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For learners

The less experienced "puzzlers" should take into account the following recommendations:

• Photos with well-defined and bright color areas are wide easier to mount than paintings, since the brushstrokes make the object outline unclear.
• It is recommended to start with 500 or 1000 pieces puzzles and, after that, start completing puzzles the more and more complex and large.

The first step

Many people start a puzzle separating the pieces of the borders from the rest of pieces. It may also be useful to classify all the pieces in different groups, depending on their color or pattern, but this task may be tedious for some people.

Assembling pieces

It is very useful to start the puzzle assembling the pieces of the border. This way, we will have the concrete boundaries of the picture. Then, it would be far easier to situate its different objects.

To complete de body of the puzzle, we will start by assembling the pieces featuring any similarity of color or pattern, locating them inside the borders we already have. We will keep completing the different sectors of the picture until it is fully restored.

Identify the correct piece

To identify the piece we need, it is better to seek it following three criteria: color, pattern marks or lines, and shape. Firstly, we will seek the pieces with the color we need, since color is the easiest thing to distinguish on an overall view. Secondly, we will see if the marks and lines of candidate pieces give continuity to the pieces we already have. Lastly, we will make sure the candidate piece matches correctly its alleged place.

Pieces

Although the shapes may differ depending on the manufacturer and its preferences, there are six basic shapes for a puzzle piece:

• 0 tabs, 4 gaps
• 1 tab, 3 gaps
• 2 tabs, 2 adjacent gaps
• 2 tabs, 2 opposite gaps
• 3 tabs, 1 gaps
• 4 tabs, 0 gaps

Regardless the gaps and tabs, the piece body may follow two basic patterns: square or rectangular.

Obviously, pieces belonging to puzzler borders have one of their sides (two if it is a corner) completely flat .