National Puzzle Day is an ideal time to solve puzzles.
National Puzzle Day is an obscure holiday that always falls on Jan. 29 each year. People who love working puzzles also love to celebrate this day. No one is sure when National Puzzle Day began or who started it. Begin a puzzle holiday tradition with your children by reading together the "I Spy," "Look-Alikes: Seek and Search Puzzles" and "Life Picture Puzzle Holidays" series of books on this unofficial day of celebration. Does this Spark an idea?
A Special Day for Puzzle Buffs
It literally takes an act of Congress to make any holiday an actual national holiday, so evidence of this day being a true national holiday remains unclear. Since there is no proof of such a congressional act, the holiday's name itself seems to be a misnomer. However, many puzzle fans devote Jan. 29 to honor their much-loved hobby by trying a new maze, 3-D puzzle, cryptogram or optical illusion.
Puzzle Tournaments and Workshops
Puzzle lovers work many types of puzzles during the last week of January or on this particular day. Activities include brainteasers, crosswords and Sudoku puzzles. Tournaments and workshops that cater to puzzle enthusiasts include The Silicone Valley Puzzle Fest in California; The Vermilion River Reservation's National Puzzle Day celebration at Norwalk Public Library in Norwalk, Ohio; and The Great Jigsaw Puzzle Competition in Red Wood City, Calif., to name a few.
The National Puzzle Museum
As of May 2011, puzzle buffs can visit the virtual National Puzzle Museum online (puzzlebuffs.com/museum.htm) while the actual museum is being built. Some items of interest to view are a 1924 crossword puzzle book, the 1998 crossword puzzle postage stamp and a crossword jigsaw puzzle. The building will be located in Port Clinton, Ohio, which, as the "The Walleye Capital of the World," has more than 6 million visitors annually.
Mystery Dinner Theaters
Mystery-solving lovers like to take part in mystery dinner theaters. In Tucson, Ariz., one dinner-theater group performs a lively musical called, "Murder at Greystone Manor" and throughout the exquisite three-course meal, entertained guests must figure out who the murderer is. If you can't make the trip, you can gather a group of friends at your home, dress up in elegant attire, spread pretend weapons around the house and play characters like a professor, a duchess and a doctor -- all of whom are suspects when a murder is portrayed. (Only the murderer himself and an impartial moderator will know the answer from the start of the game.)
Work a Jigsaw Puzzle
Celebrating National Puzzle Day with a jigsaw puzzle night is one way to get the family together for entertainment that precludes television. Jigsaw puzzles are cardboard scenes made of many interlocking pieces. "Look-Alikes" puzzles by Joan Steiner include picturesque cityscapes and scenes. After completing these puzzles, the challenge is to find everyday objects hidden in the picture.
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