Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-30638141-20170225051457

I hope others will add to this. Many have mentioned their dislike of the mosaic puzzle games, others love it. I have been doing the puzzles to try and figure out a reliable method. This works for me.

Tools: Flying time adds time to solve puzzle. Magnifying glass moves one tile to correct position without displacing highlighted tiles that are already correct.

I started by making a sketch of puzzle with one object unique to each tile. I switched to using a different device to take a photo of the puzzle. You might also print out pictures of the rooms and overlay a plastic page protector on which you use a dry erase marker to make the tile border.

There are two ways to move a tile: 1)  to move a tile drag and drop which displaces multiple tiles 2) touch the tile and move it from adjacent position to adjacent position. The second method swaps the two tiles involved, only occasionally displacing multiple tiles.

If the tile is correct it will become slightly brighter. Adjust your brightness until it is easy to differentiate  brightness of objects BEFORE starting clock.

Before you start the timer plan your solution. Identify lines, unique colors, unique items. Select a corner to start solving the puzzle. Start the timer. I place the corner tile. I generally use method 2 swapping tiles to place the first tile. Then add to the correct region. I generally complete an adjacent edge. I solve the tiles from adjacent tile to adjacent tile out from the starting corner. Fill in objects from the solved edge. Always add tiles immediately adjacent to the solved region with new tile touching max number of solved positions. It might be best to work the other edge if there are obvious lines you can solve towards the middle of the puzzle. I keep the block of solved tiles to one side of the area I am working to. Have everything from one edge up to the row or column of the lined object solved before solving the lined object. Continue solving until you finish the puzzle.

If you swap tiles, you rarely need to reposition a "correct" tile that has been displaced to an incorrect position. If this does occur, reposition tiles to correct positions immediately. This builds up a block of correctly position tiles with one or more solved edge that is less likely to be displaced while solving an incorrect region. You will probably touch each tile once to place and rarely to correct a solved position for the tile.

Special cases: can't drop a tile (if desired).

Arms. Occasionally you will have a puzzle with extensions that are made up of adjacent single tiles in a row. Solve the furthest tiles of the arm by displacing the correct tile to the end. These should be "locked" in and not likely to ever be displaced. Solve rest of arm to main body of puzzle. Once all arms are correct, start at corner and continue as usual.

Internal tile that are locked in some directions. When it is not possible to drop correct tile or displace from all directions, find correct tile and swap it into place by moving through the unsolved tiles. This means you have planned ahead and have one side open with incorrect tiles not solved yet. If you work by extending the solved region as a block, bounded by edges, this should be the case.

If you always extend the block of solved tiles by adding an adjacent tile to the block. Swap the next tile by passing through the unsolved tiles. You will wind up with (usually) three adjacent tiles in the end. Solve by swapping.

I generally have 40+ seconds remaining with this method. If I left a tile behind in the solved region, I might need one flying time (more expensive) to resolve the puzzle. If time is tight, a magnifying glass (less expensive) might help you finish in time without adding time. If you are totally lost, exit the game before time runs out. This costs the entrance fee to the Mosaic puzzle, but leaves your puzzle winning streak intact.

This is not the only method, but it is one that works for me even on a small screen. 