The Evolution and Craftsmanship of Jigsaw Puzzles: From 18th‑Century Maps to Modern Innovations

Background

A jigsaw puzzle consists of an image affixed to a thin, rigid backing—often wood or cardboard—and then segmented into interlocking pieces. The origin of the term “puzzle” remains uncertain, but the earliest known jigsaw puzzles date back to the 1760s, created by the European cartographer John Spilbury. In 1762, Spilbury devised the technique of gluing maps onto thin mahogany and cedar panels and cutting them with a fine marquetry saw, then selling the completed puzzles in substantial quantities before his death in 1749. By the mid‑1780s, subsequent generations of makers expanded beyond cartographic designs, producing puzzles from broadsheet magazines that featured humorous poems and stories. Though these broadsheet puzzles were short‑lived due to rapidly outdated subject matter, they demonstrated a consumer appetite for non‑map images, leading to experiments with alphabets, multiplication tables, biblical passages, and historical portraits.

Demand for puzzles surged in England over the following decades, and evidence suggests that they reached North America before 1800. The advent of color lithography around that time enabled higher‑quality images to be produced more efficiently, broadening the visual appeal of puzzles. Some manufacturers even produced double‑sided puzzles, offering a different scene on each side. The 1860s saw a boom in sales as two major companies—Milton Bradley and the McLoughin Brothers—entered the market with a wide array of puzzle types. In the 1890s, the introduction of die‑cutting techniques eliminated the need for hand‑cut pieces, allowing mass production and lower prices. Two further innovations followed: Parker Brothers incorporated custom‑shaped figure pieces into its Pastime line, and the development of irregular, interlocking pieces became the industry standard for its stability and ease of assembly.

While sales dipped slightly in the early 1900s, the late 1920s and the onset of the Great Depression reignited interest. In 1933, weekly sales peaked at an astonishing 10 million puzzles. With widespread unemployment, many turned to puzzles for affordable home entertainment. Unemployed architects, carpenters, and other craftsmen began producing and renting puzzles, and drugstores and circulating libraries offered them for 3–10 cents per day depending on size. Retail stores even bundled free puzzles with items such as toothbrushes and flashlights in 1932.

Post‑World War II, sales of wooden puzzles declined sharply. Rising wages increased the labor cost of hand‑cutting, while advances in lithography and die‑cutting made cardboard puzzles more attractive. The Springbok Company emerged as a leader, producing high‑quality reproductions of fine art. In 1965, they released a puzzle based on Jackson Pollock’s “Convergence,” which challenged even seasoned assemblers. By the late 1960s, wooden puzzles had largely disappeared, but the mid‑1970s saw the founding of Stave Puzzles, which reignited demand for premium wooden designs. Over the past 25 years, several small custom manufacturers have helped revive the wooden puzzle niche.

Raw Materials

Graphics/Artwork

Virtually any artwork can serve as puzzle imagery, but major manufacturers favor lithographic prints for their high quality, cost‑effectiveness, and scalability. Many puzzles depict iconic photographs or paintings, though custom makers may allow customers to supply their own images.

Backing Material

Mass‑market puzzles typically use chipboard because it is inexpensive and easy to cut. High‑end custom puzzles, however, often employ 5‑ply birch wood. In both cases, adhesive bonds the artwork to the backing.

Cutting Equipment

Early wooden puzzles were cut with scroll saws (jigsaws) featuring a vertical blade that moved up and down across a fixed horizontal table. Modern custom wood puzzles still use this technique, with blades measuring approximately 0.016 in (0.041 cm) for fine, precise cuts. The majority of today’s puzzles are mass‑produced cardboard types that use die‑cutting presses.

Design

Design varies with the artwork and desired difficulty. Puzzle artists hand‑draw cut patterns so that no two puzzles are identical. Quality designs harmonize the image with the interlocking shape to enhance user enjoyment. Artists avoid cutting through prominent features such as faces, and they adjust difficulty by varying piece count and cut complexity. Some makers eliminate straight‑border pieces, making edge identification more challenging.

The Manufacturing Process

Producing a puzzle from start to finish requires nearly 2,000 hours and typically spans about 12 months. Key stages include printing, laminating, cutting, and packaging.

Printing

• 1. The artwork is selected and printed using lithography. The process employs a plate treated to absorb either water or oil; the non‑printable area is wetted while the printable portion is greased. Oil‑based ink adheres only to the greased regions, creating a clear image when the plate contacts paper. Multiple images can share a single litho sheet to reduce paper waste. After printing, the litho sheets are laminated onto 0.087 in (0.22 cm) thick chipboard, then allowed to dry for several days before die‑cutting.

Cutting

• 2. Modern puzzles are die‑cut. A sharp, flat metal ribbon stamps the individual pieces. The artist’s design is transferred to rule‑bend experts who shape razor‑sharp steel rules. These rules are pounded into a wood‑mounted die; one side of the ribbon is fixed in a wooden block. When pressed with sufficient force onto the softer cardboard backing, the die cuts the backing into the desired shape. For a 500‑piece puzzle of average complexity, creating a die can take up to 400 hours, and several dies may be produced for puzzles of the same size.

Packaging

• 3. After die‑cutting, the sheets are broken apart and placed into their packaging—typically a cardboard box. Starting in the mid‑1930s, manufacturers began including a photo of the completed puzzle on the box as a visual guide. The boxes then undergo final packaging, shrink‑wrapping, and are shipped to retailers.

The Future

While puzzle imagery evolves to match consumer tastes, manufacturing innovation has slowed. Nonetheless, several trends point to future growth. Premium wooden puzzles continue to gain traction; i.C. Ayer & Co. has pioneered computer‑controlled water‑jet cutting for wood, streamlining production. A novel category transforms two‑dimensional puzzles into three‑dimensional sculptures via die‑cut pieces, a concept protected by U.S. Patent # 5251900. Finally, virtual jigsaw puzzles—constructed entirely on screen—offer the same mental challenge without physical components, enabled by sophisticated software that randomizes and reassembles images on monitors.