A fan of the jigsaw?

Jigsaw puzzles have fascinated the young and old alike since around the mid 1700’s since produced by John Spilsbury, a London engraver and mapmaker. What began as an educational tool has become a popular pastime. They were first crafted of wood, but became more affordable once they began making them from cardboard. While cardboard jigsaw puzzles are the most common way to enjoy this addiction, there are also many people turning to doing them online. Here are ten popular websites for jigsaw puzzle lovers, including sources for both online and regular jigsaw puzzles. They are listed in order of their Alexa traffic count rating.

1. Puzzle Warehouse: http://www.puzzlewarehouse.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 176,498

The name “warehouse” always instills a sense of awe and expectation of oodles of offerings, and this company is aptly named. Located in St. Louis, Missouri, they have 13,000 square feet containing over 12,000 jigsaw puzzles on their shelves and several thousand more in their shipping warehouse. A great feature is their puzzle finder enabling you to search by age, number of pieces and theme. Also check out the sale section. If you are looking for unique jigsaw puzzles such as shaped, hidden image and 3D, this is the place to go! The site offers live chat if you need assistance, and a newsletter for getting discounts and learning about events.

2. Serious Puzzles: http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 206,864

Serious Puzzles offers free shipping on orders over $60 so take advantage of that to stock up on a supply of unique and enjoyable jigsaw puzzles. The site has them organized by theme, pieces and brand. They also offer volume orders and corporate sales. You can also search for puzzles by type, difficulty, age and price. They offer a number of really challenging puzzles including a gargantuan 24,000 piece panoramic jigsaw puzzle by EDUCA and “At the Waterhole,” an 18,000 piece puzzle by Ravensburg. That’s Serious Puzzles!

3. Bits and Pieces: http://www.bitsandpieces.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 525,768

This company has been offering jigsaw puzzles as well as organizers, gadgets and other items through their mail order catalog since 1983. The have a number of exclusive items you won’t find anywhere else. Order from the site, or ask for your free copy of their catalog to be mailed to you. One thing you’ll want to see is their puzzle organizers – they are great tools for puzzle lovers to keep your current project protected and handy.

4. BrainsBreaker: http://www.brainsbreaker.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 409,521

There are some unique advantages of doing jigsaw puzzles online – no pieces to lose, any puzzle can have the number of pieces you prefer, the creation of your own puzzles from your photos and you don’t need to hog the dining room table for your current project. All these benefits and more can be found on this online jigsaw puzzle site. You can test it out with a free trial before purchasing. After that, there is a low one-time fee of just $19.95 which includes all future upgrades free of charge. You’d pay more than this for one good quality jigsaw puzzle, making it a great deal!

5. Lang – Puzzles Area of Site: http://www.lang.com/gifts-accessories/puzzles-games/puzzles.html

Global Alexa Rating: 476,998

Lang offers plenty of other things as well, but the above link goes right to their puzzles section. They offer 500-piee and 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles that are a spectacular full-color painting by a renowned artist. These specialized puzzles would make a special gift for the jigsaw puzzle lover in your life as they are truly unique and special. They currently have 40 jigsaw puzzles to choose from.

6. Jigsaw Explorer: http://www.jigsawexplorer.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 799,353

Jigsaw Explorer offers premium online jigsaw puzzles. The main page showcases a featured puzzle, a mystery puzzle each day and new puzzles served fresh each morning. You can also select recent puzzles, browsing the puzzles, favorite puzzles and challenging puzzles. A nice feature is the ability to create a puzzle from your photo and share it with friends and family. To view content on the site, you must have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computer, but they offer a quick install link for your convenience.

7. All Jigsaw Puzzles: http://www.alljigsawpuzzles.co.uk/

Global Alexa Rating: 1,311,706

This is a source for jigsaw puzzles for those in the UK. They also offer accessories and personalized puzzles in which you give them a photo and they create a puzzle of it. Besides this unique offering, they also carry 3D and shaped puzzles, wooden construction kits, large piece puzzles, metallic and glow in the dark puzzles, photomosaic puzzles, panoramic puzzles and a category probably aptly named “Impossible” as these are some of the most difficult puzzles in the world.

8. Puzzle Passion: http://www.puzzlepassion.com/pages/home/language:eng

Global Alexa Rating: 1,600,643

Puzzle Passion is a heartfelt call to puzzle-lovers all over the world. It includes a collection of puzzles unmatched by other places. They also have Facebook pages used by their customers as a forum for discussions. The most unique thing about them is that they offer a Lost Pieces Service for locating pieces to EDUCA puzzles with 500 or more pieces. They include FIX PUZZLETM for free with all puzzles 500 to 2,000 pieces which is used to glue and hang your completed puzzle. They also offer personalized puzzles.

9. Jig Things: http://www.jigthings.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 2,203,630

Jig Things offers all the things that make your jigsaw puzzle making even more enjoyable. They offer boards, cases, frames, safes, storage and tables. The site also has some fun information including how puzzles are made, their history, fascinating facts and education quizzes. They offer free shipping within the US. Check out their blog for interesting posts about jigsaw puzzles.

10. Jigsaw Jungle International: http://www.jigsawjungle.com/

Global Alexa Rating: 2,266,230

They began with a single retail store in Canada in 1994, but in 1197 developed this online site offering the world a wide-scale on-line retail and distribution center that ships throughout North America as well as internationally. They have an enormous selection of puzzles tailored for all ages. They also carry educational toys, logic games, brain teasers and more. There are some interesting resources on the site including the history of puzzles, the health benefits of jigsaw puzzles, how to glue your puzzle and how to mount, frame and hang it. They will also help you with missing pieces.

For every passion there seems to be an organization devoted to the topic, and jigsaw puzzles are no different. For information about jigsaw puzzles and related areas of interest to puzzle enthusiasts, check out the American Jigsaw Puzzle Society at http://www.jigsaw-puzzle.org/default.html. You’ll find the history very interesting as well as the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle for when you want a real challenge!