PORT ANGELES — Competitive jigsaw puzzling; three words that, perhaps, you never expected to see strung together.
But jigsaw puzzle contests are here, with staunch participants, on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The Port Angeles Main Library began hosting jigsaw puzzle contests late last year. The inaugural contest in November drew 43 contestants and January’s contest drew 40 puzzlers.
The library, located at 2210 S. Peabody St., has another contest scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.
And while it is unlikely you will see jigsaw puzzles on 7 Cedars’ sportsbook anytime soon, their popularity has prompted the North Olympic Library System to expand the contests to its West End branches.
“Multiple people admired the intergenerational nature of the program and how people were able to interact with folks they may not normally meet,” said Kristin Overbey, community outreach specialist for the library system.
The library system received feedback from Clallam Bay and Forks library cardholders indicating interest in the puzzle contests, according to Adrienne Langan, an adult services librarian.
The Clallam Bay Public Library, 16990 state Highway 112, will host contests at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, March 27 and April 24.
The Forks Public Library, 171 S. Forks Ave., will conduct its competitions at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 4, and April 1.
The Port Angeles Public Library will host more contests at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 18, and at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 22.
Space limitations at the Sequim Library have kept it out of the jigsaw puzzle circuit, according to Langan.
The rules of the contests are simple: teams of up to four members, ages 10 and older, each receive a puzzle, a table to assemble it on and two hours in which to do so.
The first team to complete the puzzle wins; if no team finishes the puzzle within the two-hour time limit, the team with the fewest pieces remaining will win.
Contestants may come as a team or meet up at the library to form a team at the contest; some of the individuals who formed teams at the November contest returned as teams in January.
The members of the winning team each receive a $5 gift card from the Blackbird Coffeehouse, 336 E. Eighth St., Port Angeles.
Each team must complete a 500-piece puzzle in two hours. That is, 500 pieces in 7,200 seconds, or one piece being placed every 14.4 seconds.
And, unlike the NBA, there are no time outs and the clock will not stop if a piece goes out of bounds.
Difficult though it may be, it must be possible since the winners of the January contest completed their puzzle in less than 45 minutes, according to Langan.
Langan stated that the library has 26 unique puzzles, donations from the Port Angeles Friends of the Library, so that there are plenty of new puzzles for repeat competitors.
The friends of the library also is selling jigsaw puzzles through its store in the Port Angeles Library.
She also mentioned that the library has purchased a large-piece puzzle suitable for competitors with poor vision or coordination issues and that they are searching for a puzzle usable by people with color vision deficiencies.
For more information, call the library at 360-417-8500, email discover@nols.org, visit www.nols.org or just show up.
