Speed puzzling transforms quiet hobby into competitive sport — World Championships draw 3,800 competitors

Kirsty Williams was sweating and collapsed on the floor, clutching a can of Coke as she tried not to pass out. She still finished the puzzle.

It was the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship last September in Valladolid, Spain. The air conditioning in the pavilion had broken down as temperatures soared above 30 Celsius. Williams was in the front row with a livestream camera capturing her every move, and she could feel the physical toll immediately. "Before I had even finished flipping and sorting my edge pieces, I could feel pins and needles in my hands. And I was like this, this is not good," she said.

Williams had trained relentlessly — she knew she could complete her puzzle in 35 minutes and go faster on race day. But elite speed puzzling demands deep focus, and the heat was devastating. She tried to join a centre piece to an edge piece three times. "I was like, I know this physically can't go there. What am I doing?" she said. But she pushed through and finished anyway.

Williams had better luck last month in Winnipeg during Manitoba's first regionals competition. The 38-year-old who moved from the United Kingdom to Brandon swept the individual, pairs, and teams competitions. "I was absolutely stoked," she said. Now she's deep in training again, averaging two puzzles a day, ahead of the world championship next month in Spain. That includes squeezing in lunch-hour practice at her workplace — her boss at a custom apparel workshop has specially taped off a table for her — and powering through repeated 99-piece puzzles, aiming for five minutes a round.

Speed puzzling has exploded from a niche hobby into a genuine competitive sport. Many competitors, like Williams, discovered puzzles during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since sought a social and competitive angle. The Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association formed in 2022 and held its first national competition in 2023. About 200 people showed up that first year. This past May, nearly 1,000 competitors attended the event in Georgetown, Ontario, ranging from an 11-year-old boy to people in their 70s, according to association treasurer Tina Forsyth.

The world championship saw explosive growth: almost 3,800 competitors last year, up from under 1,000 in 2022. More casual events have also sprouted at libraries, bookstores, and community centres across Canada.

The rising interest has sparked new Canadian puzzle companies. Elewhite Inc. launched in Calgary in 2021. Villager Puzzles started in Comox, B.C., in 2023. Both are capitalizing on the surge.

Those looking to level up their puzzling can sign up for boot camps organized by Rebecca Waddell, who also led organizing for the Manitoba regionals. Recruits learn the "flip" — getting all puzzle pieces out of the bag and facing up in organized stacks as fast as possible, then doing it again and again to beat their time. Waddell has cut her own flip time in half and can now complete it in four minutes.

Aspiring speed puzzlers also work on memorizing the image. They look at a puzzle box for 30 seconds, then try to sketch out what they remember. Sessions start with a practice puzzle, with people laughing and chatting as they solve. But there's a notable shift as the day goes on. "people are quiet and very focused," Waddell said. The adrenaline kicks in. The hobby transforms.