by A new kind of event started popping up at different Twin Cities breweries this February where teams of four compete to complete a jigsaw puzzle the fastest.
Speed puzzling is a sport where people compete to finish a 500-piece or 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle first. The national competition took place in March, and the World Jigsaw Competition will be in Spain this September.
Events like the one last Friday night at Headflyer Brewing in Minneapolis are more casual and accept competitors of any skill level. Participants sign up in teams of four and tickets are 35 dollars per team.
Each team is provided with the same 500-piece puzzle in black bags so nobody can peek before the time starts. Once each team has its concealed puzzle, there’s a count down, and then it’s a free-for-all for who can finish first.
Sarah Schuler, who is known on social media as Sarah Does Puzzles, is ranked second nationally for competitive speed puzzling, and she is also the organizer for all of these events.
“Every single one has sold out since I started in late February, so it’s a lot, like over 300 different competitors,” said Schuler.
Elizabeth Nelson has gone to five of the competitions since Schuler started them.
“I’m addicted, yes. They just click to me. They make sense,” said Nelson.
Schuler started these types of events this February, but speed puzzling has been around since the 1980s, and has made a comeback in recent years with competitions even taking place over zoom.
“People are kind of bored with the ‘I’m just gonna do a jigsaw puzzle at home,’ and this is just something people are really attaching to,” said Schuler.
With such a successful turnout for Schuler’s events this winter, she is planning to keep the momentum going and is hosting around four competitions each week this spring. Schuler’s Facebook page has more information on upcoming competitions.
