One piece at a time.
No rush. No wrong turns. Just a few simple tools to help you find your flow.
If you've done a cardboard jigsaw, you already know the game — this page covers the handful of controls that make the digital table nicer than the dining table.
The basics
- Drag pieces with mouse or finger. Matching neighbors snap together when they're close enough, with a satisfying thock, and travel as one section after.
- Pan by dragging empty board, zoom with the scroll wheel or a pinch, and double-click to fit the board back in view.
- Finish by joining everything into one picture — there's no frame to fill; sections can be built anywhere and merged at the end.
The toolbar
- Picture
- Opens the full reference image over the board.
- Ghost (eye)
- Fades the finished picture onto the board itself — great for learning where regions live on bigger puzzles.
- Edges (grid)
- Hides loose middle pieces so only border pieces (and anything already joined) remain. The classic opening.
- Scatter
- Re-spreads loose pieces around the visible board. Handy after zooming or when a pile gets messy.
- Restart
- Deals a completely new cut of the same picture — new piece shapes, new scatter, timer from zero.
- Board colors
- Four table finishes in the bottom-right: slate, felt, walnut and linen. Pick whichever makes your current picture's edges easiest to read.
Keyboard shortcuts
Everything on the toolbar also has a key, so your mouse hand never has to leave the pieces:
- P
- Preview the full picture
- G
- Ghost of the finished picture on the board
- E
- Edge pieces only
- T
- Open / close the piece tray
- M
- Mute / unmute sounds
- F
- Fit the board to your screen
- + / −
- Zoom in / out
- R or Space
- Rotate the piece you're dragging (rotation mode)
Strategy that actually works
1. Frame first. Edge pieces are a small, known set — the edge filter shows only them. With the border done, every remaining piece has a bounded home.
2. Sort by color family, not by piece. Don't hunt for “the one piece with the church spire.” Drag everything sky-colored to one corner, everything foliage to another. Local piles solve themselves.
3. Read shapes in uniform areas. In a blue sky every piece looks identical — but a piece with two tabs on opposite sides only fits certain holes. Shape-matching is the endgame skill that makes 300-piece skies fall.
4. Build islands. Distinctive features — a boat, a doorway, a bloom — assemble fast. Grow islands outward and bridge them later; the ghost view shows where each island belongs.
Common questions
- How do I move pieces?
- Click (or touch) a piece and drag it. When two neighboring pieces are close to their correct fit, they snap together and move as one section from then on. Drag empty board to pan; scroll or pinch to zoom; double-click to re-center.
- What do the toolbar buttons do?
- The picture button shows the full reference image. The eye toggles a faint ghost of the finished picture on the board. The grid button hides loose middle pieces so you can build the border first. Shuffle re-scatters loose pieces, and the arrow restarts with a fresh cut.
- What's the best way to solve a big puzzle?
- Edges first: turn on edge-only mode and build the frame. Then sort by color — skies, water and foliage form obvious families. Work in small regions rather than hunting for one specific piece, and let piece shapes (two tabs? four blanks?) narrow candidates in uniform areas.
- Can I change difficulty mid-puzzle?
- Yes — the piece counts in the bottom-left switch the same picture to a different cut. Each count keeps its own saved progress, so an in-progress 48 and a fresh 150 can coexist.
- Are there keyboard shortcuts?
- Yes, on the puzzle board: P previews the picture, G toggles the ghost overlay, E shows edge pieces only, T opens the piece tray, M mutes sounds, F fits the board to your screen, and + / − zoom. With rotation mode on, press R or Space while dragging to turn the held piece.
Ready? Today's puzzle is waiting, or start gentle in Landscapes.