In years gone by the wisdom has been to make sure the Christmas puzzles had sold through before December 24th. This year has proven that false. As it is, the Gibsons Christmas puzzles are now the best selling range from Gibsons despite their short selling season. We are still taking orders for all the christmas puzzles, especially GIB 2009, the limited edition 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle by Marcello Conti. The image has proven to be fantastically popular on its own because the picture is a heartwarming image with or without the Christmas references. The new 2010 Christmas puzzle, also by Marcello Conti, is a wonderful image with Santa Claus, riding in his sleigh. The jigsaw puzzle will be available in fall 2010.

The new 2009 Gibsons puzzles are now on our website. There are 30 new styles and a new category: 250 piece puzzles with pieces that, although standard puzzle shapes, are 60% larger than regular puzzle pieces. The 250 piece jigsaw puzzles are also priced to move and introduce consumers to the quality of Gibsons puzzles. Once again Gibsons have kept several themes going from whimsical animal motifs (can pigs smile and cats mail a letter?) to scenery of a quasi-imaginary past to the popular settings of human activities before the full onset of the industrial and post-industrial era. This particular theme raises an interesting point: do we work harder with the aid of technology or do we enjoy more leisure time? The recession for some reason has increased sales in puzzles. All the favorite puzzle artists are in the new styles: Kevin Walsh, O’Brien, Gale Pitt, etc. Have fun: puzzles in stock early next week.

Jigsaw puzzles to stimulate the mind
by Richard Stoller

Despite their innocent beginning, jigsaw puzzles, invented in the late 18th century by London mapmaker John Spilsbury, have endured two hundred and fifty years of consumer acceptance as a pastime not entirely anticipated by their inventor. Today puzzles come in multiple piece counts from as few as 10 enormous pieces for young children to assemble on the floor up to 20000 pieces for the most avid puzzle hobbyist that can take up to a year to complete.

Puzzles nowadays are no longer made of wood but of high density cardboard and are die stamped in a massive press to ensure a precision cut and consistent quality. In Spilsburys day they would have been made of hand painted wooden boards which were then cut into pieces with a jigsaw. World maps would have been painted on the board to be put together again in the classroom.

Color and shape are the most obvious clues to where a piece goes into the puzzle. This requires both manual dexterity as well as the ability to recognize complementary shapes and surrounding colors. For those whose cognitive powers are not as acute as they once were, it is obvious that jigsaw puzzles are a benefit to hand eye coordination as well as a mental exercise

As a form of gentle therapy, card games come to mind for their deductive reasoning as well as the added benefit of socialization. Reading, crosswords or playing mind teasers such as Sudoku are all obvious ways to stimulate the brain. In a recent study, it has been shown the best way to avoid the onset of dementia is by exercise and diet and that mental stimulation alone is not enough.

Puzzles though do have their own benefits and require observational, cognitive and motor skills which make the pastime unique not to mention satisfying. As the population ages the puzzle companies have taken to manufacturing puzzles with extra large pieces. Nowadays there are 500 piece puzzles with the same dimensions as a regular 1000 piece puzzle. Such puzzles tend to be more obvious from a visual standpoint with bright colors and more distinctly shaped pieces.

The four identifiable phases of memory are learning, consolidation, storage and recall. Recall is the key to determining the viability and/or deterioration of the other three stages. If, under competitive circumstances, a healthy puzzle hobbyist can assemble a 1000 piece puzzle in about an hour then there is reason to believe that a senior will benefit by using the skills of learning and consolidation to a relative degree with an overall benefit to recall skills.

It has been said the human brain is the most complex thing in the universe. Chemical studies and subsequent pharmacological discoveries as well as gene therapies hold much promise and even current benefits. Mild therapies such as puzzles are less intrusive and might mitigate the results of memory loss in an aging population.

The greatest fear is that we lose our uniquely individual memories and thus our true self. Not much effort would be required of those who can reawaken once healthy skills and prolong the pleasure of a healthy mind and body by simple exercises such as jigsaw puzzles.

jigsaw puzzles for all seasons and for all age groups.