It was while researching the Monopoly World Championships that Anaïs Lo Presti, 31, came across the Puzzle World Championship last year. The player then decides to register: it is September 2021. Winter then arrives and Anaïs begins her training. If she knows that she will not win this weekend in Valladolid in Spain, the young woman intends to qualify for the final.
“In 2019, the winner, from the Czech Republic, managed to assemble all 500 parts in 46 minutes and 35 seconds. Currently, I complete a puzzle of this format in 1h20”, specifies the thirty-year-old who lives in Boissy-Saint-Léger, in Val-de-Marne. Equipped with her stopwatch, she does not stop training even if she admits having slowed down the pace “with the beautiful days”. And then, this “puzzle addict” is a loner: “I don’t like people touching my pieces when I play. I am very manic. “If she embarked on this adventure, it is also” for the atmosphere “. “There will be players of all nationalities: Mexicans, Australians, Brazilians…”, she says, impatiently, consulting the list of registered players.
A unique puzzle on D-Day
And some of them leave with a head start. “In Eastern European countries, children do puzzles on Wednesday afternoons after school and they therefore become very fast. Whereas me, in France, I looked for a club and I found nothing”, relates Anaïs. So, while waiting for the competition, the Francilienne trains on different types of puzzles thanks to the generosity of her neighbours: “I launched a call for donations on the Facebook group of my city to find 500 pieces and I had four or five people bring me puzzles,” she rejoices.
Anyway, on D-Day no one will know the puzzle to be completed as soon as possible since it will be a game from the Ravensburger 2023 collection, not yet available on the market. Nothing is therefore decided.
The World Puzzle Championships, how does it work?
Registration for the World Puzzle Championships costs 20 euros. The winner wins the sum of 500 euros, the second 300 euros and the third 100 euros. Puzzles are offered to the next three.
Three hundred and thirty eight competitors compete individually. They are split into three groups during qualifying (this Friday). Then, 60 puzzle players from each group qualify for the final (Saturday): the top two from each country and the next in rank order. Thus, 180 participants find themselves in the final and all have a maximum of 90 minutes to complete their puzzle.