Relaxation At It's Finest

As great as it is playing a complex, brain-twisting puzzler, it's equally satisfying to play something that just lets you completely relax. There are times when I like to get my brain all tied up in knots, trying to match colors in the order that nets me the most points, but then there are just as many times where I just want to zone out in front of the computer, maybe to the point where a little bit of drool starts to form in the corner of my mouth. Everybody knows what I'm talking about. Sometimes we all just need to take a break from our stressful lives and get lost in a thoughtless abyss. I can't think of a better way to do that than playing a puzzle game. Matching the pieces provides just enough stimulation to keep you from slipping into a completely catatonic state, but that's it. It's pure bliss, plain and simple.

Take a Vacation

So you've got the relaxation down perfect - but now what? You need a nice sandy area in the sun - preferably the beach. Well, as if you hadn't guessed from the name, Jigsaw Beach Holiday has got you completely covered in that respect. From the sun to the sand to the surf to the starfish, this game has everything you would desire in a beach getaway. Piece together beautiful images of palm trees on the beach or breathtaking shots of the ocean; it's all here in fifty glorious puzzles of puzzly goodness.

Puzzles in the New Age

Gone are the days of taking up your entire dining room table to do a jigsaw puzzle. You no longer have to deal with missing, wet, or bent pieces. Were you one of those people who constantly thought "does this really go here?" as you tried to press a piece in with all of your might? I was one of those people. I was a crammer. Because of all this, I revel in taking puzzles to the next level on personal computers.

How exactly are they taken to the next level? For starters, each jigsaw is as easy or hard as you want it to be. You can adjust the difficulty to your liking, whether you're trying to play with your kid, or you're a retired world-class puzzle champion and you just want to see if you still got it. A difficulty slider bar makes it almost infinitely customizable; you can go from four pieces to almost a thousand on some puzzles.

You can choose how skewed the pieces aren't. You want simple, straight-edged pieces? That's not a problem. Are you looking for more of a challenge? Do you want the pieces to look like jagged shards of broken glass? Well, that may be a bit of a stretch, but set the skew to high to really distort the shapes.

Speaking of straight pieces, you can even abandon the classic jigsaw shape for plain squares. This makes the puzzle a good deal more difficult, because you lose the ability to place by shape, as they all look the same!

Finally, as if a thousand jagged squares weren't hard enough, you can turn on piece rotation, meaning that you won't even know if a piece is tilted the right way.

Are you looking for that ultimate puzzle challenge? Well I think you just found it.