My wife is neither a fan nor an expert on computers. Just for grins, I decided to see if I could get her interested in computer jigsaw puzzles. There is actually some logic in this. Even as a child, my wife liked jigsaw puzzles and spent hours on them. It did bother her if she lost pieces, but onward she went anyway.

Well their are many advantages of computer jigsaw puzzles, one of which, you cannot lose pieces. It is impossible, though I did find out you can misplace them. Talk about something that defies logic.

At any rate, I set up the Microsoft jigsaws on my relatively new computer and, guess what, I liked it. This is somewhat confusing. I am not a fan of the real puzzles and my wife has no interest in the computer puzzles. It might have something to do with her determination to hate computers.

If you’re interested in my opinion, here it is. Each picture provides many different levels of difficulty. There are aids to help, such as virtual trays to hold pieces you’re going to “work with later.” Once a piece is put in place, it locks. This both confirms it is in the right place and keeps them from coming apart.

From my time spent with the real puzzles, I keep trying to rotate a piece to get it to fit. That doesn’t work. First, you can’t rotate them. Second, they are all presented in the right rotation. It does somewhat simplify the puzzle as it does provide, so to speak, auto-orientation.

I have worked about a dozen of them, mostly in the hard level, almost 100 pieces. I worked one in the more difficult mode and it just had more pieces. I can’t remember how many. At that hard level, it usually takes about 80 minutes, more-or-less. Naturally, I get a little faster as I learn tricks. Some people will likely work them faster; some will take a little longer.

As normal, I generally start by separating the edge pieces. As with the real puzzles, this does not always work so neat. I have looked at edge pieces 4 or 5 times before I realize they are edge pieces, which, of course causes me to wonder if it is possible to lose pieces. It is one of those frustrations they managed to carry over to the computer versions.

Overall, unfortunately, I do find the puzzles entertaining. I could very much end up spending entirely too much time on this new version of an old past time. To be sure, I am glad I gave it a try, I think. It is a little habit forming. I do have a tendency spend time on them when I should be doing other things.