jigzone.com

Author's product rating:   

Layout & Design	Excellent
Web site content	Good
Navigation	Excellent
How fast is this website	Excellent
Search facility	Excellent

Advantages:	Puzzling fun for all ages, no more lost pieces .  .  .
Disadvantages:	Occasional glitches .  .  .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Ever since I was a small child I have been fascinated with jigsaw puzzles and have amassed quite a collection over the years. However I have nowhere safe I can spend time constructing them as, let’s face it, kids and tiny puzzle pieces don’t usually make good bed-fellows!

Around two years ago I discovered this website and I’m now able to get my ‘fix’ on a daily basis without having to worry about my darling children giving my latest creation flying lessons…

~ Home Page ~

The home page is very clearly laid out and relatively clutter-free. To the left is a very simple menu for you to make your selection from. There’s the puzzle of the day, the gallery or you can subscribe to the site. On the right is a selection of sample puzzles ranging from a simple six-piece classic cut to a complex 240-piece ‘square' cut.

~ The Puzzles ~

The picture gallery contains over 800 different pictures for you to make your selection from and these are divided into twelve distinct categories ranging from animals to world flags. Once you’ve browsed the different choices available then you get to choose your own particular level of difficulty from the drop-down menu above the picture selections. By default this is set to the 48-piece classic cut.

The easiest puzzle cut is the six-piece classic and the hardest in my humble opinion is the 240-piece square cut as the pieces are so small! In between these two levels of difficulty are seven classic cut choices, triangular cuts, bulbs, circles, bricks and swirls. My personal choice is currently the 247-piece triangle cut as that gives my grey matter an excellent workout!

Once you’ve worked out which picture you want to make and how many pieces you want to attempt, simply click on the picture you have chosen and the puzzle will load up in the same window. This takes mere seconds whatever your Internet connection happens to be, with my Cable Modem it’s around a ten-second wait.

When it has loaded you’ll be faced with a fair sized area covered in broken puzzle pieces! Constructing the puzzle couldn’t be simpler. Just left-click with your mouse on the piece you want to move, then drag it and drop it (release the mouse button) where you think it should fit/where you want to move it to. When you get a match, the pieces will connect together with a satisfying ‘click’ sound.

The site will time you while you’re constructing your masterpiece and underneath the puzzle window is a small graph that shows your own personal time against the fastest ever completion time as well as the average.

Should you instead opt to make the puzzle of the day it will of course load in exactly the same way as any of the other pictures only this time you won’t get a choice of puzzle cut; Jigzone make that decision for you…

~ Join the Site ~

Registration to join Jigzone couldn’t be simpler and the best thing is it’s FREE! Simply click the link on the home page and follow the basic instructions. You need to choose a user name as well as the obligatory password and e-mail address. A few more boxes later and that’s it, you’re a member…

So why join Jigzone? Well there are a couple of benefits if you happen to be a jigsaw puzzle freak like I am! First of all you get a link (from the homepage) to your very own member page and from this you can subscribe to the puzzle of the day feature. This is where you get to choose the format you would like your daily puzzle to be in; you can select your choice of puzzle cut as well as if you want to be able to see the finished picture or if you want no help at all!

My own current choice is to receive the link to the puzzle of the day with a 247-piece triangular cut and WITHOUT the guide picture. As this is an American site the e-mail with the link tends to arrive in my hotmail box mid-afternoon due to the time difference.

You can also upload your own pictures to your very own puzzle album, test them (watch them be broken up as 20-piece classic cut puzzles) and then you can e-mail them out to your friends in a choice of ALL the cuts that are available. Unfortunately, the only way you can try out your own pictures as puzzles in anything more complex than the 20-pieces is to e-mail yourself the link…

You of course get the choice whether to keep your photo album private or to share it with all other Jigzone members. Jigzone also allow you to use the ‘link’ to your own puzzles to be integrated into your own website.

~ Drawbacks ~

There are a couple of these I have found throughout my time using this site. The first is the dreaded Spam that comes in the form of pop-ups. Everytime you finish a puzzle and either go back to the home page or to do another puzzle, like magic a pop-up appears. Very annoying!

Over the last few months another ‘glitch’ has occasionally appeared. This hiccup shows itself by making the puzzle pieces ‘vanish’ everytime you get them to click together. Now puzzles without the guide picture I can manage, but I’m not so good as to be able to complete a task that is rapidly rendering itself invisible!

~ Overall Impression ~

Well if you haven’t already gathered, I am quite addicted to this site which is probably why I visit it each day, if only to complete my daily jigsaw. It’s an excellent place for puzzlers of all ages and all abilities. My kids love it and it can be tailored to them as they grow and their individual talents increase. I love the fact that I can upload my own pictures and then complete them in whatever cut I choose; it makes the whole concept so much more personal.

The satisfaction I get on a daily basis for completing the set challenge far outweigh the minor niggles I have outlined above.

The best bits? No more lost puzzle pieces and no more puzzles launched into space by a giggling five year old…