houses in the city were turned into puzzle pictures. The authors and developers of the project explained that the idea of puzzle houses was born by chance - in the course of reflection on the elements that make up the urban environment..

Puzzle Jewelry

Traditional puzzle rings usually consist of four, six, eight or twelve interlocking rings. Usually these rings are made in the Celtic style. Previously, puzzle rings were used as wedding rings.

At one time, the puzzle ring was described in her saga by the Australian writer Kate Forsythe, her character Hannah must search for the four lost pieces of the puzzle ring in order to break the fairy's ancient curse on her family. The puzzle ring in the book is forged in the shape of a rose.

Furniture, utensils in the form of puzzles

Folding tables are yesterday. But those assembled from pieces are already more interesting. Of course, not everyone will like the idea of assembling the table before the guests arrive, and then taking it apart again. But there is always something to do, if in the future there is an absolutely free evening without any plans and visits.

And this chair consists of soft cushions of a cozy shape. Each cushion has a magnet inside to keep the pieces of the armchair, chair, sofa or pouffe you've built from falling apart. From the details you can build a comfortable armchair, chair, sofa, pouffe, bed. Individual elements can serve as footrests or cushions.

A kitchen cutting board is an indispensable and convenient thing. You can only increase its functionality to make it even better. This is exactly what the designers from OOOMS did when they created a series of Puzzleboard puzzle boards.

Each individual board looks like a puzzle piece that children of all ages love to collect. Also, in addition to cutting, you can use it as a tray. It is convenient to hold on to the protruding "handle", and a glass with a drink will fit perfectly into the hole on the other side, which will prevent it from falling or overflowing.

Well, if you are dealing with some kind of long product, such as a baguette, you can cut it much easier by connecting several boards together, forming more room for work.

5. Conclusion and conclusions of the study

Many people note the relaxing effect of this puzzle. Adults, as much as children, if not more, enjoy making pictures; they can spend weeks assembling puzzles consisting of thousands of parts that themselves “lead” a person’s hand, suggesting a solution. Such gathering does not require mental effort and creative effort.

Folding the picture allows you to remove excessive excitement, so it is good to use it as a relaxing and calming tool for the mobile or just overexcited. Well, if a person is shy, closed, unsociable, then they often use picking up puzzles as a kind of escape from the outside world. Such people can be seen in absolute loneliness sitting somewhere in the corner and for almost hours they collect these same puzzles, automatically selecting the details.
But it is important to note that in order for puzzles to really have a developmental value for children, the participation of an adult is necessary. After all, an adult presents any toy to a child, it is he who reveals its essence and all possible ways of playing with it. A child who is left alone with a box of puzzles is likely to reduce the game to a mechanical selection of picture details.

In the course of the research work, a sociological survey was conducted among classmates (students of grades 4-A), as well as their parents, about the benefits of collecting various puzzles.

During the survey, parents were asked the following questions:

Does the puzzle develop fine motor skills and coordination of movements
Does the puzzle develop logical and spatial thinking
Develops imagination and fantasy
Does the puzzle develop attention and memory

The survey results are displayed in the chart:

Also, in the course of the study, I conducted a survey among students in grades 4-A, on the subject of collecting puzzles at home.

Survey results:

Doing conclusion from this research paperwe can say that the developing task of puzzles is to form images and ideas of a person.

In order for puzzles to contribute to the development of thinking, a person must focus on the plot of the picture, i.e. precisely on what collects, and not on the frame or the shape of the pieces.

vsam1.ru - history of puzzles, about puzzles (types, sizes, pictures);

en.wikipedia.org - article about puzzles, sizes, Interesting Facts, related links;

pari.ru - the world's largest puzzle;

vash-puzzle.by - puzzle gallery and puzzle history;

yugzone.ru - history of puzzles, types of how to collect puzzles;

rupuzzle.com - history, how to collect puzzles and how to choose them, what puzzles are;

looky.ru - history of puzzles.

State educational institution

Luhansk People's Republic

"Chervonopraporskaya School No. 34"

"The history of the emergence

puzzles"

Prepared

5th grade student

Shevchenko Daria

Project Manager

teacher primary school

Litvinova Maria Alexandrovna

2016

Table of contents.

1. Introduction

2. The main part of the study of literature on the topic "Puzzles":

The history of puzzles;

Types of puzzles;

Stages of assembling puzzles;

3. interesting facts

4. Conclusion.

5. We use literature.

Introduction.

When I was little, my parents gave me puzzles for my birthday. I was very interested in how such small pieces can make a whole picture. Together with my parents, we put together puzzles, and we really got a picture.

Since I was able to collect pictures, puzzles have become my favorite pastime.

But still, I could not assemble the whole picture on my own, especially when it consisted of a large number of puzzles. I always turned to my parents for help, and they did not always have time to help me, and then my older sister came to help me.

My desire to learn how to assemble puzzles on my own was getting stronger. But I didn't have enough knowledge how to do it right. And then I decided to find out the history of puzzles and the methods used to assemble them.

Problem: I can assemble puzzles on my own, but I don't have the knowledge of how to do it right.

The purpose of the work: 1. learn the history of puzzles, learn ways,

that are used in their assembly, by examining

literature.

2 . learn how to solve puzzles on your own using

received knowledge…

Tasks:

To give knowledge about the history of the appearance of puzzles, their distinctive features.

Introduce the classification of puzzles.

Reveal the developmental value of puzzles.

Draw attention to interesting facts about puzzles.

To develop a practical interest in collecting pictures from puzzles.

Hypothesis: If I study the literature on the topic "Puzzles" and apply the knowledge gained, then I will learn how to assemble large paintings on my own.

Literature research on the topic:

The history of puzzles

You can read in various sourcesdifferent versions of puzzles. According to one version,The birthplace of puzzles is Germany, which in the 18th century launched the production of puzzles and their export.

most famousThe founder of puzzles is considered to be John Spilsbury, a member of the Royal Geographical Society, who in 1761 cut the map of England and Wales.

John Spilsburyreceived a patent for his invention and opened a store selling puzzle cards, thus putting the manufacture of puzzle puzzles on a commercial basis.

Pictures were used in a variety of ways. In Russia, Ukraine and Europe, images on the theme of art were preferred, in America - photographs of cars, women, illustrations of popular magazines. Now, it is probably difficult to come up with a topic that puzzles would not be produced on, but one thing is absolutely indisputable: puzzles, having undergone many changes, remain today a game and exciting fun for some, a serious and objective hobby for others.

At the beginning of the 21st century, puzzles continue to gain popularity now on the Internet. On the World Wide Web, there are many variations of this fascinating puzzle with different numbers of pieces and different principles for their connection.Puzzles onlineattracting the attention of more and more users.

Puzzle types:

To date, a wide variety of types of puzzles have been created for every taste.

Puzzles exist in several variants:three-dimensional puzzles (three-dimensional objects are assembled from individual pieces)

"flat puzzles (two-dimensional pictures are assembled from separate parts).

I want to talk about 2D puzzles. They are characterized by:

form – finished paintings can be rectangular, round, etc.;
image - it can be a photograph, a drawing, a collage (from photographs or drawings).

number of pieces – from several pieces (for children) to

several thousand pieces;
production material - cardboard, plastic; The surface of the puzzle can be covered with a special paint that glows in the dark.

Currently, children's puzzles are the most common, in boxes of 15 * 15, 54 and 80 elements.

Puzzles of 500 and 1000 pieces are considered the collection standard.

Textured and velor puzzles

Textured puzzles , the surface of which is made of various materials, such as cork, wood or Japanese paper. The collection of such a fell is able to give both aesthetic and tactile pleasure.

Velor puzzles , the surface of which is covered with velvety velor, are very pleasant to the touch.

Volumetric 3D puzzles

3D puzzles are three-dimensional puzzles of medieval buildings, cars, ships, houses with front gardens or the Seven Wonders of the World. The use of a special protective layer allows you to assemble them in such a way that the structure does not fall apart.

Puzzle assembly steps

Assembling the puzzle

We open the box. They lie, huddled together closer to each other, turned over to whom it is convenient, resting ... hundreds and thousands of colored pieces. Where the place of each of them, they will never say.

Collecting a single picture from this chaos of particles seems like something out of a fantasy series ...

However, this is not at all difficult to do.
So…

First stage

We pour out the details on a smooth surface: cardboard, a drawing board (not on the floor) - in this case, we will always have the opportunity to move our creativity to a convenient corner.

From the total mass, we select pieces for the frame:
- with one smooth edge;
- with two smooth edges - we will place these details in the corners of the future picture, selecting their locations according to the color of the image on the box.

We sort the fragments for the frame by color and, guided by the control picture on the lid, attach them to the "corners".

The frame is ready!

Second phase

We carefully lay out the remaining parts on the prepared surface, sorting them by color and similar image - this will greatly simplify the assembly task (white to white, small houses to small houses, etc.).

Focusing on the reference image, we begin to lay out individual blocks of the image. They do not have to be immediately attached to the finished frame (you can separately assemble a tree in the center of the picture or part of the clouds in the background).

The main principle of our work is the more parts we can fasten together, the fewer of them will be left alone! After all, even two combined pieces carry more information about their place in the big picture than one. As soon as we have the assembled fragment, we place it approximately in the place that it will occupy on the already assembled puzzle - this placement will help connect the assembled “islands” to each other and attach them to the frame.

Third stage

At the stage of completing the puzzle, when the most intricate and difficult places to assemble remain (most often large pieces of a plain background), it’s very cool to group the parts according to their shape and be guided precisely by the shape of the elements themselves when assembling.

Fourth stage

And here we put the last element in place. The work is done! All the pieces have found their place, and now they exist as a whole! What's next?

Assembled puzzle Can :
place in a special frame under glass and hang on the wall;
stick it on cardboard or plywood, and make a frame yourself and also hang it somewhere (for example, in a stairwell, room, classroom);
cover the front side with special glue and use the above tips;
take apart in pieces and place in a box until better times.

This is how you put together the puzzle. By the way, at right approach this process is a lot of fun!

In addition, the puzzle game should the best traditions its centuries-old history and combines all best qualities their predecessors. Like its plastic counterparts, it develops attention, memory, accuracy and perseverance, stimulates mental activity. This logic game is enjoyed by players of all ages.

Interesting facts about puzzles

There is an international Spilsbury award, which is given to people who have made a significant contribution to the development of the recognition of puzzles. So, in 2007, the American Ann Williams received this award for writing two books on the history of puzzles and a number of articles on the impact of puzzles on popular culture.

By the way, the term “puzzle”, which means “mystery”, in the English-speaking world is generally understood as any puzzles. And the game in question is called jigsaw-puzzle - “jigsaw” puzzles, referring to the original wooden material for the base of the pictures, which was sawn with a jigsaw.

Conclusion

But it is important to note that in order for puzzles to really have a developmental value for children, the participation of an adult is necessary. After all, an adult presents any toy to a child, it is he who reveals its essence and all possible ways of playing with it. A child who is left alone with a box of puzzles is likely to reduce the game to a mechanical selection of picture details.

I am currently collecting 1500 piece paintings and in the future I would like to create my own jigsaw puzzles with the same number of pieces.

Drawing a conclusion from this research work, we can say that the developing task of puzzles is to form images and ideas of a person.

In order for puzzles to contribute to the development of thinking, a person must focus on the plot of the picture, i.e. precisely on what collects, and not on the frame or the shape of the pieces.

Puzzles are loved by both children and adults. With the right and creativity The process of collecting puzzles can be a great pleasure.

Used Books .

1. Babaev D. Puzzles.-M, 2004-12p.

2. Kachan E. Puzzles for schoolchildren and their parents. - St. Petersburg, 2005-10str

3. Viilma L. Puzzles in pictures.-M, 2005-27-30p.

4. Collection of puzzles of past years.-M., 2003-58-59 p.

Working with Internet resources:

en.wikipedia.org - article about puzzles, sizes, interesting facts, related links;

pari.ru - the world's largest puzzle;

vash-puzzle.by - puzzle gallery and puzzle history;

yugzone.ru - history of puzzles, types of how to collect puzzles;

rupuzzle.com - history, how to collect puzzles and how to choose them, what puzzles are;

looky.ru - history of puzzles.

Jigsaw puzzles (from the English “pazzle” - “puzzle”) were created by a member of the geographical community, the Englishman John Spilsbury in 1761. The man wanted to stick a map of Wales and England on a base made of wood, and then cut it into pieces. The resulting parts were mixed and offered to be folded to the children during a geography lesson. A little later, this teaching technique spread to other subjects. And then the cut pictures ended up in secular salons.

The maps cut by Spilsbury became the basis for creating puzzles on geographical themes. They began to sell them in 1766. One of the pictures of those times is now displayed among the exhibits of the British Museum.

The first cartographic puzzles often became a torment for those who began to collect them. The parts did not fit together well, and one inaccurate movement nullified all the work, and it had to be started all over again. The game was not accompanied by a coherent image, so it was not easy to guess what and where to place. The title was the guide. Such fun was decently worth, because it was inaccessible to ordinary people.

Folding pictures became more accessible to consumers only in the 19th century, when Americans learned to stamp images on cardboard. Cardboard puzzles with black-and-white pictures cost less and gradually forced wooden puzzles out of the market.

In the twentieth century, real glory came to puzzles. From a child's toy, they have become entertainment for adults. A special role in their history was played by Parker Brothers, who came up with a collection called "Leisure". Pieces of puzzles, on which reproductions of paintings appeared instead of boring cards, became figured, easily docking with each other. Cardboard is no longer a curiosity, and puzzles have become even cheaper.

Americans "fell in love" with puzzles with the advent of the Great Depression. Despite the huge number of unemployed, the proceeds from sales of puzzles in America daily reached 10 million dollars.

In 1932, the hobby for collecting pictures reached incredible proportions. The manufacturers came up with an interesting idea: every week to organize a contest with a collection of themed puzzles. The names of the winners were published in the Sunday papers. The first weekly puzzles were replicated in the amount of 12 thousand copies, and later the number of boxes reached 100 and 200 thousand in the same period of time.

Gradually interest in the game subsided. In 1950, the company Ravensburger, Germany forced to remember it. Puzzle lovers received sets of 1000 and even 5000 pieces.

Even in the 21st century, puzzles are still in demand. They are now only collected on the Internet. The World Wide Web offers a variety of puzzle variations that differ not only in the image or number of pieces, but also in the form and principle of collection. And every day this game has more and more fans.

Now almost everything can be assembled from cardboard pieces: from the image of cartoon characters to your own photographs. The subject of the pictures cut into pieces is diverse, and not only adults, but also kids can collect them, depending on the size.

Learned something new? Tell your friends about the article - make a repost.

Puzzle, puzzle game, was accidentally invented by the English cartographer John Spilsbury in 1766. He glued the map to the board, when it suddenly occurred to him that it could be cut along the borders of countries with a thin saw. Which he promptly did. So John Spilsbury had separate countries that formed into huge map. He brought his puzzle to students whom he taught geography. Collecting it, they studied geography with great pleasure.

First puzzle.

At the end of the nineteenth century, artistic puzzles were also created for adults. They instantly became a favorite pastime of high society. The puzzles were wooden and cut by hand. The elements of the puzzles did not have protrusions, so they were assembled differently than modern puzzles, more ingeniously.

These original and elegant entertainments of extraordinary beauty and exclusivity were used to impress the guests. Among the wealthy, puzzles were part of the heritage and family tradition. At that time such puzzles were very expensive.

With the advent of cardboard puzzles and new production technologies, they have become cheaper. In the 20-30s of the twentieth century, puzzles became very popular game.

John Spilsbury. That was the name of the man to whom the world has been thanking for the third century for the invention of puzzles. In 1761, a Londoner, a member of the English Royal Geographical Society, made an unusual tutorial. Having stuck a map of England on a piece of plywood, he sawed the picture along the borders, mixed the fragments and invited his students, who were learning the basics of geography, to assemble the map of the country into a single whole. Thus, the first puzzle appeared.

Little is known about John Spilsbury. Born in 1739, he studied with the royal geographer at the court of the British King George III, served as a cartographer and engraver. He made his invention as a very young man, he was a little over twenty. He managed to establish a handicraft production of new items, after five years geographical puzzles were willingly bought by schools all over England. A little later, the toy became a salon entertainment.

But John did not have time to fully enjoy the money and fame, he passed away in 1769 at the age of 30. By the way, the game known to us as a “puzzle” is still called jigsawpuzzle in English-speaking countries - that is, a “jigsaw” puzzle, recalling the original manufacturing method. One of the Spilsbury puzzles is still kept in the British Museum.

How the puzzle took over the world

For more than a century, Spilsbury's invention was not widely used. The structures were bulky, the fragments were not attached to each other, but simply laid out on the surface. From any awkward movement they scattered, and the picture had to be reassembled. In addition, the toy was not cheap.

Mass success came to puzzles only in 1909 when the American company Parker Brothers opened the first factory for the production of puzzles in the form that we know today.

Plywood was replaced by cheaper and lighter cardboard, the curly elements of the puzzles were fastened together, and the final picture was attached to them, which had to be assembled (this was not done before). In addition, the cards were replaced by art reproductions, and it was much more exciting! And most importantly, puzzles were so cheap that they were available even to the poor.

Interestingly, the peak of the popularity of puzzles in America came during the Great Depression. In the thirties, in a country engulfed by famine and unemployment, the income from the sale of puzzles was $ 40 million a month!

Since then, the passion for puzzles has firmly established itself among the most common hobbies, from time to time turning into a real puzzle. Millions of people on the planet spend long hours to put together a single picture from individual elements.

Jigsaw puzzles today - innovations and tournaments

Making these popular puzzles has long since become a huge industry! What manufacturers just do not offer to fans of this fun. In addition to the classic ones, holographic and three-dimensional puzzles, computer and photo puzzles appeared, there are even “soft” ones for kids.

Multi-genre, complex, simple, small, large. By the way, did you know that the largest of the currently existing puzzles consists of as many as 32,000 and 256 pieces? The weight of the "puzzle giant" is 17 kilograms, and the area is 10.5 square meters. Can you imagine the size of the room required for its assembly? And what time?

Could John Spilsbury, cutting out the pieces of his first puzzle with a jigsaw, that two and a half centuries later such a simple idea would become part of popular culture? Hardly. But today it is true, “puzzle lovers” hold championships and online tournaments, compete alone and in groups.

Scientists write books on “puzzle topics”, and psychologists actively recommend putting together a puzzle or two for relaxation. And children! Certainly for children! For the development of fine motor skills, logic, memory and much more! And the most dedicated people to puzzles are even awarded the Spilsbury International Prize (there is, it turns out, there is one) - for a significant contribution to the development of the popularity of puzzles. A worthy memory of the author of the idea, isn't it?

And now find out, and how, because these toys are no less popular with modern people.