Jigsaw puzzles were invented in 1776 to teach geography.
They were expensive novelties at first but mass production soon made them available to armchair explorers everywhere.
These
were wildly popular in the 1800s and no Victorian parlor was complete without one.
PuzzleMap™ brings you that same spatial magic with a modern twist.
It has all the "zoom power" of online maps and includes lots of facts, photos and random clues with each adventure.
Begin your own Age of Discovery with a hands-on tour of the planet.
Be a pathfinder – that's what the world really needs!
Choose any puzzle from the Galleries and see how well you do.
Even more puzzles are available when you subscribe and there is a plan for every situation:
Plans
How to Get Started
Create an account!
After logging in, you can select a subscription option from your personal Account Page.
The options provide different ways to customize and share the PuzzleMap™ experience with others.
You can change plans at any time so don't be too concerned about all the details at first.
You can also not subscribe right away.
Creating an account now is important, though, because it locks in the price you will pay to subscribe later!
All subscriptions are annual, automatically renew
and you can define you own renewal date to suit the way you want to use PuzzleMap™.
Subscription rates are always pro-rated for partial years and you can change selections or cancel at any time.
Student Plan
Anyone can be a student.
This plan allows one individual (you) to use every puzzle we have as often as you want.
Simply log in, go to "Galleries" and launch any puzzle you wish.
Your Account Page will keep track of everything
including puzzle attempts, completions, your best proficiency score and the date it was achieved.
The Library plan allows you to create a custom puzzle gallery to share with others.
You may use your own logo, title, summary paragraph and choice of color schemes.
Your Account Page provides a link which you can distribute or reference from another web site.
You can also define a specific base URL to limit access and prevent unauthorized use.
Select any puzzles from this web site and host them yourself!
Custom gallery
Choice of puzzles
Unlimited use
$50 / year
Up to 4 puzzles.
($10 / additional puzzle)
Teachers can create a custom puzzle gallery for their classroom and track how well individual students do.
A school or classroom web page should be used so students' usernames can be appended to the gallery link.
Up to 50 names can then appear on a private report with activity and proficiency stats for every student!
Custom gallery
Up to 50 users
Activity tracking
Proficiency reports
$100 / year
Up to 8 puzzles.
($12 / additional puzzle)
Start a Geoliteracy Club at your school!
This plan provides a link to your own PuzzleMap Club web site.
The Account Holder selects puzzles for the club's galleries and can invite student to be members.
Members log directly into the Club site and can use PuzzleMap Explorer to create custom clues of their own.
These clues will appear in the Club's puzzles and can be nominated for world-wide use in PuzzleMap™.
Members can also compare their proficiency scores with each other and with other clubs.
Club web site
Custom galleries
Unlimited members
Competitions
Custom clues
$200 / year
Up to 16 puzzles.
($15 / additional puzzle)
Unlike most computer games and puzzles, PuzzleMap™ does not reward the user for speed or luck.
In fact, you are encouraged to take your time, follow clues, visit links and study the map as it is revealed.
Knowledge is the real reward and it is measured as proficiency.
Being able to place a selected where it belongs without abandoning it is all it takes to be good at PuzzleMap™.
Each piece represents some percent of a completed puzzle.
It loses half of its value each time you must put it aside in order to try another.
So, if you never need to do that, your proficiency will be 100%.
It's just that simple.
Patience helps and, fortunately, PuzzleMap™ remembers where you were if you need to come back later.
Language
Geography and language go hand-in-hand.
Since global citizenship requires an appreciation of both,
PuzzleMap™ is committed to making puzzles available in many of the world's major languages.
This is meant to be inclusive and to provide additional learning opportunites for all users.
PuzzleMap™ relies on automated translation technologies to meet this goal.
While this works reasonably well most of the time,
some confusion, misuse or misrepresentation is inevitable.
Please accept our apology in advance for any such occurrence.
If you are able to provide a better translation in some instance,
or would like to help review our automated results,
do not hesitate to contact us with your suggestions.
Accuracy
Facts, figures, flags and images are included somewhere in almost every puzzle.
These are believed to be optained from reliable sources and some, like population, are updated automatically.
Other items are updated manually and that is done as expeditiously as possible.
To optimize performance, all data sources are credited here rather than in each individual puzzle.
In spite of our best intentions, errors may occur.
If you wish to bring a mistake or oversight to our attention,
please contact us with your correction and a better source.
Geoliteracy
Countless natural and arbitrary boundaries weave across our world.
They help us define and understand where landscapes, cultures, laws and customs change.
But boundaries are not barriers.
They are simply lines to be crossed with curiosity, insight, wonderment and respect.
They are the connections between us.
Geoliteracy is the ability to navigate these concepts gracefully.
PuzzleMap™ is dedicated to this – and to the idea that the more we know about our world,
the better we will know and understand each other.
That begins with one incredibly important discovery: fascination, beauty and surprise are absolutely everywhere!