MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
OK. Carol Glazer is president and founder of a big jigsaw puzzle and family games company in Newton, Mass. About a month ago, she got a big surprise.
CAROL GLAZER: Around the second week of March, we noticed sales at one of our largest retail customers - the sales were up 300% over the same week the previous year.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
That's right. Sales at Ceaco puzzles shot up 300%.
GLAZER: And we said, oh, my God. How can you prepare for something like this?
CHANG: Glazer says that they had stock on the shelves, but this overwhelmed them. As a matter of fact, in just one day last month, Ceaco sold more puzzles than in the entire month of December.
KELLY: Nationwide, sales of jigsaw puzzles have been off the charts since we've all been in isolation.
CHRIS BYRNE: It really takes your focus off of whatever is going on.
KELLY: That is Chris Byrne. He is a toy industry expert known as The Toy Guy.
BYRNE: You're trying to find that peak of the barn or that piece of sky or this alone element of cloud. It really takes a lot of attention and focus, and that can be very healthy in terms of, I'll just say, distraction.
KELLY: The Toy Guy knows a lot of people trapped at home right now might be jigsaw puzzle newbies. He's got some advice.
BYRNE: Be prepared to be patient, and that's part of the appeal of it.
CHANG: We sought more tips for novices from a Facebook group called Jigsaw Puzzlers. One member, Tammy McLeod of Los Angeles, suggests starting where she does.
TAMMY MCLEOUD: I tend to pick pictures with a subject matter that I don't mind staring at for a few hours.
CHANG: Makes sense. Here's some more of a Jigsaw Puzzlers' advice.
KELLY: Don't start with one that is too big.
CHANG: Sort inside pieces on trays or cookie sheets by shape.
MCLEOUD: Do the edges first.
CHANG: And in the crisis that has made jigsaw puzzles very popular, remember this mantra from dedicated players - puzzling is not a race. Relax, and enjoy the process.
KELLY: Now, as for that puzzle company, Ceaco, well, its workers are not considered essential, so manufacturing is shut down for now, which to jigsaw fans may be puzzling. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.