People are trapped at home, sales of jigsaw puzzle soar

Puzzles were invented in Georgian-era England, probably by a mapmaker named John Spilsbury in the early 1760s.

Jigsaw puzzles have made a major comeback in 2020. In the spring, when the first shelter-in-place 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 go up by 300-400% , and, due to the pandemic-related pause in production, quickly sold out of popular items. As this seemingly endless year has dragged on—with record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.—sheltering in place isn’t ending anytime soon.

Puzzling, which many adults find to be both meditative and engrossing, is particularly well-suited to staying at home. With all the tragedy, anxiety, and uncertainty stemming from the pandemic, one way to stop doom scrolling is to literally unplug from devices and do a puzzle. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, there are historical precedents for using puzzles as a way to escape large-scale social problems. Last time interest in puzzles soared so quickly? The Great Depression, an era with many similarities to the present.