Polar Pieces opens with eight paintings laid out as thumbnails: the station on the rim of the Arctic, huskies racing a moonlit sled run, the long ice core corridor, white domes under the aurora, a frozen lake of fishing huts, a blue-hour ice road, a chalet above a sleeping village, and a market tucked inside a snow globe. Choose one, then pick 12, 24, 48 or 96 pieces.
Every piece is a proper jigsaw shape with rounded tabs and blanks and a gentle bevel, so it looks like card lifted from a box. The pieces start scattered around the board. Drag one close to where it belongs and it settles in with a click and a glow, then stays put. A timer runs quietly, and finishing quickly earns more stars, but the picture is the real reward.
How to play Polar Pieces
- Choose one of the eight Arctic paintings from the thumbnails on the start screen.
- Pick 12, 24, 48 or 96 pieces, depending on how long you would like the puzzle to last.
- Drag a piece onto the board; when it is near its true spot it snaps in and locks in place.
- Press Edges first to lift border pieces to the top, and hold Peek to see the picture faintly.
- Place the last piece to stop the timer, see your stars and enjoy the finished painting.
Polar Pieces controls
Getting better at Polar Pieces
- Start with Edges first and build the frame; every other piece then has a clear border to aim at.
- Hold Peek just long enough to fix the layout in your mind, then let go and hunt by colour.
- Gather all the green aurora pieces into one pile and the warm orange lamplight into another.
- If the loose pile feels chaotic, shuffle it; a fresh arrangement often reveals the piece you need.
- Try a picture you already know at a bigger size; familiarity makes 96 pieces much friendlier.
Tabs and blanks cut like a real box puzzle
Square tiles would have been quicker to build, but they would not feel like a jigsaw. Every piece in Polar Pieces is cut with curving tabs and blanks, and each one is drawn onto its own little canvas with the painting clipped inside and a soft bevel along its edge. Lifted pieces cast a shadow, so dragging them feels physical.
The shapes help as much as they please the eye. A piece with tabs on opposite sides belongs somewhere different from one with a tab and a blank, exactly as on a kitchen table. Experienced puzzlers will find themselves sorting by outline as much as by colour. Newcomers can simply drag and try, because a piece that does not belong just will not snap.
Thirty-two puzzles hiding in eight paintings
With eight paintings and four sizes there are thirty-two different puzzles. Your best time is kept for every painting and size, so trimming a few seconds off a favourite 24-piece puzzle becomes its own small challenge. Stars come from time per piece, which means a 96-piece puzzle gets far more room than a 12-piece one.
The personal best shown above the stage counts something gentler: the total number of puzzles you have finished. It climbs each time you complete one, whatever the size, which suits a game built for calm. A quick 12-piece puzzle with a child on a snow day counts every bit as much as a long 96-piece evening, and the paintings are lovely to linger over either way.
Questions about Polar Pieces
Eight Arctic paintings, each available at 12, 24, 48 and 96 pieces, which makes thirty-two puzzles in all.
While you hold Peek, a faint version of the finished painting appears on the board so you can see where things go. Let go and it fades again.
Stars come from your time compared with the number of pieces, so bigger puzzles allow more time. Your best time for each painting and size is saved in your browser.
