Family Puzzle Time – Peaceful Pieces
In today’s world, stressed-out families are rediscovering more affordable ways to spend quality time together at home: a $1 Redbox movie and 1/2 cup popcorn sautéed in a pan with olive oil and rosemary. A game of “catch” in the backyard or an interactive video game on the Wii. A board game, a card game, a craft or, my favorite, a puzzle that the whole crew can peacefully solve while listening to music or even the drops of a passing storm.
John Spilsbury, owner of a printing press in London, has been credited as the creator of the puzzle in the year 1767. In an effort to make geography more fun, he glued a hand-painted world map on wood and then took each one apart. . country with a fine tooth saw. Therefore, the students enjoyed their first puzzle as they put each country and county back into its proper place on the map (however, until the puzzle was invented, this was called a “dissected puzzle”).
This children’s learning tool grew in popularity to become a form of entertainment. The earliest known gay puzzle was a 1785 depiction of John Gilpin’s wild ride on a runaway horse from a comic ballad by William Cowper. None of these were intertwined until nearly a decade later, when power tools were invented. Unlike today’s Springbok puzzles that can actually be picked up and displayed once completed, back then even the slightest careless move on the part of the puzzler could ruin an entire day’s effort.
By 1908, upper-class American adults were demanding a new puzzle every Saturday morning for their weekend parties. The meticulous sawing of one piece at a time in these wooden puzzles made these puzzles a very expensive hobby that could only be enjoyed by high society. However, once the Great Depression hit, unemployed architects, carpenters, and skilled craftsmen designed their own puzzles and sold them locally, making them more affordable. Puzzles finally became a peaceful and affordable escape for everyone from difficult times.
How similar it sounds to why so many of us enjoy our “puzzle time” today: It allows us a brief respite, a quiet moment to piece together a little island of order in the sea of our crazy, chaotic lives.