This is a jigsaw puzzle that relies not so much on the image or its pieces’ interlocking edges, but a third dimension. The puzzle’s picture would be depicted in relief. In fact it could show something nondescript or unstructured with identical edge profiles on all the pieces, but the surface structure would enable use of depth perception and sense of touch to match its parts.

The puzzle could be made similarly to molding egg cartons and motifs might include views from above of wind-swept waves, the stone and snow of the Himalayas, long wavy hair draped on a bed, autumn leaves blanketing a forest floor, the undulating flow of a slouching satin robe, Saharan sand dunes and the whirls and folds of a lava flow.
-- FarmerJohn, Dec 13 2004

not like this http://www.areyouga...zzle__iRB16165.html
but with a realistic surface and nondescript picture [FarmerJohn, Dec 13 2004]

maybe like this http://xenia.media....sensory_puzzles.pdf
a paper on the subject [neilp, Dec 14 2004]

So is it just kind of based on textures? This bit feels like part of the bed .. this bit feels like part of the flowing hair??
-- britboy, Dec 13 2004


More like, besides seeing that the hair pattern matches between two adjacent pieces, one can feel that the hair locks are the same height and their flow is uninterrupted across the boundary.
-- FarmerJohn, Dec 13 2004


Not sure I'd enjoy the tactile sensation on flowing lava. (+) anyway.
-- nick_n_uit, Dec 14 2004


imagine a jigsaw puzzle like this... no picture at all, just subtle relief changes, and when you've finished you have to hand it round so everyone can have a feel and be impressed.
-- neilp, Dec 14 2004


actually it seems there might be a few of these already, mainly for the blind and visually impaired.
-- neilp, Dec 14 2004



random, halfbakery