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Online jigsaw puzzles feature iconic White Rock scenes

City tourism website includes both simple and more challenging designs.
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Online jigsaw puzzles available at Explore White Rock include such iconic views as this typical beach scene. (Explore White Rock photo)

Real-time visits to White Rock may not be an option right now, but the city’s tourism website, Explore White Rock, has come up with a fun new way for people to experience the local scenery – online jigsaw puzzles.

Photos of popular White Rock scenes, including the pier, the beach, sunset on the waterfront and the murals on the White Rock Playhouse and the Russell Avenue Whale Wall, have been turned into virtual puzzles to challenge residents and visitors alike.

“While usually our mandate is to promote White Rock to visitors, obviously with the world we are currently living in, visitation to the community is not something we want to encourage,” Mary Ann Bell, community manager for Explore White Rock, told Peace Arch News.

READ ALSO: ‘Everybody’s in the same boat’: Tourism operators starting to see COVID-19 cancellations

“The jigsaw puzzles were something I came across while looking for ideas for content with a ‘stay-home’ spin,” she added.

“I thought that they would be a nice way to engage locals and visitors, and give them something fun to keep them entertained while at home and hopefully inspire future travel plans to White Rock.”

Another plus is that the online jigsaws avoid the mess of physical puzzles – and the attendant grief of mislaying a piece or upsetting a work still in progress. The online version can be completed merely by clicking and dragging virtual pieces into place.

Each jigsaw is offered as simple, child-friendly, 10-piece pattern, or, for those who like more of a challenge, a 100-piece puzzle.

A simple click on the pictured puzzles on the website will transform each into a jumbled collection of pieces – and the rest is all up to the eye and the skill of the puzzle-solver.

Those who are absolutely stymied can return to the original picture by clicking a bar at the top of the design, and puzzle solvers have the option to “make it a little harder (or easier) by re-loading the puzzle and changing the number of pieces in the settings,” the website notes. Settings allow users to create puzzles with as few as six pieces or more than 1,000.

Each puzzle can also be shared with friends, it adds. And if you’ve already finished all of them, don’t despair –Bell said she’s planning to release a few more puzzles in the next couple of days.

Explore White Rock, sponsored by the city, usually provides information about what to do while visiting the city, the best places to eat and shop and where to stay.

Under pandemic restrictions, Bell said, “(we’ve) shifted our focus to to sharing information that is more locally-focused in an effort to support White Rock businesses, like restaurants offering take-out and businesses offering online services like yoga or the arts.”

The puzzles can be found under ‘Blog’ at the top of the website homepage, at explorewhiterock.com



alex.browne@peacearchnews.com

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