My Evolution as a Puzzler (The Long Story)

Because of my fast development with speed puzzling, many people think I have puzzled my whole life. But this could not be further from the truth. I did my first puzzle in May 2022 during my adulthood. Of course, I have done some puzzles as a kid 20 years ago before that but I can count the amount of those puzzles with my one hand fingers.

And only found out about speed puzzling in 2023. That is literally only a year ago. You may have followed me on social media or read my story page but let's go through my puzzling journey one more time the long way!

2022 - Puzzling Out of Politeness

I was gifted few puzzles in May 2022. And you know... when you get a gift, you must use it. There is no other options. Unless you want to be rude. I did not know this back then but apparently 3000 piece puzzles are not too easy. But that was my first puzzle.

It is a miracle that I kept doing puzzles after that. Why? Well.. firstly, 3000 piece puzzle does not fit into any of our tables. So I did in on hour bedroom floor. And our bedroom is relatively small. And the floor is hard. My neck was dying and my knees on bruises.

My first ever puzzle in my adulthood.

But for some odd reason, I found this puzzle experience good enough to do the two other puzzles I was gifted. Here are all three of them:

• Animal Stamps, 3000 pieces, Ravensburger

• Calm Campsite, 1000 pieces, Ravensburger

• Still Life Vintage, 500 pieces, Ravensburger

You may ask why did I start with the 3000 pieces. I have no answer for you. Image-wise I hit a jackpot because these are still one of my favorite images from Ravensburger. But I don't think that alone kept me puzzling.

As a background. I own a marketing business. My clients can be sometimes a bit pain in - you know where. So I think puzzles were something to wind down with. But I did not immediately ran to the store to buy new puzzles. I wasn't that interested in this point.

Few months later we went for a road trip. I'm not big on shopping but souvenirs are always something nice to buy. So I did buy puzzles as souvenirs. That's how I continues doing puzzles. Not often but occasionally. And then I started to buy more puzzles. Just for fun.

Most of the puzzles (which is not a lot by the way) I bought on my first year were 1500-2000 piece puzzles. Maybe one or two 1000 piece puzzles. I don't think I ever even considered 500 piece puzzles. And I have heard this from other puzzle "hobbyists" that they mainly do bigger puzzles. This usually changes when you find out about speed puzzling.

Anyway, that was the first year.

2023 - Entering the Puzzle Community

My psychologist would have been proud of me for finding such a relaxing hobby. I have always had a problem to go all in with anything that I do. And I really mean anything. It's all or nothing. Ten years ago, I used to play sports in the Finnish National Team. So I have very competitive nature and background.

I stopped playing in 2014 because of too many injuries. After that I have not been able to get new "hobby" (mainly referring to sports) because it's not healthy for me. It's very hard for me to do something just for fun. That's why I have been doing lots of things for the last ten years without any committing to them or to do them regularly. More like trying out new stuff and then move on to something else.

Little I knew when I thought that puzzles are just something to do alone at home and relax. In the very beginning of 2023, I started to consider opening an Instagram account for my puzzles. I have very mixed feelings about social media. To be clear, I'm very talented with social media because I work in marketing and I used to have other social media brands (if you allow me to call them that).

I thought it would be cool to "do Instagram" again with a puzzle account this time. I had have been out of social media for a year or more because people saw as their right to talk sh*t about me on online forums. So I shut down all my online presence (including my dog's account, he used to be one of the most popular dog influencers in Finland). I thought this would not happen with puzzle community - so far almost so good. Obviously you can never escape the sad side of social media (and communities) even if it's about puzzles.

Anyway, as I started my Instagram account on March-April 2023, I also learned about speed puzzling. As the crazy competitive person I am, I immediately looked into it and registered to the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship 2023. I had zero experience in speed puzzling at this point. I took time for the first time, and I could done 500 piece puzzle only in two hours.

I was not even close to 90 minutes which is the maximum time limit in WJPC. Pure panic and disappointment. I always highlight that speed puzzling as any other thing is a skill not a talent. But to be honest, yes, of course I questioned myself back then if I'm made for this or not.

My first competition was online competition organized by a private person here in Finland. I was not aware that there was any competitions here (or anywhere other than WJPC). It was lucky that I happened to buy a lovely Cook Books puzzle (Aimee Stewart, Ravensburger) and posted it on my IG stories. My amazing puzzle friend @puzzlinghappinen saw it and slided into my DMs asking if I'm saving it for THE competition. What competition???

My first ever competition puzzle.

So that how I learned that there are competitions. I was still worried for my times but I think the word competition lighted my fire. A week or two before I was able to get my times under 90 minutes. And when the competition day finally arrived, I did my personal record of 1h 6mins - and I placed on shared 3rd place.

After that it was game on. Less than two months later I participated another competition in live setting and I won with time of 1h 8mins. To point out... the level in Finland (and knowledge about speed puzzling) is not that crazy so that's the only reason I was able to win.

The online competitions continued. And I starting from my second participation, I won every on of those online competitions, three times in a row, until last April 2024 when I lost by one minute. These have been my proudest moments. I never thought I would be able to compete in anything ever again, yet alone to win!

As I got better as speed puzzler, I also expanded my social media. In May 2023, I opened up my Tiktok account. I mainly post there timelapse videos and "piece looking for it's place" videos. I got one lucky viral video that have more than 100K views. And then I opened up my Youtube channel in July. I have never done Youtube before so that was lot to learn with filming, editing and all the functionalities.

But I had this idea that I would share some tips for speed puzzling. I may not have puzzled my whole life but I do have high-level sports and coaching background. And I have studied psychology (not a degree, to be clear) and how we learn. Some people also say that I make a living by making everything work in the most efficient and fast way possible. It's kind of true.

My third video was about 5 training tips for World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship. Alfonso Alvarez-Ossorio, who is the president of the World Jigsaw Puzzle Federation, saw my video. He was impressed (his own words, not mine), and send me a very long and supportive email asking also if he can share my video from their social media accounts. I could say that this is what kicked off my Youtube channel. It's still quite small of 3000 subscribers but it makes sense as it's very speed puzzling focused and there aren't that many speed puzzlers.

I practise speed puzzling and prepare for competitions in a very professional way, the same way I used to practise in sports. To be exact, I practise even better, more seriously and with more passion that I ever did in sports. That's how I compensate my lack of experience. I took my average time of two hours and got it to average of 1h (maybe + 5mins) by the time of WJPC in September 2023.

Towards the end of the year I kept practising and practising. Unfortunately, I got very sick in December and I was in and out of hospital for a month. I took me a long time to recover so I had major break from doing puzzles (or social media). But that may have been a good thing in the end, NOT the sickness but the break itself, because after I got back on track my average time has been less than hour.

2024 - Speed Puzzling Mania

In 2023, my main focus was solo speed puzzling. I did take part also in pair category in WJPC but we do have like 4-5 hour driving distance with my pair so we can't practise together that often. In February 2024 I found myself a team. I was asked to join and it have been the best thing ever. I truly believe that we have a real shot at WJPC as a team this year.

Team puzzling is a completely different ballgame. So many new factors come into play. And I love it. I also love my team members, I should probably remember to let them know that more often. Anyway, I have appointed myself as our coach. And you can ask my team members, they value my role as a coach so it's not just in my head.

I may love coaching and commentating speed puzzling more than actually competing. So far I have commentated competition live streams in WJPC and Pussel SM (Swedish Nationals) - and some fun speed puzzling battles on IG lives. It's my favorite thing to do.

And I live for coaching, I love giving tips on my Youtube channels. I love coaching our team, and I love every part of making our...what, 20 pages long strategy guide book that I keep updating after analysing every practise we have.

As mentioned shortly before, I did participate the Swedish Nationals in March. I hate travelling but I don't mind doing that if it's about going to a speed puzzling event. I love the puzzle community but sometimes I struggle with the social side of it.

It's a joke that everyone I know (myself included) knows how much I hate people. And don't worry, this is nothing personal, I hate my best friend too. I like people as people, as individuals - and I enjoy conversations. I just generally don't like people, like I'm not naturally drawn to people. And I don't do small talk. And my personality is more from the colder side than warm and fuzzy.

Because I talk well (I'm not shy) and I have lots of opinions, people something have false narrative of me as an extrovert person. I'm 100% introvert. Not shy, not quiet, but being around people eats all my energy, and fast. And sometimes people know me from my videos, and I don't know them. It can cause a bit confusion when I met people for the first time. Because I warm up to new people very slowly, and on the other hand, they may have already some connection with me or expectations of me based on my social media.

All I ask is a little bit of slack when it comes to me meeting new people. I'm not rude and I hope people don't take my introvertism the wrong way. I would love to meet YOU and all the other new people. So please come to say hi if you see me. I just wanted to explain a little bit why I may seem off sometimes. It's not you, it's me.

Years to Come - What's Next?

I have already registered to all categories of WJPC 2024. There is also going to be the first Finnish Nationals soon in May. I don't think I will be the next Finnish Champion. I would love to, and I try to but so many new fast puzzlers have come out in Finland this year. Everyone is developing like crazy!

I had great time in the Swedish Nationals so I have high hopes to join also Danish and Norwegian Nationals. Maybe even some other events abroad. I have also sign up for some international online competitions. It's good to practise/compete with people who are faster than you.

My dream job would be a professional puzzle commentator.

Currently, my average time for 500 piece puzzles is around 50 minutes. I'm aiming to get it something starting with four this year. Practising takes time because you cannot impleted all kinds of methods at the same time. I feel like I still have lost of new tricks up in my sleeve so I can still expect development to happen.

My biggest dream to do more speed puzzling coaching. It's a project of mine for this year. Nothing to announce yet. I will keep you updated!