International Puzzle Day - 29 January

International Puzzle Day is celebrated on January 29, 2016. It was created in 1995 by game companies in the United States. On International Puzzle Day, puzzles of all size, shape and form will be honored. You can celebrate that day by solving one or more puzzles. A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution.

The first jigsaw puzzle was created around 1760, when John Spilsbury, a British engraver and mapmaker, mounted a map on a sheet of wood that he then sawed around each individual country. Spilsbury used the product to aid in teaching geography. After catching on with the wider public, this remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820. By the early 20th century, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their daily subscriptions by publishing puzzle contests. Puzzles may also include letters, numbers, shapes, and riddles.

 Puzzles are a favorite pastime of millions of people, young and old. So, what's with this fascination over puzzles? There's numerous reasons for it's popularity. For many, doing puzzles is fun. Some people just like the challenge of completing them, and graduating to evermore complex and difficult puzzle solving levels. For others, it is a way to kill time, and to eliminate boredom. Others still, do puzzles to keep their mind sharp, or to learn new words.

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