Picking up a puzzle piece involves a precision grip, wrist stabilisation and two hands doing different jobs at once. What touch contributes to piece matching is more limited than most people assume.
Switching between tasks costs measurable time, and the idea that attention needs recovery has real research behind it. What that research does not show is that puzzles are the thing that restores it.
Wood was the original puzzle substrate and cardboard pushed it aside on cost alone. Here is what plywood actually does for a thin puzzle panel, why a hand cut line looks different, and what museums have kept.
