Puzzles Unite Sartell As Teams Prepare for Saturday’s Challenge

SARTELL (WJON News) -- About eighty people will test their teamwork and coordination for bragging rights in Sartell on Saturday. Sartell Community Education is hosting a puzzle competition at the Community Center. Teams of two to four people will race against each other and the clock to see who can build their puzzle the fastest.

Jigsaw Puzzle tournaments have been held since as early as 1980.

Sartell Community Education Coordinator Sarah Bennett says the puzzle is a bit of a mystery for teams until the clock starts:

"So everybody will have the same puzzle, and it will be wrapped before the event starts, and as soon as the timer starts, they'll be able to unwrap like a present, the box like a present, and then go from there."

She says Community Education did a lot of research to see how other organizations run their competitions and is doing a couple of different things:

"So we kind of went based off how they run it but also took, I know the Whitney Community Center doesn't allow pans to be used or flippers (spatulas), like cooking flippers, to be used for the pieces but we are allowing our participants to use that just so it's a little bit easier to go through pieces and get everything organized before they start putting everything together."

 

The USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association was formed in 2020.

Bennett says puzzle competitions are gaining in popularity, and Sartell Community Education is looking to grow this event in the future and hold it a couple of times a year. The competition is sold out, and it costs $35 per team to compete.

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