Review: Tetzle
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:Your current game will be saved automatically when you quit the program. You can then resume it at any time in the future. Time needed per session:The amount of time you'll need to finish a jigsaw puzzle generally depends on the number of pieces, but you'll be able to make good progress on any puzzle in about ten minutes, so use that as a rule of thumb.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians The only way this game will feature something objectionable is if you deliberately make a puzzle out of an offensive image. |
Screenshots
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![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/tetzle_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/tetzle_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/tetzle_2.jpg)
Game Overview
Jigsaw puzzles are a good way to unwind after a long day, but it seems like everyone has a different idea of how they should be played on a computer. Most jigsaw puzzle games out there are limited to the premade puzzles they come with, and often they aren't able to things like rotate the pieces. Tetzle, on the other hand, does things in its own unique way.
To start with, Tetzle doesn't come with any images. You need to provide those yourself. There's no limit to how many puzzles you can play; a new puzzle is just a quick Google image search away. Additionally, just like in real life, the pieces are rotated randomly when they're first scattered. You can rotate them yourself by right-clicking while dragging a piece.
But, while these are great perks, Tetzle does one other thing that makes it unique: it doesn't use traditional jigsaw puzzle pieces. Instead of cutting the image into your standard quasi-rectangular shape with blanks and tabs, your image will be broken down into tetrominoes. Hence the name -- it's a tetromino puzzle.
This makes solving Tetzle's "jigsaw" puzzles a bit more difficult, as your primary clue to where the pieces go is the image on the piece itself. If your image has large swaths of similar colors, assembling it will be rather hard.
Ultimately, this is a neat little game for those of you who want a different sort of jigsaw puzzle. Since it's free and open source, there's no harm in trying it out.
To start with, Tetzle doesn't come with any images. You need to provide those yourself. There's no limit to how many puzzles you can play; a new puzzle is just a quick Google image search away. Additionally, just like in real life, the pieces are rotated randomly when they're first scattered. You can rotate them yourself by right-clicking while dragging a piece.
But, while these are great perks, Tetzle does one other thing that makes it unique: it doesn't use traditional jigsaw puzzle pieces. Instead of cutting the image into your standard quasi-rectangular shape with blanks and tabs, your image will be broken down into tetrominoes. Hence the name -- it's a tetromino puzzle.
This makes solving Tetzle's "jigsaw" puzzles a bit more difficult, as your primary clue to where the pieces go is the image on the piece itself. If your image has large swaths of similar colors, assembling it will be rather hard.
Ultimately, this is a neat little game for those of you who want a different sort of jigsaw puzzle. Since it's free and open source, there's no harm in trying it out.
Points of Interest
Play area expands as needed
Puzzles with a lot of pieces often need a lot of space to spread out. Fortunately, Tetzle automatically expands the playing field when the pieces reach its edge, effectively giving you all of the space you'll ever need.
No sounds at all
Tetzle never makes any sound. This is ideal for a game you can sit back and play while watching your favorite show on Netflix or listening to an audiobook.
Unusual pieces make for a challenge
Normally jigsaw puzzle pieces have little knobs that makes it obvious when two pieces are neighbors or which pieces belong on the outer edges. This time, you need to look at the image on the pieces to work this out.
Puzzles are always different
Even if you pick the same image and the same number of pieces, the actual design of the puzzle is random. This means that you'll never play the same puzzle twice.
The lack of tabs can be an issue
A lot of pictures out there have large sections with just a single color. This inevitably results in a lot of time spent working out where pieces go by trial and error, and it's not all that fun when it happens.
Quiet games aren't for everyone
This is just a matter of taste, but some people ( such as hardcore gamers ) don't like quiet games like this. They'll see games like this as lifeless or boring. This isn't so much as problem with Tetzle as it is just a different opinion.
Concerns and Issues
Completely clean
The only way that anything objectionable can appear in this game is if you make a puzzle out of an objectionable picture. In other words, you'll have to bring bad stuff into the game deliberately for there to be anything objectionable in it.
Artwork Credits
Tetzle don't provide any images for you to play with. Thus, I've used several pictures from the internet to showcase the game in the screenshots above. Here are the credits and licenses for each of the six pictures:
All Saints church in Alburgh - stained glass window
Agnus Dei, All Saints' Church
Found at geograph
Copyright 2012 Maigheach-gheal
Licensed for use under this Creative Commons license.
Copyright 2012 Maigheach-gheal
Licensed for use under this Creative Commons license
.
Stained glass window, St Cuthbert's ChurchFound at geograph
Copyright 2011 Maigheach-gheal
Licensed for use under this Creative Commons license.
[*]Altar from the Rails
Altar, St Giles' Church, Imber
Found at geograph
Copyright 2011 Brian Robert Marshall
Licensed for use under this Creative Commons license.
Copyright 2011 Brian Robert Marshall
Licensed for use under this Creative Commons license
.