I never thought that my first trip to Europe would be for a jigsaw puzzle contest. As a frequent participant in speed puzzling contests in the U.S., being able to attend the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships in Valladolid, Spain had been a dream of mine since it started in 2019. And it did not disappoint.
Worlds is broken up into three divisions: individuals, pairs, and teams. Since I was already heading all the way to Spain, I decided I better get the full experience and compete in all three divisions! My puzzle pal Michaela agreed to be my pairs partner, and we teamed up with EB and Karen to make our 4-person team, the Misfits.
You might be wondering what a speed puzzling competition would entail. Each individual, pair, or team is given the same puzzle. After a short countdown, it’s time to open the puzzle and try to finish it faster than everyone else in the room. If you do not finish the puzzle in the allotted time, judges will count any pieces that are not connected in a group of three or more to determine how many pieces you had left when time was called.
Since there were over 550 competitors, the individual competition was first broken up into six heats for a qualifying round. 60 competitors from each heat got to move on to the semi-finals. Each heat received a different 500 piece puzzle to compete. At first, this may seem unfair, but you are only competing against people in your heat. If each group had the same puzzle, later groups could be at an advantage since they would have extra time to look at the image, plan, and maybe even find a copy to practice themselves.
Winners from heat A, B and C and D, E and F were combined for two semifinal round competitions. Out of the 180 competitors, only 90 from each semifinal round would move on to the finals. We were all shocked to open our bags and see the puzzle was circular! This is pretty uncommon in competition, but really gave our brains a challenge as we built the round puzzle.
The finals saw 180 of the world’s fastest puzzlers going head-to-head on a puzzle featuring a photograph of a patio in 500 pieces. This challenging puzzle was no match for reigning champion Alejandro who reclaimed his spot as the world’s fastest puzzler in 37 minutes and 59 seconds. A quick 33 seconds later, Kristin of Norway finished in second place with Marketa from the Czech Republic coming in 3rd.
The pairs competition started with three semi-final heats with a little over 100 pairs making up each group. This division had the most intense semifinals as only 30 pairs from each group would move on to the finals. In the first round, pairs completed a 500-piece puzzle together. Pairs have to always be communicating to be successful, so there is a lot of energy and buzz going on during this competition.
The final for pairs had a pretty diabolical puzzle! After a long day of puzzling, pairs started on a 1000-piece puzzle at 7 p.m. Lighting conditions weren’t ideal, and the busy image had many pairs stumped. Only nine of the 99 pairs in the finals finished. Coming in first was world champion Alejandro and his partner Gisela from Spain. Team USA got second place with Michaela and I finishing the puzzle in 1 hour 46 minutes and 37 seconds. And Marketa made it on the podium again with her partner Tereza finishing in 3rd place.
Teams is my absolute favorite division as my speed puzzling career started with being on a team with my mom, uncle, and a family friend. Worlds has a very interesting semi-final experience for teams. Each team is given four 1000-piece puzzles from which they choose two to complete back-to-back with no time between. This can make it hard to tell what team is in the lead because teams can be working on totally different puzzles. 160 teams went into the semifinals and 100 of those teams made it to the final round.
Teams again completed two 1000-piece puzzles one after the other for the final round. In just over 1 hour and 30 minutes “Las Chicas Checas” took first place followed by “The Misfits” (my team!) in second. Of course world champion, Alejandro, made it into the top three with his team “Non Stop.”
Attending the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship was such an amazing experience. From meeting my online puzzle friends from all over the world for the first time to the energy in the dome during competition, every part of the weekend was perfect. You don’t have to travel to Spain to compete in a jigsaw puzzle contest. If you’re interested in speed puzzling, reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook and I can help connect you with contests near you or online. It’s truly the best sport - and, yes, it’s a sport!
Stay tuned for a blog post with tips and tricks for speed puzzling, as well as how to find competitions near you. While you’re waiting, get practicing with Completing the Puzzle’s collection of rentable jigsaw puzzles.
