Pick a photo, choose a piece count, and it becomes a real jigsaw with interlocking tabs. Drag pieces up from the tray into place, pinch to zoom on a phone, and finish against the clock. The photo never leaves your device, and a built-in gallery of public-domain paintings powers a daily puzzle where everyone races on the same cut.
How it works
- Tap Choose my photo to pick from your gallery, or drop a file on desktop. iPhone HEIC photos work when the browser can open them; otherwise a notice appears. You can also pick a painting instead: van Gogh, Hokusai, Vermeer, Klimt, Monet or Shin Yun-bok.
- Choose the number of pieces: 48, 100, 200, 300, 500 or 1000, or type your own (up to 2000). The grid is fitted to the photo's aspect ratio, so the final count lands near your number. Tab shapes are random, so the same photo cuts differently every time.
- Press START. The empty board is above and the piece tray below. Swipe the tray sideways to browse, and drag a piece upward to lift it onto the board. Dropped near its place it snaps in and locks; dropped elsewhere it stays loose and can be moved again.
- On a phone, pinch to zoom and drag empty space with two fingers to pan. On desktop, scroll to zoom and drag empty space to pan; the buttons at the top right also zoom and fit. Turn on Ghost image to see the finished picture faintly on the board as a guide.
- When every piece is locked, the puzzle is complete. You get your time and placement count, and your best for that photo and piece count is saved in this browser. Share the result as a link, and on the daily puzzle enter a nickname to post your time to the leaderboard.
Your photo is never uploaded
The browser reads the photo and cuts and draws it on screen. Nothing is sent to a jigsawlab server or stored, which makes it safe for family photos, kids and pictures you have not published. It also means a puzzle made from your own photo cannot be sent to someone else as a link; only the result (pieces and time) is shared. To race a friend on the same puzzle, use the daily puzzle.
The daily puzzle
Each day one of 22 built-in public-domain paintings is chosen by the date and cut into 48 pieces. The tab shapes are seeded by the date too, so everyone who visits that day solves exactly the same puzzle. Times are ranked fastest first and a nickname is all it takes to post one. The picture changes at midnight Korean time, and past records stay on the board. Only works whose copyright has expired, and public-domain reproductions of them, are used.
Choosing a piece count
Forty-eight pieces is a light round that finishes in under ten minutes; 100 to 200 is the standard half-hour puzzle with some zooming. 300 to 500 matches a real starter box and takes an hour or two on a tablet or desktop, and 1000 is the real adult standard: a multi-day puzzle where you gather pieces into clusters. Pieces that fit snap together and move as one cluster, so on big puzzles build clusters by colour or area first. Photos with large areas of similar colour, such as sky or sea, are much harder at the same count, while faces, text and edges make it easier. Portrait photos get a tall grid, so you can afford a few more pieces.
Frequently asked questions
A piece will not snap into place.
A piece locks when its centre is within a quarter of a piece width of its correct spot. Zooming in lets you place more precisely, so zoom into that area if it keeps refusing, and turn on the ghost image to find the right position.
I try to scroll the tray and a piece lifts instead.
Sideways movement scrolls the tray; upward movement lifts a piece. Keep your finger a little more horizontal when browsing.
Does 1000 pieces work?
The custom field accepts up to 2000. You can zoom until a single piece is fingertip-sized, and the tray only draws visible pieces, so 1000 stays smooth. On a phone we recommend staying under 300; 500 and up is more comfortable on a tablet or desktop. Large photos are reduced to 2400 pixels on the long side.
Is my progress saved if I leave?
No. Because the photo is never stored, progress is not stored either; only completed records are kept in the browser. Start with a piece count you can finish in one sitting.