[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-592010-105":59,"doc-detail-592010-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","therapeutic-play-adult-puzzling-and-hard-times","Therapeutic Play - Adult Puzzling and Hard Times","","Therapeutic Play - Adult Puzzling and Hard Times examines how adult jigsaw puzzling expanded during two U.S. crises: the Great Depression of the 1930s and the COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s. Each period triggered a nationwide surge in at-home puzzle leisure, shaped by financial pressures and lockdowns. The article draws on contemporary accounts and a survey of current puzzle manufacturers, highlighting rising consumer demand, low barriers for new producers, and heavy marketing influence via premiums and social media.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/therapeutic-play-adult-puzzling-and-hard-times/592010/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/therapeutic-play-adult-puzzling-and-hard-times/592010.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Mabel","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What two U.S. crises does the article compare for adult jigsaw puzzling?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It compares the Great Depression of the 1930s with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 to 2021.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why did adults turn to jigsaw puzzles during these periods?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"People used puzzles as home-based leisure, driven by financial reasons in the Depression and by lockdowns during COVID-19.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How did marketing help fuel the adult puzzle surges?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"In the 1930s, companies offered puzzle premiums with consumer products, and more recently marketing expanded through social media and the Internet.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},592010,1792230364,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},7971474920318,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000ee537e6b0ca360?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1788430171632181674","Therapeutic Play  \nAdult Puzzling and Hard Times  \n•  \nAnne D. Williams  \nThe author examines the therapeutic value of puzzles for adults during two major crises in the United States, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s. Each period saw a huge surge in jigsaw puzzling throughout the country, she finds, and in both cases people turned to home-based leisure activities, either for financial reasons or because of lockdowns. Contemporary accounts from the two periods form the basis for the discussion. In both cases, the surge in puzzling reflected both the demand by consumers and the relatively easy entry of new small-scale producers into this area of playthings. Advertising played a major role, too, via premiums given to purchasers of consumer products in the 1930s, and more recently through social media and the Internet. Key words: adult play;  \nCOVID-19; Great Depression; jigsaw puzzle; pandemic; puzzle industry  \nJigsaw puzzles are a traditional pastime for young children. Puzzles amuse, educate, and play an important role in developing a child’s observational skills (color, shape, and pattern recognition), hand-eye coordination, fine motor movements, problem-solving abilities, and resilience.  \nMany adults also do jigsaw puzzles, large ones rather than the simple twenty-piece puzzles for preschoolers. Puzzles with subjects that appeal to adults provide entertainment, of course. Such jigsaw puzzles are perennial favorites for solitary or family entertainment, especially during vacations. Puzzles also provide important social and emotional benefits.  \nI examined two examples of heightened jigsaw puzzle usage by adults in the United States in the last century. The first occurred in the early 1930s during the Great Depression. The second was from 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first three sections of this article describe these two major crazes, along with their common features and differences. The last section analyzes the benefits that adults obtain from doing jigsaw puzzles. Sources include published  \n197  \nAmerican Journal of Play, volume 16, numbers 2 and 3 © 2024 The Strong Contact Anne D. Williams [at awilliams@bates.edu](at awilliams@bates.edu)  \naccounts from the 1930s and early 2020s as well as the author’s survey of sixteen current American puzzle manufacturers and retailers about their experiences during the pandemic.  \nThe Great Depression Jigsaw Puzzle Craze  \nThe Great Depression began in the United States with the stock market crash of October 1929 and lasted a decade. Initially, it affected Wall Street only, not main street America. But as the economy worsened steadily over the first three years, it impacted everyone. The country hit bottom in early 1933, when the national unemployment rate reached 25 percent. Layoffs were even higher in big industrial cities such as Detroit. Workers who kept their jobs were not immune. Many suffered lower incomes because shortened hours replaced full-time work. Those who still had full-time employment lived in fear that the crisis would spread to them (Williams 1993) .  \nAs the economy declined, interest in jigsaw puzzles rose. In response, the major puzzle companies increased production and issued catalogs more frequently. Parker Brothers, for example, doubled its employment of puzzle cutters between 1928 and 1931. (Williams 2004). At first, people did traditional wooden  \npuzzles, cut by hand using a jigsaw, also known as a scroll saw. These puzzles were relatively expensive; a three-hundred-piece wooden puzzle cost between $1.50 and $4.50, a steep price, given the prevailing wage of twenty-five cents per hour. To save money, many puzzlers used that era’s equivalent of Netflix, local libraries that rented puzzles for five cents per day or twenty-five cents per week. Puzzle exchanges and puzzle clubs also allowed people to find new puzzle at a low cost.  \nBy mid-1932, makers of consumer goods still saw sales plummeting,","cbCaisJ9pIssUbef","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisJ9pIssUbef","pdf",144531,13,"English","# Introduction\n## Adult puzzling during U.S. crises\n# The Great Depression Jigsaw Puzzle Craze\n## Economic background and unemployment\n## Growth of puzzle production and catalogs\n## Pricing, libraries, and puzzle exchanges\n## Premium puzzles as consumer marketing\n## Expansion of themes and weekly puzzle brands","[{\"question\":\"What two U.S. crises does the article compare for adult jigsaw puzzling?\",\"answer\":\"It compares the Great Depression of the 1930s with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 to 2021.\"},{\"question\":\"Why did adults turn to jigsaw puzzles during these periods?\",\"answer\":\"People used puzzles as home-based leisure, driven by financial reasons in the Depression and by lockdowns during COVID-19.\"},{\"question\":\"How did marketing help fuel the adult puzzle surges?\",\"answer\":\"In the 1930s, companies offered puzzle premiums with consumer products, and more recently marketing expanded through social media and the Internet.\"}]","Therapeutic Play - Adult Puzzling and Hard Times | PDF",1792073667,33]