Puzzle (from the English puzzle - "puzzle, puzzle") is a puzzle game in which you want to make a figure from many of its fragments, in the classic version - a flat pattern (English jigsaw puzzle - "jigsaw puzzle"), but there are puzzles with different three-dimensional shapes. At its core, the puzzle is a kind of mosaic canvas, that is, a whole drawing consisting of fragments, but is not a mosaic in its full sense.

According to psychologists, the collection of puzzles contributes to the development of imaginative and logical thinking, voluntary attention, perception, in particular, the distinction of individual elements by color, shape, size, and so on; teaches to correctly perceive the connection between the part and the whole; develops fine motor skills.

 
Aquamosics, figures laid out on a tablet from elements with a diameter of 5 mm. Tablets with 2 different types of cell arrangement are used. Not yet sealed with water by spraying
 
Thermomosaics. The letter W is laid out on the tablet. A tablet with a row of cells with a rectangular intersection is used
 
Different crafts from thermomosaics. Used elements with a diameter of 2.6 mm, fastened with heat after laying on the tablet
 
A version of a wooden mosaic with multi-colored chips in the shape of a diamond from which you can make different shapes and patterns, the word "WIKIPEDIA" is written in the photo
Not a jigsaw puzzle. Shapes can be laid out arbitrarily, or on cards with drawings placed under transparent tablets. Aquamosac tablets and thermomosasics are not interchangeable, the colored elements of both can be transparent or opaque.
 
 
Mosaic is a children's educational toy (a plastic version with 6-sided chips and a base), the figure of a butterfly is laid out. Not a jigsaw puzzle
 
Mosaic, plastic version with square and triangular chips
 
Plastic mosaic, close-up chips
 
Mosaic made of wood, chips of hexagonal, square, rhombic, trapezoidal and triangular shapes
The puzzle should not be confused with the children's educational game mosaic (English steckspiel mosaic, or toys mosaic, or mosaic game for kids). In the puzzle, a picture (picture) drawn and divided into elements is folded, each element of the puzzle has a specific fragment of this whole pattern and (or) is located in a strictly designated place in the general figure of the puzzle. In a mosaic, a flat figure (a mosaic in its essence) is made of multi-colored elements of the same type (chips, usually rounded, square or hexagonal). From the same elements of the mosaic, you can make different shapes, similar in color and shape mosaic elements are interchangeable, from the puzzle elements you can fold only 1 single image or figure provided for in them, this also distinguishes ZD puzzles from designers. A variety of children's mosaics are also aquabeads (English aquabeads) and thermomosica (English hama), popularized in the XXI century, in contrast to the usual board game, in them the assembled figure can be turned into a non-collapsible craft. A similar variety, conditionally, can be attributed to diamond mosaic (English diamond mosaic, sticker mosaic) - inlay on glue with rhinestones or plastic elements of the canvas with a pre-applied drawing-scheme, relating more to needlework than to educational toys. Mosaic, unlike a puzzle, also contributes to the development of imaginative creative thinking, imagination and fantasy, as it allows you to create figures provided not only in different training templates, but also your own fictional ones. Children are able to master the purposeful folding of the puzzle at an earlier age than the compilation of mosaic figures, due to the physiological characteristics of the development of higher nervous activity in them.

It should be noted that, unlike the Russian "puzzle", in English a separate word "puzzle" means a puzzle of any kind, for example: сrossword puzzle - crossword, pentomino puzzle - pentamino, 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube - Rubik's cube with sides 3x3x3, etc. Sometimes, in relation to puzzles in English-language texts, only jigsaw or only puzzle is used, when it is clear from the context that we are talking about puzzles.

Early puzzles, known as anatomy, were created by placing maps on sheets of hard wood and cutting along national boundaries, creating a puzzle useful for teaching geography.

According to one version, the first to invent puzzles in the modern sense in 1766 was the London engraver, cartographer and publisher John Spilsbury. He made a fascinating puzzle for teaching children geography – he sawed a black and white paper geographical map, previously glued on a wooden base, along the lines of state borders with a saw for inlays. The map was asked to be reassembled. Since then, such puzzles have been called "dissection". The first recorded name "jigsaw puzzle" appeared in 1906 after the invention of the jigsaw.

Until the beginning of the XIX century, puzzles were used as a textbook. Suitable for each other pictures were not fastened, but simply put on the basis. At the end of the XIX century, the expensive wooden base was replaced by cheaper cardboard. In 1909, the first factory production of puzzles with fastening parts was opened in the United States.

As a result of the mass production of puzzles, puzzles became cheaper, which increased the popularity of the game. To date, the principle of production has not changed much. A motif printed on cardboard is cut with a press punch stamp on a certain grid into many small pieces. Wooden ones are cut on a jigsaw machine or laser cutting machine.

In Russia in the XIX century, board games gained great popularity. Puzzles were no exception, which were called in the German manner - "puzel". The puzels consisted of no more than 100 parts and were more of a salon pastime. During the Soviet period, puzzles disappeared from store shelves, returning again at the end of the twentieth century.

In modern times, puzzles are produced industrially on machine tools using automated production, but they can also be piecemeally handmade.In addition to serially produced puzzles, it is also possible to make them in some photo workshops with the customer's drawing, including the photos provided by him - the so-called photo puzzles, also puzzles can be made independently with the presence and skills of working with graphic editors, jigsaws, plotters or laser cutters (not industrial, engravers-cutters), especially in the presence of an ultraviolet printer.

Currently, there are a large number of different types and modifications of puzzles. The goal when collecting them is one - to get a single picture from individual elements. Puzzles are divided by the size of the elements and by the size of a single picture. The complexity of the puzzle within one number of elements is determined by the picture, and the main criterion is the number of elements itself - the higher it is, the larger and more complex the puzzle.

In modern times, flat two-dimensional puzzles are more often made of cardboard, wood (more often veneer or plywood), plastic. But they can also be made of other materials, for example, from magnetic paper, metal or from a sheet of foamed rubber in the form of mats.

The dimensions of the assembled puzzle for serially produced can be any within reason for desktop or floor gathering in domestic conditions, and the number of elements from 2 or more. Puzzle sizes range from small (up to 50 cm²) to very large (several m²). For example, the common size of a puzzle of 500 elements is 47×33 cm. But, there are exceptions, large sizes in the form of panoramas, with sides up to several meters.

There are large-sized puzzles with a small number of elements specifically for young children. On children's puzzles, cartoon characters are most often depicted, or frames from cartoons.

Puzzles with more than 260 elements are aimed more at an adult audience. Accordingly, they can depict landscapes, erotic and fantastic scenes. There are puzzles with advertising pictures.  Very large puzzles (over 6,<> elements) usually depict scenes from the Bible, paintings by famous artists, and ancient geographical maps. It takes quite a lot of time to assemble them.

The most common puzzles with a straight-angle shape of the puzzle itself and its elements, but there can also be various design options, including with the maximum possible symmetrical cutting grid and with an applied image that allows you to collect several variant drawings, thereby approaching the functionality of the mosaics.

In addition to the classic, there are three-dimensional (3D puzzles), "soft" (designed for children) and computer puzzles.

The protrusions of the puzzle elements can be of various types. The most common have a rectangular shape (with protrusions and recesses), but there are elements of triangular, round, oval and other shapes. Children's puzzles with a small number of elements, especially wooden ones, can be without them, often such puzzles have an external shape with a notch of the recess under the shape of the puzzle. In large puzzles, they play the role of a lock connection, fastening neighboring elements together and preventing the shift of individual elements, thereby sprawling and crumbling the puzzle during assembly.

A variety of flat puzzles are contour puzzles made not in the form of a geometric figure, but along the contour of an image, for example, an animal. Cardboard and polymer flat puzzles are usually produced in boxes or packs of thick cardboard, but there are varieties produced in tubes rolled up with a soft mat substrate, the so-called park puzzles.