Competing at the 2024 Australian National Speed Puzzling Championship 🧩🇦🇺

[@KelseyLucas6]

I’ve been waiting for this video! This was so fun to watch our teams time lapse 🥰 you hype up my abilities way too much 😂 thanks so much for having me on your team, I had the BEST time ❤️🧩

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

KELSEY!!! We had so much fun puzzling with you. Thank you for being on our team. I forgot to thank your husband for the extra photos and footage in this sorry - please apologise to him for me and thank him again. I hope we get to puzzle again soon. You should come to Worlds!!!

[@KelseyLucas6]

@@fortheloveofpuzzles no stress he was glad to help! I hope we get to puzzle together again aswell, maybe I’ll see you at worlds 🙊❤️

[@ivanchuang7291]

​@fortheloveofpuzzles so much fun puzzling together. It was nice meeting Kelsey, hope to see you at Worlds this year.

[@KelseyLucas6]

@@ivanchuang7291 it was so lovely meeting you aswell!!

[@fernandogordillo9347]

That's me at 17:06 😍 It was so lovely to meet you, Donnaluise!

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

It was lovely meeting you also. Looks like you got some fans in the comments 😍

[@rhixd9862]

So lovely to have you at the Aussie Nationals! Thanks for the hug and for saying hi! See you at worlds, if not beforehand! - Rhianna

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

Rhianna!!! I wish there was a high speed tube that could just zip me over to Oz so I can puzzle with you all more often!! Definitely see you at Worlds but would be great if it was sooner.

[@OneMorePuzzlePiece]

Great job, Donnalouise! The individuals puzzle looks hard! Have you ever tried to do the best of both of your speed methods? For the individuals puzzle you could do a full flip and sort out the edges, do the edges or save for when it makes sense, then sort out what you could easily do (shelves, background stripes), and then switch to pick and place if you get stuck?

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

Interesting…maybe I have unconsciously in that I’ve fully flipped, picked out pieces of a particular thing until I got stuck and then picked-and-placed…maybe more recently with doing full flip more often. I’ll try to be more conscious of that and do purposely - thanks for suggesting. 💜🧩

[@In2_pieces]

It was so nice to meet you in person! I do hope you can come back again for our National competition. I’d love to do the NZ one. Worlds, unfortunately is beyond my finances and bravery!

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

So lovely meeting you as well!! I had the best time at the competition this year. NZ Nationals is July 19th in Auckland with individual and teams. I would love to have you all come over to puzzle with us.

[@sarahchristinebartolo9402]

That puzzle almost broke me lol 😂

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

I know a lot of people who were not a fan of it either. I’m lucky that I really enjoy busy puzzles. 💜🧩

[@Laura_Stanford]

What is your favorite experience about speed puzzling? The puzzle images, meeting people, the traveling, the competitive nature of speed puzzling? Or all of it?

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

For me definitely is meeting people and making new puzzle friends. Then it’s the travel as I’ve gotten to see so many new places. The speed puzzling itself is fun but I’d be perfectly happy just puzzling for fun with everyone. 💜🧩

[@Laura_Stanford]

@ That is pretty cool. I can relate to what you shared. I do love to puzzle for fun. I only puzzled with my husband and my youngest son and when I do puzzle with them, I love it too.

[@ITM95]

17:06 sign me up for whatever events this guy goes to… 🤩🤣

[@puzzlingread]

😂💪🏼😜

[@clarkkent7973]

He definitely breaks every stereotype for puzzlers!

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

😂 I hope he watches this video and sees this comment - I'm sure he would love the compliment.

[@fernandogordillo9347]

Hahahaha, that's me!

[@puzzlingread]

@@fernandogordillo9347 Full disclosure--I Googled you and the work you're doing is even more impressive than your muscles, lol. Good luck with your research! I appreciate you, doc 😊💙

[@LJG7654]

Looks like you had a great time! You're really hitting all the competitions recently... Would you ever go to the St. Paul Winter Festival for the puzzle competition?

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

It was an amazing trip indeed! I have a list of like 11 events that I would love to go to, and yes, St. Paul’s is on it. Realistically I can’t do them all but hopefully a few. I do really want to do an event in the USA. 💜🧩

[@rachf]

It was so great to meet you, thanks for taking the time to chat! My personal goal for individual was to finish and I ended up getting my personal best time of 2hr17m and our goal for pairs was under 1hr and we got 48m so I’m very happy! You did great in all 3 events 😊

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

Congratulations on your personal best! That's awesome! And it was lovely meeting you and chatting - some say I might chat too much, I say NEVER! I'm always up for a hug and a good yarn hehehe Amazing time for both your individual and pairs times.

[@PuzzCatLife]

Wow, those Ozzies are fast! It's good you're having fun, and look how well you did staying relaxed.

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

So fast! And they always do so well at Worlds. I was very pleased at how well I did being relaxed - I really just enjoyed puzzling so much at this competition.

[@chrishenderson2062]

Great to meet you on the day! Another fun video 💯

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

Thank you! It was lovely meeting you also.

[@onemissingpiece6798]

What a great trip and dream team of positive puzzlers! It's a bit like a fun run, 95% of people know they're not going to win so they compete against themselves and to have fun and participate in the vibe of the event, plus enjoy dressing up! That was amazing for I Shun to have a go if he is not a regular puzzler let alone a speed puzzler, jump in the deep end!

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

This is one of the best competitions I feel for beginners and people just wanting to try out speed puzzling for the first time as so many are there for fun and not so competitive. I think the environment makes me feel more relaxed as well. I was so proud of I-Hsun for giving it a go and he definitely had the best attitude on the day. Pssst...I heard a rumour that he will be at worlds!

[@lolitakallen1066]

I live in Melbourne and I love your videos. Would have loved to have come down to see this event and maybe got to meet you. Maybe next time. ❤

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

People are always welcomed at their events to come and spectate. And there are other activities to do - often a swap table as well. Definitely pop by one if you can and I would love to meet you too.

[@puzzlepiece9509]

Sounds like you had a great time there and enjoyed yourself. Perhaps with time you will find it easier to decide what is the best method to tackle the jigsaw that appears. I think you should go to competitions to have fun and if you do really well that's great. 👍 Puzzling is supposed to be enjoyable, not an anxiety ridden endeavour. I just do puzzles for enjoyment, some of which I time to see how long it takes rather than how fast I can do them. My most recent timed one was a 300 piece Pomegranate called Beautiful Beetles which took me 1h 34m and 18s. Look forward to your next video.

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

I definitely have much more of a relaxed have fun now at competitions because I know I won't place and just really want to enjoy the experience without the stress. It is fun to time yourself though, I love timing how long it takes me to do large piece count puzzles.

[@RubyNeumann]

Good show... any chance Canada is on your schedule for Nationals in May? Maybe an answer will make me sad either way, because I can't go anyway. But it is still nice to dream.

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

I would love to go back to Canada and it is on my list of potential trips for this year. It's a balance between travel, competitions, regular puzzling, large puzzles, ... I wish I had a teleportation device and a time machine! Maybe some day they will hold Canadian Nationals closer to you.

[@土豆头-f8b]

Hello, I saw there are upcoming nz speed puzzling competitions in March. Is the public allowed to come and watch? or is it only participants? There's not a lot of information about public entry online

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

Hi!! The one in March is I believe the Dunedin Regional which I will be attending. You are more than welcome to pop by and spectate - I’m not sure how much extra seating there will be. I’m not sure what other things they will have going on but if you come, make sure to come up and say hi! 💜🧩

[@puzzlingread]

You did great in all the categories, especially with that busy individuals puzzle. Idk what the costumes were except for the burger? But I love the jigsaw mini-skirt and socks of the woman with the mic. 😄💙🧩

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

So one was dressed as a raven and the other as a burger...together they were RAVENSBURGER! 🤣 I loved it!!! And there were so many great outfits on the day - so much fun!

[@puzzlingread]

Ohhhh! That's awesome! I'm such a doofus, I was wondering what crows had to do with burgers 🤪🤣

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@In2_pieces]

That’s Sara. She’s the VP of the association I think. Plus she’s a local to me and wears that outfit to all of our state competitions too. She’s lovely 😊

[@fortheloveofpuzzles]

@@In2_pieces Yes, she is a sweetheart!!