Credit ankle trouble for Krystal Zentgraf’s entry into the world of speed puzzling competitions. The principal decision scientist needed an alternative to playing sports and running to feed her competitive side. She found a solution in puzzling events hosted at local libraries.

Speed puzzling 101:

Speed puzzling contests pit individuals or teams against each other to complete a jigsaw puzzle within a time limit.

• Krystal got hooked because she found satisfaction in finding patterns and assembling pieces.
• She competes in teams of up to four to complete 500-piece puzzles.

Community impact:

Noticing events were concentrated in one area, Krystal, based in Virginia, started a league with her sister to host events in her hometown of Richmond. Monthly events have attracted big crowds, and businesses and teams now ask her to host more.

Get to know more about Krystal and her one-of-a-kind hobby including:

• Her best puzzle-solving time
• How speed puzzling unexpectedly sharpened her skills
• How her hobby shapes the way she shows up for her team
• The puzzle she’s most proud of that has a link to animal rescue

(Her answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.)

How did you get into solving jigsaw puzzles in the first place?

I grew up in a puzzle family. My mom always has a 1000-piece puzzle on her table, and (growing up) we would solve puzzles between Christmas and New Year’s during school break.

What’s your best personal time as a speed puzzler?

My best time was with a group of four and 500 pieces where we finished in 44 minutes. I’m amazed by who I consider the true “professionals” who finish a 500-piece puzzle regularly under 35 minutes. I aspire to be like them.

What is the most challenging puzzle you’ve completed?

A 500-piece puzzle was given to me by my brother. Inspired by my speed puzzling, he signed his wife and in-laws up to compete in a puzzle race in his own city. They finished (the same) puzzle in more than 2 hours, 30 minutes with a team of five. Ever the competitive sibling, my husband and I finished it in about 2 hours, 10 minutes. Still slow compared to better times, but successfully beating my brother with three fewer people.

Tell us more about how you started organizing puzzling events in your Richmond, Va. area and what can attendees expect when they attend?

My sister and I combined our efforts to create puzzling events once we noticed there weren’t many in our area. We created the RVA Puzzle League on Instagram.

She contacted local breweries while I researched fun puzzles to solve and other venues to schedule events. At first only one brewery got back to us, allowing us to use their place for free, hosting eight teams on a Tuesday.

Since that first time, our monthly events have sold out. Businesses have actively contacted us to host events.

What can people expect when they participate, and do they already need to be a speed puzzler?

• Teams pay $30 to take part in it to cover the cost of the puzzle and prizes for the top three finishers.
• When teams arrive and check-in, they receive a wrapped puzzle, a table light and a foam board which sometimes helps with uneven tables or organization.

The puzzles are the same for each team and are always 500 pieces.

People do not need to be a “puzzler” to join in. Plenty of people just come to hang out and try something different. It’s an excuse to spend time with friends, get food and drinks.

"My personal purpose is to actively endeavor to enhance the lives of family, friends, and community through my actions and words."

-Krystal Zentgraf

What puzzle are you especially proud of?

A puzzle I’m especially proud of is one I created through a custom photo puzzle service for an upcoming fundraiser my sister and I are hosting to support a local animal shelter. It features a collage of rescued animals, and I’m excited to combine puzzling with supporting a cause that helps animals in our community.

What is your personal purpose?

My personal purpose is to actively endeavor to enhance the lives of my family, friends and community through my actions and words.

What do you do in your role as a principal decision scientist? What kinds of problems are you solving?

I support the business needs of the indirect auto lending business and the problems they come to me with can vary from business KPI (key performance indicator) reporting to policy development and research of performance shifts. I get to look for patterns in the millions of data points we store at Truist and help create change and improvements.

What skills do speed puzzling sharpen that people might not expect?

Most obvious is pattern recognition, the slight differences in shading or shape of a cut out. Most unexpected is communication and planning. You must be very efficient with your approach like sorting or what part of the puzzle you should start with (not always the edges) and you need to be on the same page as your team and have a game plan.