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Assembling a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle of a quiet Nova Scotia seascape gave Amy Routledge an adrenaline rush that was almost too much to handle.
“I was telling everyone earlier … ‘I need to go run a lap.’ I had a lot of nervous energy,” the Winnipegger said. Her heart “was pounding a little bit” as she sorted cardboard pieces inside a quiet hall in the city’s Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre Saturday.
Routledge was among the several dozen participants who showed up to the community centre this weekend for what organizers say was the first-ever regional “speed puzzling” competition held in Manitoba.
“It’s … exhilarating,” Routledge said.
“You don’t have to be fast … [but] it is a little bit of a fun little extra challenge if you put together puzzles and you’re like, ‘I like puzzling, but I could use a little more excitement.'”
The goal of speed puzzling is pretty simple: the competitor who puts together a jigsaw puzzle the fastest wins.
Rebecca Waddell, founder of Manitoba Speed Puzzlers and the event’s host, said the fastest participants can assemble 500-piece puzzles in 30 to 45 minutes on their own.
More than 70 puzzle fans showed up for the Winnipeg event, which featured separate competitions for individuals, pairs and teams. (Katie Lambe/CBC)
“The top people train [doing] several puzzles every day,” Waddell said in an interview with the CBC’s Information Radio ahead of the competition.
“It really is a sport,” she said. “If you see people walking out of the room after, they’ll be sweating and puzzle dust smeared all over their face. It’s quite an exciting, intense event.”
LISTEN | First-ever speed puzzle regionals held in Manitoba:
Information Radio – MB7:48The first ever Manitoba Regional Speed Puzzle Competition takes place this weekend
The Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association is hosting the event at Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre. Over a hundred people will be racing to assemble 500 to 1000 piece puzzles. Guest Host Cory Funk speaks to Rebecca Waddell, the organizer of the event. ‘Ultimately, you compete against yourself’
Brandon resident Kirsty Williams — who won the individual competition Saturday — said she got into speed puzzling about two and a half years ago.
Her first competition was the world speed puzzling championship held in Spain in 2024, which she attended “for a laugh” after figuring out she could put together a puzzle in 90 minutes or less.
Williams put together the Nova Scotia puzzle in 41 minutes and 5 seconds.
Kirsty Williams, from Brandon, won Saturday’s individual event in Winnipeg. Williams said she listens to ‘a lot of fast-paced emo music’ to get in the zone during speed puzzling competitions. (Katie Lambe/CBC)
“When I’ve got a competition coming up, I’ll try and do at least one or two puzzles a day,” she said, practicing a lot “much to my husband’s chagrin.”
“Sometimes it would just be speed drills,” Williams said. “Just flipping and sorting the edge, seeing how fast I can get that, to just running full-length puzzles … get my time down, learn different strategies.”
More than 70 people attended the Winnipeg event to compete in the individual, pairs and team categories.
Among the prizes are medals — and puzzles — as well as a $500 sponsorship award meant to help the fastest puzzlers cover costs to attend the speed puzzling nationals competition in Ontario next year.
“Ultimately, you compete against yourself,” Routledge said. “‘Can I shave off this time? Can I…flip the pieces faster than the first time?'”
It’s a “self-motivated sport, which is something I personally love about it,” she said.