Thinking you are making too many speed puzzling mistakes? Are You Slower at Jigsaw Puzzles Than You Should Be? Ever feel like you’re taking way too long to finish a jigsaw puzzle while others seem to solve them effortlessly? Whether you’re competing in jigsaw puzzle competition, a community speed puzzling event or just trying to complete a puzzle more efficiently, certain habits might be holding you back.
Speed Puzzling Times Require Less Mistakes
Speed puzzling isn’t just about moving faster – it’s about working smarter. The right techniques, mindset, and setup can dramatically improve your solving speed. Yet, if you aren’t mindful speed puzzling mistakes can be overlooked. As someone who loves completing puzzles fast, if you’re making these 10 common speed puzzling mistakes, your time will suffer.
Table of Contents
Let’s dive into what’s slowing you down. And I want to share how to fix these issues!
Mistake #1: Not Sorting Pieces Efficiently
Sorting is the foundation of playing jigsaw puzzles. If you are making speed puzzling mistakes, it might start here. If you start solving without organizing your pieces first, you’ll waste countless minutes searching for matches.
The Problem: Dumping all your pieces.
Putting all your jigsaw puzzle pieces in a pile and looking for connections randomly isn’t going to help speed up your process.
The Fix: Separate pieces into categories before assembling:
- Step 1: Pull out all edge pieces first.
- Step 2: Group by color, pattern, or texture.
- Step 3: Separate unique or standout pieces that are easy to place.
Pro Tip: Use sorting trays or bowls to organize groups this prevents unnecessary searching and speeds up solving.
Mistake #2: Poor Lighting and Workspace Setup
Your environment plays a huge role in how fast you solve a puzzle. Bad lighting, a cluttered table, or an unstable surface are real speed puzzling mistakes. It can slow you down without you even realizing it!
The Problem: Dim lighting makes it harder.
To see color differences, and working in a cluttered area causes constant distractions. Addressing these issues will help your puzzle action.
The Fix:
- Use bright, even lighting – natural daylight is best, but an LED lamp with adjustable brightness works too.
- Keep your workspace organized – a puzzle board or mat prevents shifting pieces.
Pro Tip: A dedicated puzzle station will help you focus and finish faster!
Mistake #3: Spending Too Much Time on the Border
The edges give structure to your puzzle but getting stuck here for too long is a common time-waster. While everyone is different, this strategy of starting with a flat edge can cost you time if your jigsaw puzzle doesn’t come together fast enough.
The Problem: Struggling to fit border pieces together.
Starting with the edges is a tactic preached by every puzzle play. What they forget to tell you is the rest of the puzzle sits untouched.
The Fix: If you’re stuck, switch to an interior section instead. Completing a recognizable part (like a face or logo) can help you place the border later.
Pro Tip: The border doesn’t have to be 100% complete before working on the middle sections!
Mistake #4: Choosing the Wrong Puzzle Type
The puzzle itself affects your speed. Some designs are much harder to solve than others. Some puzzles aren’t made for speed puzzling and others are perfect. So look at your jigsaw puzzle and decide if you are starting with the correct puzzle type.
The Problem: Attempting puzzles with difficult Designs.
Attempting jigsaw puzzles with large solid color sections, blurry images, or odd-shaped jigsaw puzzle pieces, will slow down the solving process. Difficult designs should only be done once you have the concept of speed puzzle down.
The Fix: Choose puzzles with clear color separations and standard-cut pieces for faster solving.
Pro Tip: If you’re training for speed, start with 500-piece puzzles before moving up to 1000+ pieces.
Mistake #5: Ignoring Puzzle Piece Shapes
Many puzzlers rely only on colors to find matches, but that’s a huge mistake!
The Problem: Searching for the wrong pieces
When searching jigsaw puzzles if you solely focus on color matches while ignoring how pieces fit together you are wasting time and energy.
The Fix: Use both color AND shape recognition to identify correct placements faster.
Pro Tip: Training your visual memory to spot piece shapes quickly will cut solving time dramatically.
Mistake #6: Not Using a Puzzle Mat or Sorting Trays
Constantly reorganizing your puzzle pieces wastes time. Not having a system to your reorganization is one of the common speed puzzling mistakes. You need to teach yourself to touch each piece the least amount of times.
The Problem: Pieces Move Around
If jigsaw puzzle pieces keep shifting, forcing you to re-sort them over and over, you are wasting time. The speed puzzling mistakes at this point will never offer good times as you continue to be interrupted.
The Fix: Use a puzzle mat to keep pieces secure, and sorting trays to organize sections.
Pro Tip: A lazy Susan-style organizer lets you rotate sections without disturbing your progress.
Mistake #7: Not Training Your Brain for Speed
Speed puzzling is a skill, and like any skill, you can train for it! One of the places you need to train is your brain. Keeping a pace is important. So is knowing the sequence of the puzzle pieces and how the image looks. All of this secures your success while avoiding speed puzzling mistakes.
The Problem: Solving puzzles, but not training.
Casually playing jigsaw puzzles without exercises to improve your solving time is a huge mistake.
The Fix: Try incorporating puzzle speed drills to better understand the solving process. The more you focus with your puzzles, the better the results.
- Timed Sorting Challenges – Sort pieces as fast as possible before solving.
- Speed Rounds – Solve a small section on a timer.
- Pattern Recognition Drills – Train yourself to identify common piece shapes faster.
Pro Tip: The best speed puzzlers track their times and compete against themselves to improve.
Mistake #8: Working on Too Many Sections at Once
Focus is key. Jumping between too many areas slows you down. IF you can’t keep focused, you will find you can’t keep the speed. While speed puzzling mistakes happen when you are distracted, make a point to visualize each section and focus on the section at hand.
The Problem: Trying to build multiple sections at the same time.
The Fix: Pick one distinct section and work on it until you make solid progress.
Pro Tip: Always start with high-contrast areas – they’re easier to solve and give structure to the rest of the puzzle.
Mistake #9: Rushing Instead of Being Strategic
Speed puzzling is about efficiency, not mindless rushing. If you make speed puzzling mistakes, it’s possible you are rushing and not paying attention. Any time you make an error, you take time. Don’t just play jigsaw puzzles, go in with the idea of solving puzzles.
The Problem: Grabbing random pieces and trying to force them together.
The Fix: Work methodically, scanning for logical connections.
Pro Tip: The best speed puzzlers rely on pattern recognition, not luck!
Mistake #10: Not Taking Breaks When Needed
Believe it or not, taking short breaks helps you solve faster. While it isn’t logically to someone in a rush to complete a jigsaw puzzle, it works. Also, a break isn’t just going to get a soda. It could be as quick as a glance at the puzzle box image then refocusing on the puzzle at hand.
The Problem: Staring at the puzzle for too long causes mental fatigue.
The Fix: Take a 5-minute break every 30-45 minutes to refresh your brain.
Pro Tip: Walking away makes patterns stand out more when you return!
Avoid Speed Puzzling Mistakes to Solve Faster, Have More Fun!
Speed puzzling is about strategy, focus, and efficiency. By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll solve puzzles faster and enjoy the process more!
