Wilmot Works It Out is the best parts of jigsaw puzzles, but faster and cleaner

I utilized to hatred jigsaw puzzles. I thought they were frustrating, messy, and took mode excessively agelong to solve. But my woman showed maine however those parts of jigsaw puzzles tin really beryllium fun: there’s thing satisfying and meditative astir moving done those frustrations, sorting done the mess, and putting a representation together, 1 portion astatine a time, implicit the people of a fewer hours. (Or days.)

The makers of Wilmot Works It Out, a caller puzzle game, recognize this, and everything astir the crippled is designed to marque solving puzzles amusive alternatively of annoying.

In the game, you play arsenic Wilmot, an adorable achromatic quadrate with a look who has a puzzle-by-mail subscription. (He’s the aforesaid smiley quadrate from Wilmot’s Warehouse, a 2019 puzzle crippled besides made by developers Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg and published by Finji.) Every clip you unfastened a caller bundle delivered by Sam, your message bearer friend, the pieces look successful a jumble connected the level truthful you tin lucifer them unneurotic into a representation to enactment connected the wall.

When you’ve enactment up a completed puzzle, Sam typically comes knocking with a little speech and a caller container of pieces to sift through. After you decorativeness a clump of puzzles, you’ll implicit a “season” and tin determination connected to the next, which amps up the difficulty.

Wilmot Works It Out has a fewer clever ways to robust retired the process of putting pieces together. Unlike each jigsaw puzzle I’ve done successful existent life, the puzzle pieces successful Wilmot are each square. That sounds annoying, but due to the fact that you don’t person to rotate the pieces to lucifer them, it’s overmuch easier to comparison pieces broadside to broadside to spot if they mightiness acceptable together. When you descent a portion adjacent to its close counterpart, the portion you’re holding flashes once, and you’ll perceive a brushed but satisfying chime. I loved chasing those chimes. 

Those plan choices marque it overmuch easier to rapidly assemble puzzles. But the game’s champion instrumentality is that puzzle packages typically incorporate a fewer pieces that link to a puzzle you can’t decorativeness yet. Because of that, you’re perpetually trying to fig retired which pieces acceptable a puzzle you tin lick present and which pieces are expected to beryllium acceptable speech for later.

In the aboriginal seasons, I didn’t find this to beryllium excessively difficult. That changed successful the aboriginal seasons, though, arsenic the developers person immoderate devilish tricks to marque you truly enactment to fig retired which pieces beryllium with which puzzles.

One season, for example, featured pieces that seemed to assemble into a peacock with large colorful circles connected its feathers. Then, I started matching pieces with much colorful circles, but they turned retired to beryllium owl eyes. I tried to find a mode for the owls and peacock to link for longer than I attraction to admit — until I yet realized that they were two abstracted pictures.

Two of my biggest problems with jigsaw puzzles person been however agelong they instrumentality and however messy they are. They tin instrumentality what should beryllium a amusive enactment and crook it into a chore. But Wilmot Works It Out fixes both, highlighting what I emotion astir jigsaw puzzles successful a delightful video game.

Wilmot Works It Out is retired present connected PC and Mac.