Families and friends piece together fun at these puzzling events in JoCo cities

Few are puzzled to discover that jigsaws have made a big comeback recently. Competitions have sprung up all around Johnson County to cater to the surge of interest.

The Indian Creek Library in Olathe held its annual competition Feb. 4. Now in its second year, the puzzle challenge has garnered a lot of interest from local residents.

Angela Parks, teen services manager for the library, said she got the idea from a similar program called “Puzzle Palooza” put on by Leawood Parks & Recreation.

“I was like, ‘I’m really curious about that. Why couldn’t I bring that to the library and have people come together and have a lot of fun?’” Parks said. “It was really well-received last year.”

They split it into two divisions: children 12 and under and teens/adults. The caveat is that children can have up to two adults helping them, which makes it a prime time for a family activity.

“During COVID, so many people really got into doing puzzles as a family,” Parks said.

This year’s puzzle for children had 252 pieces, and the teen/adult one had 500 pieces. Both groups got a two-hour time limit to piece their projects together.

Everyone has their box upside down, hiding the picture, until the time starts. Then they flip it over and work as quickly as they can.

“This is the most urgently we’ve ever put together a puzzle,” said Olathe resident Nathan Paulson.

Overland Park resident Landry Naik, 7, felt so confident about the work he was doing on the puzzle with his mother and sister that he declared, “I’m the puzzle master of this table.”

Last year, the library had a custom puzzle made, but with all the preparations for the opening on the new downtown Olathe library, event organizers used commercially available puzzles this year. Parks said she hopes that next year they can get back to custom puzzles, perhaps imprinted with images of Olathe’s libraries.

“I love just watching them have so much fun putting it together,” Parks said.

Although the winners got Amazon gift cards, no one went home empty-handed.

“What’s nice is even if they’re not a winner, they get to take the puzzle home,” Parks said.

Although some competitions, like Lenexa’s Jigsaw Puzzle Tournament, have entry fees, the library’s does not.

The upcoming Lenexa tournament has two sections, from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 19 at Lenexa Public Market.

Originally, there was just an afternoon competition, but slots filled up so quickly that event organizers added a morning session as well. Slots are still available for the morning contest. The entry fee is $40 per team of up to four people.

This competition features a 500-piece puzzle, and like Olathe, there’s a two-hour time limit. Winners get $50, with second place taking home $25.

The target demographic for this contest is adults and teens, although children can be part of the teams, too. Each session has space for eight teams.

Susanne Neely, recreation supervisor for Lenexa Parks & Recreation, said they had scheduled their first puzzle competition to take place just before the pandemic hit, but it got canceled and didn’t happen until 2021. She said a co-worker who loves puzzles suggested it.

Another took place at the end of 2022.

“People just love them so much. It was fun to see how much enthusiasm there was,” Neely said. “There was a real desire for having that kind of activity for families.”

Neely said she’d love to have a bigger tournament in the future.

“I think kind of builds community, too. It’s a just fun way to get together and do something different together, especially in the cold weather when it’s harder to do things outside,” she said.

To sign up for the Lenexa competition, visit lenexa.com/getactive and do an activity search for “puzzle”.