Everyone loves a good jigsaw puzzle, at least the idea of beginning one. During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an influx of people staying at home, so many dusted off the old games trunk and started a puzzle, some even purchasing new ones.
Ravensburger, a game-making company, based out of the United States, saw a 370 per cent increase in sales within North America during the start of the pandemic in 2020, averaging around 20 puzzles sold every minute.
While many people rediscovered their passion for puzzling, a retired teacher in Peterborough never lost that passion.
“I got started with puzzling as I understand it when I was two,” says Paul Mitchell, remembering his earliest memories of doing puzzles.
“Back in the day, when you didn't need seat belts in cars, we had a big back window area. So as we were going down the road, I did puzzles on the back window ledge. They kept me entertained.”
Mitchell estimates he has around 100 puzzles currently in his Peterborough home and completes one or two every week. To him, there is a satisfaction of the tactile nature of a puzzle that you can’t get in any other way. Even an online jigsaw is not nearly as fulfilling, relaxing or as fun.
“I can do anything under a 500, probably in a night if I want to. A thousand-piece puzzle, depending on the puzzle, usually takes me three days,” he says.
When completing a puzzle, Mitchell feels a sense of satisfaction and will usually let it stay on the dedicated puzzle table for the night. He then will take a picture of it for his Instagram account @puzzlerguy to log that this one has been completed before finally boxing it up and sending it to a new home.
Mitchell had quite a puzzle collection growing up, as he refused to let them go. Even after moving out of his childhood home, the pieces kept stacking up in his parents’ closet, and they eventually decided he had to take them. He has been working on passing them along now so others can enjoy them as he does.
“I pass them on to people that also enjoy doing puzzles. Sometimes it's my older brother. Sometimes it's friends. I have passed on some to Value Village if they've come full circle through everybody,” he says.
Mitchell thinks he probably spends about an hour or two every night working on them, whether multitasking while watching television or just to clear his head.
“I'll sneak down midday and think, ‘I just need quiet time,’ and I'll sit and work on this for a bit, or I'll even reward myself after exercising. I'll say, ‘okay, I've got that done. Now I can do a puzzle for a little bit,’” Mitchell says.
But the passion for puzzling doesn't just stay at home. When Mitchell was a teacher, he would always make sure to have puzzles available in the classroom for the kids. He even had one set up in the back of the class for when students finished their work. He admits every now and then that he would add a few pieces.
“I remember being in a seniors’ residence once, and they had a puzzle on the table as they may often do. And I'm thinking, ‘I wish I could just sit down and work away,’ and I have actually done that once or twice if I'm visiting someone,” he says with a laugh.
Arguably the worst possible thing that can happen when you’re doing a puzzle is coming to an end and realizing there is a piece missing. It’s a heart-wrenching feeling. Mitchell typically won't give away a puzzle missing pieces, but he sometimes finds an empathetic workaround to the problem.
“When you do a puzzle, and there's a piece missing, it's just such a letdown and but I almost feel so sorry for the puzzle. Sometimes I will try to make a handmade piece to fit into the missing spot. I don’t know if I’m crazy, but I go through life thinking life is like a jigsaw. You grow and mature and change. It's just like the evolving jigsaw puzzle building and coming together.”