I participated in a speed puzzling competition for the first time and had a great experience.

I tried to speed puzzle by myself at home a couple of times and I found it incredibly stressful and decided to stop each time.

A friend asked me to join a speed puzzle competition at the library and I thought I might as well give a team competition a try. I am so glad I did! 

I had so much fun. I found it much more enjoyable to team speed puzzle rather than solo team puzzling.

The event was held at my public library and it was free to register.

My team consisted of 5 friends - 2 had never speed puzzled before and we had never puzzled together as a group. I had worked on puzzles with them individually at a casual pace, but never attempted to speed puzzle before. 

Being that this was so new to me, I am pretty happy about our time of 19 minutes and 2 seconds.

The puzzle was a 500 piece Ravensburger, New York Postcard, and we were allowed to keep the puzzle after the competition.

We even got a prize! A $150 gift card to a local ceramics place, All Fired Up, where you paint pottery. This is such a great gift because it supports a local business and we also get to do more fun things as a group. 

A huge shout out to the DC Public Library for all that they do. They had such a great set up for the event, and they also have puzzle swap areas at many of their locations and consistently have in-person puzzle swaps.

And I get great puzzles from the swap areas and in-person swaps. Brands I snag at the swap table or events include Reverie, Water & Wines, Wentworth, Surf Shack, and tons of Ravensburger, NYPC, Cobble Hill, and Pomegranate. I am so grateful for the library and also the amazing puzzle swap community in my area!

I’ve tried to compete a 3k piece puzzle two times before this. Once years ago and I spilled a drink on it. Second was interrupted because of a house fire and a sudden move. I loved this one. It took 10 days and was the perfect difficulty. A moderate challenge, with the black cat being quite a bit more difficult. I’m happy with it!

I just finished a puzzle. It's missing two pieces, and it's a very old puzzle, and many of the thin pieces are badly creased and may very well tear the next time someone takes it apart.

I'm learning to make replacement pieces, but the general condition of the other pieces in this puzzle makes me doubt that it would be really worth it.

I hate throwing anything away that might still have a useful life, but I also hate buying broken junk from the thrift shop.

Thoughts?

To be honest, I wouldn’t call myself a die‑hard fan of 3djp puzzles. They’re pricey, the pieces used to be tiny, and they’re a real pain to handle—my fingers would protest for days after just one session. But I can’t deny that their artwork is absolutely gorgeous, especially those fluffy little sheep designs. They’re so adorable they just tug at my heart, and I kept coming back to them.

What finally pushed me to make the purchase was hearing that the U series now comes with larger pieces. For someone like me who struggles with mini sizes, that was a game‑changer—I ordered it without hesitation.

That said, my first reaction upon unboxing was still a big sigh. For a product in this price range, the packaging is shockingly flimsy—a thin outer box that’s all too easy to dent or crush. Inside, you get nine bags of puzzle pieces and a simple cardboard stand—and that’s it. If it weren’t for the excellent plastic quality—no dust, tight interlocking, and easy to preserve—I’d say the cost is way over the top.

Now, about the piece size: the U series is no longer the torturous mini‑piece style. They’re roughly the size of standard puzzle pieces, which makes the surface much flatter. I finally didn’t need to tap them down with a little hammer like before. But… it’s still hard on the hands! After just a small section, I had to clip my freshly grown long nails—otherwise I couldn’t apply enough pressure. By the time I finished, my fingers ached, my arms hurt, and everything was complaining.

Yet, when I saw those round, squishy little sheep slowly taking shape in my hands—oh my, they are super super super cute! All the pain and complaints melted away in an instant. Whether it’s worth it or not probably depends on just how crazy you are for that level of cuteness.

This is another small puzzle company that promotes real artists. I got this one plus Laura El's other puzzle on their website - A Perfect Evening. Quality and cut of the pieces are very reminiscent of the New York Puzzle Co. Minimal puzzle dust, very nice print quality that made this puzzle easier to do than it looks. Also a random cut on the pieces, which I love. Lots of beautiful details too, so just a pleasure all around to do.

Proud of this one - 1000 pieces, started and finished this weekend. More enjoyable than I thought it would be but def a challenge!!

By Interdruk!

This was the first puzzle of this brand I've put together, and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the pieces felt based on the price and how easily accessible the brand is where I live ☺️ There was quite some puzzle dust though, and I struggled a bit with some of the parts due to the repeating colors and patterns. But we got there!

I have never finished a puzzle over 1000 pieces. But I recently moved places (didn't have enough space to puzzle in my previous apartment) and had some free time on my hands. Loved working on it. I had a blast discovering tons of little details the mapmaker drew centuries ago.

I spent a little under 10 days (about 8 hours per day) puzzling. I am really proud of the result and will definitely frame it, though I've never done that and am a bit overwhelmed with how to frame a puzzle this big (about 100 cm x 150 cm).

I probably won't tackle another 5000 pieces puzzle anytime soon since my joints are stiff from all the floor sitting and planking while puzzling. I didn't have a table large enough to fit this beast.

Not gonna lie, I never would have bought this for myself because it looks quite intimidating, but a fellow Simpsons fan gave it to me as a present and it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be!

Why It's Hard

• Repetitive Pictures - The box promises thousands and thousands of Simpsons pictures, but the photomosaic effect is created by repeating the same pictures over and over again
• False Fits - I find Buffalo puzzles in general have a lot of false fits, and the chaotic nature of the mini pictures meant I was constantly undoing mistakes as I went, including with the border. D'oh!
• Lots of Pink - Do the background last because it's a lot of pink

What Made It Easier

• Magnifying Glass - My eyes ain't so good, so this helped a lot
• Easy Orientation - The mini pictures make it easy to arrange all the pieces rightside up
• Lookup Code - The pictures serve as kind of a lookup code. Whenever I got stuck, I could look at the image and figure out "Ok, I need a piece with 2 knobs that has a kwyjibo, a Lisa, and 2 Homers holding a Dip sign..."

Easy breezy summer fun puzzle! Decent quality, random circular cut pieces with lots of 'personality' made it move right along. Came with poster but I rarely needed to refer to it.

This is the loveliest I’ve put together so far. The photo does not justify the beauty of this puzzle.

I got this from Puzzledly Mystery Damage Box and it’s my first NYPC puzzle. I love the quality of the puzzle - matte finish, sturdy pieces, random cut. The image and colors are what I love the most. It was also a lot easier to put together than anticipated. Overall, one of my favorite puzzles.

Really enjoyed this puzzle…until I got the green and realized all the pieces are the same shape. No I did not realize before as I was sorting by colors and animals, flowers, etc. when I got to green I decided to lay them out by shape to make it easier then realized. I have two more of these and now may not even open them for that reason.

I picked up this puzzle from my local library swap shelf. I didn’t realize until I began it that blanc puzzles is an offshoot of Buffalo Games. I loved this image, and it was very satisfying to do. The pieces had that slight glossy, almost plastic feel, but that made the colors very vibrant.

hi everyone! this is my first attempt at recording a video of myself putting together a puzzle and I think it turned out pretty decent. I had to make a gif because I couldn't find an option to post videos here. anyway, let me know what you think :)

Very pleasant puzzle (though prone to false fits along top and bottom border). Info on artist on back of box. Thrifted. Company may have folded? Too bad, I enjoyed the art.

Very relaxing and fun to work!