Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
For a town with fewer than 3,000 residents, Palmer Lake’s Villa Toscana strip mall was surprisingly lively on a Monday evening. Conversation and laughter floated out of the Palmer Lake Pub on the corner, rivaled only by the buzz of activity from the puzzle store a few doors down.
Thirty people sat, stood and squirmed at long fold-out plastic tables facing a large timer at the front of the store, waiting for permission to rip into the orange plastic bags in front of them.
“Ready, set, go!” The volunteer moderator shouted, starting the two-hour timer.
Orange bags flew to the floor, each revealing a 500-piece MasterPieces puzzle depicting a stained-glass scene of The Wizard of Oz.
For the next two hours, these 30 competitors — from twenty-somethings to 70-somethings — will race to complete the puzzle as quickly as possible. This is speed puzzling, a reemerging sport with a growing number of players in Colorado.
“It’s actually a lot more intense than you would think,” speed puzzler Nicole Norstrud said. “I end up sweating all the time while I’m puzzling.”
Norstrud competes three to four times a month, often at @mindquestpuzzlesandgames in Palmer Lake. Mind Quest opened its brick and mortar location in early January, becoming the first dedicated speed puzzling venue in the state.
“[Speed puzzling] is growing in Colorado. I don't know if that's due to us or if it's just due to more people knowing about it, because once you do it once, you've eaten the fruit and you want to do it again,” said Karen Wells, co-owner of Mind Quest.
Read more at rmpbs.org.
Produced by Carly Rose
For a town with fewer than 3,000 residents, Palmer Lake’s Villa Toscana strip mall was surprisingly lively on a Monday evening. Conversation and laughter floated out of the Palmer Lake Pub on the corner, rivaled only by the buzz of activity from the puzzle store a few doors down.
Thirty people sat, stood and squirmed at long fold-out plastic tables facing a large timer at the front of the store, waiting for permission to rip into the orange plastic bags in front of them.
“Ready, set, go!” The volunteer moderator shouted, starting the two-hour timer.
Orange bags flew to the floor, each revealing a 500-piece MasterPieces puzzle depicting a stained-glass scene of The Wizard of Oz.
For the next two hours, these 30 competitors — from twenty-somethings to 70-somethings — will race to complete the puzzle as quickly as possible. This is speed puzzling, a reemerging sport with a growing number of players in Colorado.
“It’s actually a lot more intense than you would think,” speed puzzler Nicole Norstrud said. “I end up sweating all the time while I’m puzzling.”
Norstrud competes three to four times a month, often at @mindquestpuzzlesandgames in Palmer Lake. Mind Quest opened its brick and mortar location in early January, becoming the first dedicated speed puzzling venue in the state.
“[Speed puzzling] is growing in Colorado. I don't know if that's due to us or if it's just due to more people knowing about it, because once you do it once, you've eaten the fruit and you want to do it again,” said Karen Wells, co-owner of Mind Quest.
Read more at rmpbs.org.
Produced by Carly Rose
