How to solve a jigsaw puzzle: tips for every size

Updated November 6, 2026

A jigsaw puzzle rewards a method more than it rewards speed. The same handful of habits solve a 24-piece puzzle in a few minutes and a 1,000-piece one over an evening; the bigger puzzle just asks you to use them for longer. This guide gives you that method, then explains how the controls work in your browser, on a computer or on a phone.

Choose a size

On Puzzle Temple you choose the size when you start a room. The numbers are approximate, because the board is cut to fit the shape of the picture.

Choose a mode

• Classic gives the picture a frame. Pieces start scattered around it, and a piece clicks into place when you drop it in its exact spot. It is the easiest way to start, because the board tells you when you are right.
• Tabletop has no frame, like a real puzzle tipped out of its box. Pieces start scattered and turned, they connect to each other anywhere on the table, and a connected group moves as one. You decide where the puzzle gets built, and you rotate pieces yourself.

A method that works at any size

1. Study the picture first. Look at the reference picture before you touch a piece. In a room it is the small picture in the corner, and you can open it full size. Notice the large areas of colour and the distinctive details: they are your landmarks.
2. Find the border. Pieces with a flat side belong to the edge of the picture. Getting the four sides done gives you a frame to build inward from, in both modes.
3. Sort by colour and feature. Drag pieces into loose piles on the board: sky, water, trees, a building, a face. You can drag a piece anywhere, so use the empty space as your sorting table, and zoom out when you need the overview.
4. Build islands, then join them. Put together small recognisable sections wherever they are easiest to see. In Tabletop, pieces that fit together stay together and move as one group, so a half-finished island can be dragged next to its neighbour later. In Classic, a correct piece locks into the frame, so your islands grow in place.
5. Match shape first, then colour. When a spot looks stuck, compare the tabs and blanks of the open gap with the pieces in the right colour pile. Two or three candidates is normal; try each.
6. Change region when you stall. A stuck corner usually frees itself once the area next to it has grown. Stepping away for a few minutes helps more than staring.

Controls

The same controls are listed inside every room, behind the controls button.

With a mouse

• Drag a piece to move it. Dragging a connected piece moves the whole group.
• Drag empty space to pan the board, or scroll to pan.
• Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) and drag to draw a box around several pieces and select them together.
• Hold Ctrl or Cmd and scroll to zoom toward the cursor.
• In Tabletop, right-click while holding a piece to turn it 90 degrees.

With a keyboard

• In Tabletop, the left and right arrow keys rotate the selected piece or group, also while you are dragging it. Classic has no keyboard shortcuts.

On a touch screen

• Touch and drag a piece to move it, or drag empty space to pan.
• Pinch with two fingers to zoom.
• In Tabletop, hold a piece briefly, then slide sideways to turn it in 90 degree steps.
• Tap Select, then tap pieces, or drag across empty space, to select several at once.
• The zoom buttons and the reset-view button are always on screen.

Ready to try it with someone? The guide to jigsaw rooms explains how to invite people and what the creator of a room can do.