How to Play Jigsaw Puzzles Online: A Beginner's Guide

Online jigsaw puzzles give you everything you love about the cardboard kind — minus the lost pieces, the cleared dining table, and the trip to the store. If you're just starting out, here's everything you need.

The basics

• Pick a picture and difficulty. Choose an image you like, then set the piece count. Start small (24–96 pieces) and work up.
• Drag and drop. Click or tap a piece and drag it. When it's near its correct spot, it snaps into place with a satisfying click.
• Zoom and pan. Scroll (or pinch on touch) to zoom in on detail; drag the empty background to move around the board.
• Tidy and fit. Use Tidy to gather loose pieces into a neat grid, and Fit to re-center the whole board.

A few tips to finish faster

1. Start with the edges to build a frame.
2. Sort by colour and pattern — group sky pieces, grass pieces, and so on.
3. Work in small clusters, then join them together.

For more, see how to solve jigsaw puzzles faster.

Make it social

The biggest upgrade over physical puzzles: you can play with friends online. Start a board, share a link, and solve together in real time with live cursors and chat.

Try your first puzzle →