Choose a cut and difficulty. Shared images can have several versions. Choose another cut / size to set your own piece counts across and down. For the Daily, choose Easy, Medium or Hard.
Take a look, then start. Study the complete picture before you press Start. On a phone, the Daily opens a screen-filling puzzle table.
Join matching pieces. Drag neighbouring pieces close together. They snap into a group that you can move as one. Use the picture, colours and shapes to find the next match.
Build your first few groups
For a first visit, choose a picture with a clear subject and a small cut from A good first puzzle. A flower centre, a window or a bright piece of clothing gives you a landmark to recognise. A large area of pale sky or repeated leaves usually takes more searching. Easy keeps the pieces upright; it does not reduce their number.
Find a boundary. On Easy, turn on Edge help to concentrate on the frame. Match a change in colour or a line that continues across two pieces. The picture matters as much as the outline of the piece.
Build one recognisable detail. Put the matching pieces for a single flower, roof or face together. A joined group can move as one, so you can build another detail elsewhere before bringing the two groups together.
Give repeated colours their own space. Use another canvas for similar sky, water or foliage pieces. Check texture and the direction of lines against the reference instead of forcing a match by colour alone.
Use the picture when you need it. Open Reference to inspect a detail, or choose Use as a solving guide for a faint picture beneath the pieces. These tools are there to help you enjoy the solve; you can hide the photo again whenever you want.
If a piece will not join, check that it is a neighbour in the picture and bring its edge closer. In Hard mode, check its rotation too. When the table feels crowded, zoom out or pan to an open area. You do not have to finish in one sitting: guest progress stays in this browser, and Pause stops a ranked clock while you take a break.
See where to start on a real puzzle
Use the numbered landmarks to find your first groups. Open the same puzzle to try the steps on the board.
Find the red clothing. Pair a piece of red fabric with the adjacent yellow or green. Keep that small group together as you look for the next figure.
Follow a net into the sky. Look for a diagonal woven edge with blue sky beside it. Use the reference to tell the similar triangles apart.
Fill the grass from the figures outward. Match pieces where fabric meets grass first. Save the pieces with only grass or cloud until the nearby groups give them a place.
Build the roof and spire. Find the blue-grey roof and thin spire. Rotate pieces until the roof slope and the vertical spire line up with the reference.
Sort foliage by texture. Keep the sharp yellow leaves on the right separate from the blurred red leaves near the bottom. Work on those groups in different areas.
Work out from the roofline. Match the pieces where the roof meets the trees. Build outward from those boundaries before trying to place the darkest forest pieces.
Difficulty changes the solving rules. The number of pieces is a separate choice; today’s Daily uses the same picture and cut for all three difficulties.
Easy
Pieces stay upright. Use Edge help at the bottom left of the table to fade middle pieces while you find the border. Turn it off whenever you like. It switches off automatically when all border pieces form one connected frame.
Medium
Pieces stay upright, with all pieces available together and no edge-focus tool. Match the picture and the shapes.
Hard
Pieces can be rotated. Match the angle as well as the edges before neighbouring pieces will join.
Move, zoom and rotate
Phone and tablet
Touch and drag a piece to move it. Joined pieces move together.
Drag empty table space to pan. Pinch with two fingers to zoom.
In Hard mode, tap a piece and hold a turn button to rotate it. Release to stop.
Use Select multiple to pick several pieces, then Send selected to to sort them onto another canvas.
Use the expand button for more room. In the Daily, Start and Continue open the phone’s screen-filling view.
Mouse and keyboard
Left click and drag a piece to move it. Shift-click to select several pieces or groups.
Drag empty space with the middle or right mouse button to pan. The hand tool also lets you pan with a left drag.
Scroll with no piece selected to zoom. Select a piece in Hard mode and scroll, or press Q / E, to rotate it.
Left-drag empty space to draw a selection box. Short right-click a selected piece to send the selection to another canvas.
Use the expand button to fill the screen; Escape returns to the page.
New guests get the full Playing tips guide on their actual puzzle. Try each action with your own pieces to unlock Next, or skip a tip whenever you like. Moving, Reference, Easy Edge help, zooming, rotation and sorting all use the real board. How to play on the table reopens this guide. The optional practice on this page is separate from a Daily run; Pause stops your puzzle clock when you need a break.
Reference picture, progress and scores
Choose Reference at the bottom left of the table to show the photo; choose it again to hide it. Use the photo’s handle or Board settings → Reference photo settings for size, visibility and other options. Same size as finished puzzle shows the whole photo at the size you are building. Use as a solving guide places a faint picture under the pieces and keeps it in place. Adjust Photo visibility from Faint to Solid, even while the guide is locked. Photo size makes the whole photo larger or smaller; Zoom into picture lets you inspect a detail. Unlock the photo to move or resize it, and use Hide photo when you no longer need it. You can also sort pieces onto separate canvases to give yourself more table space.
Guest progress stays in the same browser on your device. Create a free account to save a private puzzle collection, continue across devices and keep your challenge scores and Daily streak.
Daily challenges have separate leaderboards for Easy, Medium and Hard. Try again to improve your best time. The Weekly Sprint offers one shared puzzle and cut for the week, with unlimited attempts before its deadline. Sign in before starting a ranked Weekly run; guest Weekly play is practice.
Use Pause when you need a break. Ranked challenge clocks keep running if you leave without pausing; guest Weekly practice stops its clock while you are away.
Daily streaks and freezes
Complete the Daily on any difficulty to add a day to your streak. Each UTC date counts once, including replays and other difficulties. Today stays open until midnight UTC.
With an account, every seven completed Daily dates earns one streak freeze, with up to three saved. Previous Daily completions count too. Those seven days do not have to be consecutive. A freeze automatically covers one missed day, keeping your streak at its current length; frozen days do not add to your streak or earn freezes. When you run out, the next missed day ends the streak. Your saved freezes and progress toward the next one are shown on the Daily page.