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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS. – This Saturday, the state’s best dissectologists will gather at Salem State University for the 2026 Massachusetts Speed Puzzling Championship, bringing with them a community of jigsaw puzzle aficionados and an opportunity for ticketholders to swap puzzles from home.
The Massachusetts Speed Puzzling Championship, hosted by SpeedPuzzling.com, will run at the O’Keefe Sports Complex, 225 Canal St., on Saturday, Aug. 15 from 8:45 am – 6 pm. The schedule for the day includes five waves of ticketed competition, and a $10 spectator ticket allows guests to both watch the proceedings and exchange complete puzzles for others swapped at the event’s “puzzle swap table.”
While the event will be centered around competition, it remains an exciting opportunity to join a welcoming community and hobby for puzzle fans of all ages and skill levels.
“Hosting the state championship is a great opportunity to introduce the sport of speed puzzling to both Salem State and the region,” said Meghan Perlow, associate director of conference and event services at Salem State. “It's not only a chance to boost mental health and focus, but also to meet equally supportive members of the puzzling community. New puzzlers are greeted with enthusiasm—whether you finish first or 50th. Sometimes, just completing the puzzle is an achievement.”
The competition will run in five waves, with participants getting puzzles to complete and keep at the end of the contest:
- 9:15-11 am: Solo contests, including an advanced 500-piece contest for adults, and 300-piece competitions for adult casual, junior, and senior participants to complete puzzles in one hour and 45 minutes
- 11:15 am-12 pm: Pair Relay contests, focusing teams of two on completing two 200- to 300-piece puzzles in 45 minutes, and switching team members between puzzles every five minutes
- 1-2:15 pm: Pair Race contests, tasking teams of two to complete puzzles within the same divisions as the solo contests, with one hour and 15 minutes to complete the puzzles
- 2:30-3:30 pm: Solo Puzzle Pyramid contests, where participants will need to complete 100-, 200-, and 300-piece puzzles in rounds of 20 minutes. To add pressure, only the first two-thirds of contestants to complete puzzles in the first round move on to the second, and only the first half of those to complete puzzles in the second round will move on to the third.
- 4-6 pm: Team Race contests, including an advanced 1,000-piece contest for adults and 500-piece competitions for adult casual, junior, and senior participants to complete puzzles in two hours
For more information about the contests and to purchase tickets to participate or watch, please visit the Speed Puzzling website. All tickets also include the opportunity to swap complete puzzles at a puzzle swap table, where puzzles will be arranged by piece count and quality, and ticketholders can swap their puzzles for those of equal quality and piece count.
The Massachusetts Speed Puzzling Championship is one of many outside organizations to have partnered with Salem State University for a venue to hold their event or host a summer outing with housing in 2026. Other notable highlights include the Salem Brick Convention, a LEGO fan event that has called the O’Keefe Sports Complex home in both of the last two years, and the hosting of national fan clubs for the 2026 World Cup games, which were hosted in the United States and included games held in nearby Foxboro.
“We're thrilled to host things like this exciting community event on campus. It's a wonderful chance to showcase the facilities and opportunities available for use to both local and national groups,” Perlow said. “Salem State and the surrounding city provide the perfect backdrop to hold such a lively event.”
For more information on hosting conferences and events at Salem State, please visit the Conference and Events Services department website.