When : Always January 29th
Don't be puzzled by today. National Puzzle Day honors puzzles of all size, shape and form. Crossword puzzles are by far the most common. Sudoku, a number puzzle, is the most recent puzzle rage. There's easy puzzles, and there's puzzles for experts. They fit the needs of every person, and every skill level.
Puzzles are a favorite pastime of millions of people, young and old. So, what's with this fascination over puzzles? There's numerous reasons for it's popularity. For many, doing puzzles is fun. Some people just like the challenge of completing them, and graduating to evermore complex and difficult puzzle solving levels. For others, it is a way to kill time, and to eliminate boredom. Others still, do puzzles to keep their mind sharp, or to learn new words.
Whatever the cause for your interest, spend National Puzzle Day doing puzzles.
Fun Ways to Celebrate National Puzzle Day
By: Caroline Roberts
This National Puzzle Day, January 29th, break out that crossword puzzle or Sudoku book. This is the day to work your way through brain teasers and get your friends and family involved. While National Puzzle Day is hardly an official holiday, it stirs up excitement in puzzle addicts across the US. Here's how you can celebrate:
Get the most complicated jigsaw puzzle you can find, and invite friends over to solve it as a group.
Watch puzzle-crazy movies, like Wordplay, a documentary about the editor of the New York Times crossword, and Word Wars, about the world of competitive Scrabble.
If you haven't already, try the latest hot puzzle game, Sudoku, which has taken on various forms over time. It sprang from the mind of mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1783, was called "Number Place" in the US in the 1970s, earned the name "Sudoku" in Japan in the 1980s and became an international craze in 2005.
Head over to online puzzle sites like puzzles.com, thinks.com, websudoku.com and brainbashers.com, and try out some new games.
Remind your friends of a classic puzzle by giving away Rubik's Cubes, which were invented in 1974 by Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik.
Help your child through a simple puzzle, which can be a valuable educational tool. The jigsaw puzzle was originally meant to help kids learn. John Spilsbury created the first jigsaw puzzle in 1760 by attaching a map to a piece of wood and cutting around the borders of the countries. You can see a picture of this jigsaw at the Web site for the British Library.
All these activities aren't just a way to pass the time: They can help you train your brain, brush up on your math skills and look at the world in a whole new way.
More Ideas:
Take out a jigsaw puzzle and challenge the whole family to finish it together!
Join the Sudoku craze. Download Sudoku or buy a book and learn a new puzzle form.
Visit the Puzzle Museum online (see link below) and check out its displays. Follow up with a little research on your own about puzzles.
http://puzzlemuseum.com/
Play a game of Scrabble, the classic game based on crossword puzzles.
Donate your used jigsaw puzzles to Island Treasures Resale Shop. How many times can you do the same puzzle anyway? Why not share the fun! If donating puzzles, make sure that all the pieces are there! It's frustrating to almost finish a jigsaw puzzle only to find the last few pieces are missing.
How to Finish Jigsaw Puzzles Faster
Jigsaw puzzles are a fun way to pass time. They are a good way to exercise your mind as well. But sometimes...
http://www.ehow.com/how_2252916_finish- ... aster.html
Read more: How to Celebrate National Puzzle Day | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2020201_nationa ... z1krEhrZsP
Make a Jigsaw Puzzle:
1. Glue a favorite picture or photo to cardboard or card-stock backing.
2. Draw a pattern for the pieces on the reverse side of the cardboard using a pencil.
3. Use an X-acto knife to carefully cut along the puzzle lines through both layers.
4. Carefully separate the pieces.
Enjoy!
Today is National Puzzle Day!
Moderator: Gillespie