To assume nice, normal reasonable people look at the box when doing a jigsaw puzzle?

[SkippyDies]

Following a post on FB yesterday when I revealed my new and most excellent jigsaw puzzle assembly command station, a friend, possibly an ex-friend now commented with surprise and alarm about the presence of the jigsaw puzzle box in my photos.

To my own surprise and alarm apparently looking at the box is cheating.

She and her family look at the box briefly before starting and then put it away. They jigsaw blind.

I’m very surprised that this is considered to be normal behaviour.

She did a poll on FB but it’s not really valid is it, what with her friends list containing a cohort of weird non-boxers. It’s a family thing apparently.

Maybe mn can help clarify that she is a giant freak.

YANBU = I look at the box
YABU = I do my jigsaws blind

Dammit?! Even if I socially distance myself? Booooo.

@iklboo if you behave in a seemly fashion from now on you’ll prob be allowed to do some of those 5-piece chunky puzzles.

I never look at the box, where's he tin in that? It's actually a different kind of task when you look and when you don't look.

DH's family look at the box... DD one told her grandma that she was cheating for looking at the box

Thank you @Grabbner. Sorry for being silly.

I do look at the box but I don’t start with the edges.

@iklboo since you apologised so nicely you can jump straight to the 10 piece ones :). I’m off to light my dynamite.

I don't look at the box either.......but do starting the edges. I want to try one of the clear ones

Me and DC did a jigsaw earlier this week.dh came home and saw us looking at the box and told us we were cheating by looking at the box. I had never heard of that before I thought it was just another of his family's weird traits!!!

I generally don't use the picture on the box, usually because I have the lid with pieces in. Also I love the Wasgij jigsaws where the picture on the box is not the same as the puzzle itself so there's no point! All adds to the fun!

How can there be a Jigsaw where you can't do the edges first?!

@BessMarvin - if you get a jigsaw where there's little if any variation in the size and colour of the pieces, combined with the fit not being absolutely secure then doing the edges first may not be impossible but it will be an exercise in frustration. Puzzles like that are rare (I've only had 1) but they're out there - I had the 4 corner pieces and the other edges I could have arranged in almost any combination.

The wooden jigsaws that they advertise at Christmas on TV don’t have edges that you can do first because they are not cut like normal jigsaw pieces .

Lol, YANBU but my autistic son told his dad and big brother they were cheating at a jigsaw by looking at the photo only yesterday

My husband and I undertake many puzzles every year. We pick them up in charity shops when we see a good one (usually a Gibsons or Falcon) and we put it in the to do pile. The pile currently stands at 20 or so.

My husband hogs the box to refer to the picture and as a result I have honed my puzzling skills to going at it blind and working it out by shade and shape.
I find this really therapeutic actually, much easier to tune out the rest of the world and relax.

OP - give her a piece of your mind (or perhaps 1000 pieces?)

If we're not allowed to look at the picture why is it there? Maybe jigsaws should be sold in plain brown boxes with a name as a clue.

I don't look at the box unless it's a really hard puzzle. Always start with the edges. I remember one wonderful christmas where we spent about a week at my Aunties house doing puzzles. Mainly puzz3D but also a weird murder mystery hotel thing. That took a long time!

I did a puzzle yesterday which didn't even have a box. It took me 2 mins and 12 secs (actually longer because I'd been trying for about 30 secs when ds decided to time me)
It only had 9 pieces

@notapizzaeater I am currently doing a wasjig, and I hate it too! It is the only jigsaw I have ever vowed to give away once I have completed it!

I look at the box x

I'd never heard of not looking at box until I did a jigsaw with MiL. She was brought up being told it was cheating to look at the box. I was brought up to start with the edges, but stopped doing that years ago. I start with sections of colour. My DH thinks this is a dreadful way to do jigsaws :)

My aunt used to excel in weird puzzles. She once did one that was all white pieces except for a single red piece, had no borders, and included three extra pieces that didn't fit. Was quite a challenge sisterly l apparently

Wasjigs are the best. You can’t go back to normal jigsaws after they seem too easy.

If you weren’t meant to look at the picture surely all jigsaws would be sold in plain boxes & then the completed picture would be a surprise.

Only murderers don’t look at the box.

People are allowed to do jigsaws whatever way they like.

I like to look at a piece, compare it with the box and work out precisely where it should go. But that's a slow way of working. I'm okay with that.