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Puzzle sales are through the roof. Up between 300 and 370 percent from last year, puzzle makers are seeing numbers exceed their typical Christmas sales. U.S. puzzle company Ceaco reports having more online sales in one day in March than in the entire month of December. Another puzzle maker estimated that on average there are 20 puzzles sold per minute compared to last year's figure of seven per minute.
How can we explain this boom?
In times of emotional uncertainty, it is amazingly therapeutic to be able to work something out outside of ourselves and watch the pieces come together before our eyes. In a funny and quite literal way, puzzles remind us that even though things can be jumbled, by focusing on small areas, we can bring them back together again. They provide hope and optimism at a time when life feels fragmented, confusing, and uncertain.
Engrossing and analytical, puzzles become the faithful meditative companions we turn to when the cold and dark of winter compel us inside. They allow us to keep tinkering and playing rather than ruminating and worrying alongside the fading light of the season.
Some may term this mere distraction, taking our focus off of other worries, or even sublimation, the harnessing of our more primal instincts towards destruction — ever feel like throwing the television or throwing your bubble-mates overboard? — but I see it as something more.
Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer reminds us that mindful creativity entails allowing ourselves to become "otherwise attracted" without judgment. We allow our minds to wander to something more interesting, stimulating, and useful and this helps us feel a greater sense of control, agency, and fulfillment.
Puzzle makers are even seeing more sales amongst Millennials. A cleanse from a digitally overprocessed diet, puzzles have become surprisingly popular and stylish amongst this set. Sold at trendy spots like Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Madewell, puzzles have even found their way onto the social media stage. Puzzlers share strategies, tips, and even time-lapse Tik-Tok and You-Tube videos of their extraordinary feats of puzzle construction. With thousands of subscribers, they join in the Instagram fun, where puzzling hashtags are springing up with tens of thousands of posts.
A contemporary and yet retro form of self-care, it's no surprise that puzzling has got people relieving their boredom, stress, and even that existential ennui one piece at a time. Got some time on your hands? Invest in one and you'll see these benefits:
1. Introvert recharge time on your own or together with a group
It's one of the few shows in town where as an introvert you can win either way.
2. Improved integration between your logical left brain and emotional right brain functioning
Given how much we know about integration helping us concentrate better and feel more emotionally centered, it's a sure-fire way to help keep our brains happy and well.
3. Improved attention to detail, short-term memory, and visual-spatial skills
Who doesn't need a little more help with remembering those pesky details?
4. Stress relief
Enough said, am I right?
5. Improved longevity
Research has shown that those who do jigsaw and crossword puzzles live longer and show fewer signs of developing Alzheimer's, memory loss, or dementia.
If you're feeling stressed, tired, bored, or just plain angry with this pandemic, try picking up a puzzle. It's a cheap and surefire way to make your way through the labyrinth of this long pandemic.
