At a time when we are busy Instagramming the muesli we’ve had for breakfast, checking in to fancy restaurants about town on Facebook, or simply curling up on the couch to ‘Netflix and Chill’, there are still those who prefer old-school entertainment — puzzles.
Growing up, jigsaw puzzles were among the major highlights of our lives, especially on rainy days, and in the company of family. Soon enough, we took to pencil-paper puzzles like Sudoku and Crossword that we would solved at the dining table. And with the advent of the smartphone, digital puzzles gained popularity.
“Apart from it being an economical way to spend time with family, I find that puzzles are always fun to solve,” says Priyanka Jadav, a restaurateur and avid puzzle collector. “It fosters a sense of healthy competition as well as cooperation especially when you get your kids to solve them. It helps one to be fully focused on task completion, and the sense of achievement on completing a complex puzzle is exhilarating.”
Jigsaw puzzles aside, you also have lateral thinking puzzles, mazes (tour puzzles), mechanical and construction puzzles, paper and pencil puzzles, word puzzles, disentanglement, metapuzzles, etc. And each comes with its own set of benefits.
According to counsellor, Shireen Sait, “Solving puzzles is one of the best and most interesting ways to help children develop their problem-solving abilities. When parents come to me with complaints that their children are not able to focus, are slow in their class work, or are never in a mood to study, I always recommend that they start solving puzzles of various kinds with their kids. From English and Math (my favourites are Kakuro and Sudoku) to Science and geography, there are umpteen puzzles that are beneficial for children as well as for adults. I also recommend puzzles to develop fine motor abilities in young children. As grown-ups too, to keep one’s mind sharp, it is good to work on puzzles. In the long run, puzzle solving also helps reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Tower of Hanoi and Peg Solitaire are my favourite brain teasers,” says Sharath Koshy, a corporate trainer. “Apart from providing me relief from my desk job, I’ve also found that I’ve made a good number of like-minded friends. I’m known as the puzzle guy in my office. I always carry some sort of puzzle/game with me, be it Scrabble, photo manipulation puzzles from my growing collection, or the Rubik’s cube that everybody keeps wanting to borrow from me.”
For Anirudh Kumar, a college student, “Video games are good fun especially when I play them with my siblings. One of my favourites is Sokoban. But there’s nothing quite like actually buying and solving a physical puzzle!”
