Speed jigsaw-puzzle competitions are a thing…and the mindet required seems the same as any other sport: “What differentiates a true champion is the ability to self-control, to ensure that the pressure does not affect them or they hardly notice it.”
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I admit I'm posting this in the hopes that my pal Yen will share what participating in a puzzle competition is like. 🤞
AMA! My son and I have gone twice to the National speed puzzling competition in San Diego. We compete in the pairs category. The first year it wasn't that big yet, there were a 100 pairs and we finished 40! Meaning we finished a 500 piece puzzle in 1hr14m. This past year the attendance doubled and we place 79th out of 200 pairs. The winning team finished a 1,000 piece puzzle in just over an hour!
Like all small very intently focused communities, the puzzle world is super warm and welcoming. But if you want to know more keep an eye out on the People Puzzle documentary in development by Emily Sheskin
Do you know how they pick the competition puzzles? Are they announced ahead of time (so you can practice), are they off-the-shelf puzzles that you might have done before, or do they have special never-been-seen before puzzles?
They're never before seen puzzles made exclusively for the comp, and then available to the public after. Nationals uses Ravensburger so it's always new ones debuting at the competition. The real puzzle nerds debate endlessly about what type it will be based on what it was last year (landscape, graphic, etc) and who the artist might be too. They're wrapped in bags on the tables so when the timer starts you have to pull it out of the bag to begin
Are there strategies other than the ones regular civilians use? Like edges first, sorting pieces into color groups, sorting pieces by shape?
Most puzzlers, ehem sorry, competitive puzzlers, flip all the pieces over first. It does seem like a lot of us like to get the edges more or less done first, but I've seen fast puzzlers just go at it. Depending on the puzzle it might make sense to color sort but it can be useless if the puzzle has too many disparate fields. Sometimes towards the end my son and I will piece sort by shape, this is especially helpful if you have large same color fields or maybe less than 30 pieces to go?
Omg, the anxiety I'm experiencing reading about this "leisure activity."
Are the puzzles they choose especially challenging? Or is the emphasis really more on team speed than puzzle trickiness?
Well everyone has the same puzzle so I guess it wouldn’t matter how challenging the puzzle is or not? Same playing field for everyone
Yen, this so wonderful to read about! I love, love, love puzzles and may need to join you and your son at a competition one day. Better start training for speed… I tend to be fast but mostly because I’m working against the clock of impending childcare disruptions.
Kelsey it's funny/ not funny how fast we get with things when childcare is on the line!
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