Instructions

Select the puzzle complexity: Simple (for pre-schoolers) Easy Moderate Harder Difficult Most Difficult Select the skill level using the mouse or the up and down arrows (make sure the applet has focus first by clicking on it). The type of puzzle is displayed under the 'Most Difficult' radio button. They range from the extremely easy (one for the kiddies) to the reasonably difficult (30 to 40 minutes solution time). The harder versions feature double sided pieces, where the other side is the same image reversed left to right, and the Most Difficult version has rotatable pieces as well. Select the players image to use from the drop down list.   Then press the 'Start' button to start the puzzle. You then have to wait again while the image loads and it is cut up and possibly reversed. A faster machine can speed up the cutting and reversing processes.   And now your ready to go! You will be presented with the selected image chopped into pieces. Simply drag the pieces onto the grid to solve the puzzle. The pieces will 'snap' onto the grid if you release them close enough to the the grid, but only if the piece is the same size as the grid 'cell' you are over. In the harder versions most pieces are the same size and so can interchange more readily, making it harder to solve. If you selected a 'double sided' version then right click (for those with 2 mouse buttons) to show the 'other' side of the piece. At the top of the playing area is a toolbar with buttons, the elapsed time, the level of difficulty and the image selected. Press the 'Cheat' button to see how the completed jigsaw should look. If the puzzle is 'double sided' the you can also reverse the completed view by clicking on it. Pressing the Escape key will close the 'cheat' window. Hint - pressing the C key will toggle the 'cheat' window open and closed. Press the 'Pause' button to pause the elapsed timer so that you can interrupt your puzzle solving. The playing area will be blanked out so that you can't study the puzzle while paused. The label of the button changes to 'Continue'. Simply press it to continue solving the puzzle. Press the 'Restart' button if you want to give up and try a different level of difficulty or select a different image. If you selected the Most Difficult then the pieces are rotatable as well as double sided. Press the tab, or arrows keys to rotate the current piece, which has a red border. Once you successfully complete the puzzle a congratulations dialog pops up, showing you how long it took for you to complete the puzzle. And when this dialog closes you can select another image and/or degree of difficulty. If you place all the pieces but some pieces are in the wrong place or have the wrong side showing then you will get a 'sorry' dialog instead.