Since time immemorial, jigsaw puzzles have been one of the favourite pastimes for developing our creativity, sharpening our wits and at the same time - in many cases - creating true works of art.
I remember that in the years I spent in Europe I could see how many people cultivated this hobby by assembling pictures of remarkable dimensions and then putting them in a nice wooden frame with the glass in front and hanging them on the wall as if they were the painting of a famous painter, achieving a very nice effect.
Puzzles and games, the hobby that continues to grow after the pandemic.
Time has passed and cardboard jigsaw puzzles have become a souvenir and/or a hobby for collectors.
We live in the era of multi-purpose mobile phones, i.e. smartphones with which we can do everything, an electronic device that we always have at our fingertips (usually in our own hand for many hours a day) and in our leisure time we use it to play games.
The first games that were developed on mobiles and still represent the strongest sector of mobile gaming today were puzzles.
From yesterday to today.
From yesterday to today a lot of time has passed -technologically speaking- and those simple and rudimentary tetris-style puzzles have been replaced by sophisticated games that are a true work of art like Monument Valley, for many the best puzzle game at all nowadays, with impossible architectures and different levels to keep growing.
And yes, this is one of the secrets of its popularity. Until a few years ago, the biggest sadness was when the puzzle was finished -physically-. The dilemma was tremendous. Leave it as it was, with that beautiful panorama or landscape that had been formed, in that true work of art into which hundreds of little pieces of cardboard had been transformed to fit one into the other, or take it apart and start again from the beginning?
The digital puzzles.
The digital puzzles presented on (almost) every mobile phone in the world mostly present different levels that challenge our capacity, our intelligence, our creativity and our desire to excel.
But above all, these games (if we can call them that) also test our mental agility - they are even medically recommended for this purpose as long as they are not abused - and our patience.
The huge Google Play repository is full of puzzles, from the classic and simple ones to those structured in the form of majong, the traditional and centenary Chinese board game with the appropriate variants and a score level that goes up as we fit the pieces together (or join them in pairs) with greater speed, time being of the essence.
Time (speed in the final resolution) and levels (until we reach the highest, that impossible level to which we all aspire) are the ultimate goals of any puzzle player.
Monumental Valley.
The prices (in those cases where puzzles are paid) are extremely low. For example in Monumental Valley for just over 3.00 USD we can guide the silent princess Ida through monuments full of mystery and optical illusions, discover and travel new paths where we will try to avoid the Raven Men and a thousand other dangers, overcome all the levels until we reach number 15 and paying just over 1.00 USD we can unlock another 8 levels completing more than an hour of gameplay.
The example just mentioned has the sole objective of demonstrating how apparently simple games have become more and more complex with the sole and primary objective of continuing to be the leaders of a market that is gradually being taken over by gaming in its most complete manifestations, with high quality and definition games emulating the best productions of the Plas Station and xBox consoles.
The Room.
The Room does not lag behind in any way. This award-winning three-part saga is a must-have for puzzle game fans, with a graphical look that is almost perfect.
Also in The Room the game, obviously in levels, will transport you to a unique space with boxes, each of which contains a mystery to be solved. Intelligence and patience will be put to the test through the long and mysterious levels found in each room. The use of headphones - thanks to the great sound - makes it all the more realistic.
Both puzzles will be covered in detail in other posts, but for the moment I just wanted to highlight the features of these games that - in the past - represented an inconsequential game while we waited for the bus or someone put our call on hold, whereas today they have been transformed into games whose fantastic, ingenious and instructive gameplay is creating a real addiction among #gamers.
The list is huge and growing day by day, increasing not only in quantity but also in quality. Gaming is grateful.
Surveys and Statistics.
Various surveys and statistics published towards the end of 2021 have shown that the number of gamers on mobile phones is growing every day, especially in the female sector.
The female sector over the age of 45 has made puzzles on mobiles their favourite game, followed by strategy games in their various variants and word games, according to the study carried out by Mobile Gaming Mothers, which provides a detailed and segmented analysis of the subject.
The market is expanding more and more and games are trying to gain space. Those who already have it are trying to keep it by incorporating new marketing strategies, trying to attract the attention of new users and presenting the market with increasingly sophisticated and -aesthetically- better products.
About Giampaolo Rossi.
Jigsaw puzzles, or “dissected maps,” were invented in Georgian England, likely by a cartographer named John Spilsbury in the early 1760s.
ReplyDeleteJigsaw puzzles have come back into fashion in 2020. In the spring, when the first stay-at-home orders were issued in many regions of the country due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, there was a surge in demand for puzzles.
Puzzle makers saw sales increase by 300 to 400 percent, and because of the pandemic-related pause in production, they quickly sold out of popular items. As this seemingly endless year has dragged on (with record numbers of COVID-19 cases in the United States), the lockdown won’t be ending anytime soon.
Jigsaw puzzles, which many adults find meditative and entertaining, are especially suited to staying at home.
DeleteWith all the tragedy, anxiety, and uncertainty stemming from the pandemic, one way to take your mind off reality is to literally unplug from your devices and do a puzzle.
You can have music or the TV on in the background while you do a puzzle, but you can't be connected to social media.