Jigsaw Puzzle, our passion.
Saturday 3 February 2018 - 13th edition - 4 hours Puzzle of Maransart
On Saturday the 3rd of February 2018, we participated in the now traditional tournament of the 4 hours of Maransart. This tournament has a special place in our heart because it is the first tournament we did only the two of us. And it's always a pleasure to find our friends of "la pièce qui compte". Besides the contest and for the first time this year, the organizers have proposed a market of puzzles. Each team can bring 1-2 puzzles and leave with the same number of puzzles. Excellent initiative.
This year we decided to participate in the category "Experts" which is done in teams of four, but with only the two of us. It would not seem very "sporty" to participate in the category "Initiates" but we like to do this competition just the two of us. We know we cannot aim for victory (there are some very strong teams present at this contest, even if we were four it would be a challenge) but our goal is to finish the puzzle.
This year's puzzle is a 1500-piece Star Wars puzzle. It will not be easy to finish because there are a lot of dark areas. At first we advance at a good rythm but the beginning of the black part is laborious.
Meanwhile, the team of "Le Tonneau essaie encore" wins the contest, in front of "les Dépuzzlées" and "Les faucons rigolent".
On our side, we are progressing little by little in the black pieces but there are still quite a few and only twenty minutes left before the end. I confess I do not believe anymore we can do it. A lot of people come to encourage us by seeing that we are close to finish and Cathy manages to accelerate the pace to allow us to finish the puzzle in 3:58, just before the end of the contest.
List of puzzles :
- Educa 1500 pièces – Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
Sunday 29 January 2017 : 6th Puzzeliade of Hotton
Our schedule has been particularly busy in the last few weeks and we got behind in the writing of our articles.
Our puzzle season started on January 29th with the Puzzeliade of Hotton (Belgium) where we took part in the 8 hours contest. As in previous years, Cathy and I were teaming up with Vanessa and Pierre.
The competition began smoothly with a 500 pieces puzzle representing parrots in a paradisiac landscape.
The second puzzle however was very difficult: it was a 1000 miniature pieces puzzle representing a picture of Lisbon. The image was black and white with the exception of two orange-colored trams. This puzzle blocked quite a few teams because the combination of black and white and miniature pieces made it really hard. Given the difficulty of this second puzzle, the organizers had the kindness to offer the 3rd puzzle to all the teams that couldn't finish this one during the 8 hours.
The third puzzle was a 1000 pieces representing Asian landscapes. No particular difficulty here and a welcome break after the previous one. Furthermore this puzzle is pretty nice.
The fourth puzzle was another 1000 pieces puzzle in black and white (with the exception of a red bike in the foreground) representing Amsterdam. This puzzle was rather difficult too but with standard sized pieces, so it was less difficult than the second.
We then got a 1000 pieces puzzle representing a shelf filled with weird items and small characters walking around. Pretty nice to do...
Finally, we got to the last puzzle, a 2000 pieces that we had already had in a previous edition. It was clearly not a puzzle that we are fan of but at this stage of the contest, I find it rather normal to put this type of puzzle. Let's just hope that we don't get it again next year 😉
At the end of the 8 hours, we are puzzled! were able to keep their title at Hotton and we shared a good gourmet basket. And after the effort, we finally enjoyed the good cakes that had been tempting us for a few hours…
