Puzzle Swapping at the Kilton Library

When Lisa Green’s house started reaching capacity with the many jigsaw puzzles she had finished and even more that she still wanted to put together, she decided it was time to share her passion with others. In launching the Upper Valley Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange Meetup group in 2018, Lisa thought other puzzle enthusiasts might have their own puzzles to share and exchange. Shortly after it began, the group took off and now consists of 170 members, coming from around the Upper Valley and beyond to swap puzzles every two months at the Kilton Library in West Lebanon.

Meetup is an online platform founded in 2002, designed to connect people in person and virtually through similar hobbies and interests. Inspired by the book Bowling Alone, which highlighted society’s lack of connection and community, Meetup has grown to include more than 35 million users, with 225,000 Meetup groups in 180 countries.

Lisa Green’s Puzzle Collection

Lisa explains her motivation for starting the Meetup group. “I have loved puzzles ever since I was a little kid. it was a favorite pastime, and there was always [a puzzle] on the dining room table.” Lisa explains that for hard core “puzzlers”, it’s unusual to do a jigsaw puzzle more than once. “Once you’ve done a puzzle once, you don’t want to do it again. And puzzles are expensive, so I decided to start a group for others to bring all the puzzles they wanted to trade.”

The Upper Valley Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange Meetup group has members who like all kinds of styles of puzzling, says Lisa. “I don’t like anything that’s too challenging like solid colors, but we have some members who do 5,000 piece puzzles, working on them for months.”

Lisa’s personal puzzling strategy is well thought out. “I don’t go over 1,000 pieces because my dining room table can’t accommodate anything bigger. Sometimes I’ll find a 500 piece puzzle I like, and my son and I can do those in an hour or two.” Lisa and her son Patrick are working on a White Mountain Puzzles brand art puzzle now that has beautiful exterior and interior scenes. “I love to do puzzles with my 33-year-old son. He’s a developmentally disabled young man and he’s very good at them.” Lisa and Patrick have plenty of puzzles to practice on at home, with more than 50 puzzles in their “puzzle closet”.  “I’m whittling the pile down each year,” Lisa says. “Puzzles are artwork because they’re so beautiful or have sentimental value as a gift from a family member.”

Patrick and Lisa puzzling

In the last few years, Lisa and Patrick have entered and won some puzzle contests. One might not think of puzzling as a competitive sport, but in fact, speed puzzling competitions are held all over the world. There are annual conferences with competitions (US Jigsaw Puzzle Association, World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships), and dozens of state and local competitions. For puzzle designers, there’s “Puzzle Parley”, a national group that celebrates the art and history of wooden puzzles meeting in a different city each year to showcase their craft. International wooden puzzle manufacturer, Stave Puzzles, in Norwich, VT, known as the “Rolls Royce of Puzzles”, has hosted puzzling competitions featuring their signature “trick puzzles”, presumably impossible to solve.

Locally, there are several puzzling parties to choose from, often hosted by libraries. In Enfield, a church hosts an annual competition inviting six-person teams to finish the same puzzle at speed. “After the event, there’s a turkey dinner that smells so good while we’re puzzling,” Lisa notes. “Whoever finishes their puzzle first wins the top place in line to eat.”

For her part, Lisa loves the calming effect of puzzling. “In this day and age, there’s so much going on and everyone’s stressed out. Puzzling occupies your mind, it’s like you’re in a meditative state. It keeps your mind sharp and engaged and you don’t think about your worries – you’re just having fun.” For now, Lisa will keep working on her puzzle closet, filling the trunk of her car with puzzles to share at upcoming exchanges.

To learn more about the exchange, search under “groups” on Meetup.com for “Upper Valley Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange”, and start clearing out your own stash of puzzles.