Puzzle Palooza 2025 Recap: A Weekend to Remember
If you walked into Puzzle Warehouse during Puzzle Palooza weekend, you would have been greeted with the buzz of friendly competition, the sound of puzzle pieces snapping into place, and excited visitors exploring the largest puzzle store in the country. It’s hard to capture everything that happened in one post—but let’s give it a try!
Everyone getting ready for individuals
A Warehouse Full of Puzzlers
This wasn’t just any event. We had puzzlers flying in, driving across state lines, and planning summer trips around this weekend—and we felt that energy all throughout the building. I met puzzlers from Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Iowa and beyond! From first-time competitors to seasoned speed puzzlers, the turnout was incredible. Over the two-day event, more than 1,000 visitors stopped by, shopped the store, watched events, and joined in the fun.
The Start of the Pairs competition
What made it even more special? It brought together nearly every department from Puzzle Warehouse under one roof. Retail staff kept lines moving, customer care helped visitors find their must-have puzzles, and warehouse team members worked behind the scenes to restock and rehome puzzles throughout the weekend. As for me—I flew in from Washington to serve as the event’s MC and document the experience as the social media manager. It was truly a team effort from start to finish.
Michelle shared her shopping cart
Saturday Events
Individuals – Sponsored by Cobble Hill
The competition kicked off with our Individuals event using a 500-piece puzzle called Day at the Beach by Cobble Hill. This classic summertime scene was filled with vibrant color sections, busy textures, and a few well-placed sky sections that tripped up more than a few puzzlers.
Emilee, Brian and Susan at the Opening Ceremony
Despite the challenge, Ashley Tucker flew through the puzzle and secured first place with a time of 00:52:43. The energy in the room was electric as the first timers and returning participants raced the clock with fierce determination. Whether someone finished the puzzle or not, the applause at the end of the event said it all—this community lifts each other up.
Winner: Ashley with her winning puzzle
Pairs – Sponsored by Eurographics
Our Pairs event featured the striking image Calypso, a 500-piece Eurographics puzzle that proved to be the most difficult image of the weekend. The bold, artistic brush strokes and mosaic color blending had teams second-guessing piece placement constantly. It was beautiful, but brutal.
Working on Calypso
Jennifer and Meri Cartee tackled the challenge with incredible focus and teamwork, finishing in 48:15 to claim first place.
Winners: Jennifer & Meri with their winning puzzle
Teams (1000-piece) – Sponsored by Ravensburger
The final event of the day brought out our 4-person teams for the 1000-piece challenge, using Halifax Harbour by Ravensburger. This puzzle was originally featured in the 2025 Canadian Nationals, and it made its U.S. competition debut right here at Puzzle Palooza.
The image was a stunning waterfront view packed with tiny architectural details, repeated window patterns, and water reflections—everything you want in a competition puzzle if you’re up for the challenge.
The winning team of Meri Cartee, Jen Cartee, Barbara Steinbach, and Libby Griesedieck finished in 1:01:45. it was a hard-fought victory that had spectators holding their breath. With such a complex image, this event felt like a true test of collaboration and puzzling strategy.
Winning Team with their Ravensburger Puzzle
Sunday Events
Teams (550-piece) – Sponsored by Vermont Christmas Company
Sunday morning kicked off with the 550-piece team event featuring Beachside Home by Vermont Christmas Company. This image had everything you’d expect from a relaxing summer scene—shingles, vintage truck, ocean hues, and just enough repeated patterns to make things tricky.
It survived a pickup test!
The team No Piece Left Behind lived up to their name, finishing in 27:49 with an impressively clean puzzle. Their teamwork was seamless and their communication throughout the event was a great example of how strategic puzzling can make all the difference.
Winners: No Piece Left Behind with their puzzle
Family – Sponsored by MasterPieces
The Family Event was one of the highlights of the entire weekend. Sponsored by MasterPieces, the chosen puzzle—Marvelous Kittens (400 pieces)—was both adorable and surprisingly challenging, with a busy composition full of fur textures and vibrant quilt patterns.
The Pratt Family flew through the puzzle in just 20:38, earning a first-place finish. The second and third place teams weren't far behind and ended up completing the puzzle with only 2 seconds between them! Seeing families puzzling side by side, cheering each other on, and sharing in the joy of completion was one of the highlights of the weekend for me.
The Pratt Team with their winning puzzle
Puzzle Chess – Sponsored by Buffalo Games & Ceaco
One of the most creative events of the weekend was Puzzle Chess, a fast-paced, bracket-style showdown using 100-piece puzzles with increasingly difficult rounds. In the final round, two standout competitors—Dan and Ashley—faced off on a 200-piece Educa puzzle.
The room fell silent as both players raced through the final image. In the end, Dan edged out the win and was crowned the Puzzle Chess Champion. It was a thrilling finish to a truly unique event and a great way to wrap up Sunday’s competitions.
Extra Fun and Community Support
This event wouldn’t have been possible without our additional sponsors who went above and beyond to support Puzzle Palooza. Special thanks to:
- Hart Puzzles – for providing puzzle mats for the competition tables
- Puzzle Peak – for sending box top stands
- Springbok, GoodWay Licensing, and SunsOut – for donating puzzles for our raffles
Thank you to our sponsors!
We also hosted raffles, shared sneak peeks of new arrivals, and even had visitors get a behind-the-scenes look at our warehouse operations. One of my favorite moments was seeing so many people stop me to say they follow our social media or had seen my videos—thank you for being part of the community both online and in person!
Group photo with new puzzle friends!
We’ll be sharing more photos and video highlights from the weekend soon. If you attended and have memories to share, tag us!
Until next time, happy puzzling!
I went last year with my daughter and thoroughly enjoyed it. Wish we could have gone this year but I am 92 years old and it would have been too much for me but we know a good time was had by all. Went to their store last week and bought 4 more puzzles, just a puzzle junkie, i guess. PUZZLE ON !!
Loved the blog. Fantastic to see and read all the information. Emilee Frost is a fantastic ambassador for puzzle warehouse. Keep up the good work. And would like to see more blogs in future. Very informative.
Great job Emily on sharing the highlights. This event was so fun and inspiring. We enjoyed meeting staff from PW , vendors, Casual Puzzlers and speed puzzlers. I went home exhausted because I literally shopped until I dropped. I was bummed as one of the puzzles I really wanted From Cherry Pazzi was “not available “ even though I carried all around the Warehouse but I walked away with more than enough. We look forward to next year and plan to be a finisher in whatever events we participate in. Also the Hotel was a great pick! So close to the warehouse and clean.