Open, Flip ,& Find

"Time to get to work!" is the enthusiastic call to action when you're ready to dive into a jigsaw puzzle. While it may seem straightforward, a little strategic preparation right from the start can significantly smooth out the entire puzzling process. First, the part of puzzling that most people dread:

Open the Box

Most puzzle boxes are sealed with stickers, which serve two purposes: keeping the box securely closed and assuring you that you're opening a brand-new, untouched puzzle. While some people might try to peel these stickers off, doing so often damages the puzzle box itself. These sealing stickers are designed to be cut through. For a clean, neat opening, use a sharp blade (like a craft knife or a box cutter) to slice cleanly through the label.

Flip All Pieces Face Up

This step is arguably the most tedious part of the entire puzzle-solving process, but it's an essential foundation for efficiency. Systematically turning every single puzzle piece face upward, so its image side is visible, will make all subsequent steps much easier and faster. While it demands patience initially, the time saved in later stages by not having to flip pieces constantly will be well worth the effort.

Find All the Edge Pieces

For standard jigsaw puzzles, constructing the border is a widely favored and highly effective starting strategy for traditional square and rectangular shapes as well as round puzzles.  Building the border first clearly defines the physical space the puzzle will occupy, providing a natural frame and a contained area to work within as you assemble the interior.  

However, There Are Exceptions

If the puzzle's border is entirely one solid color or features a highly repetitive, indistinguishable pattern, finding and assembling these edge pieces might be quite difficult and frustrating. In such cases, it might be more efficient to start on the inside of the puzzle by sorting by other distinct features (like high-contrast areas or unique objects) and then tackle the border pieces later when more of the interior is complete, giving you more context.  Some puzzles are made of unique cut shapes, so you may find a few “false” edges that appear to be edges but are not, but as you assemble the border, these will get sorted out.

Final Thoughts

It's got to be done, so get busy!