Puzzle Battle
Battle of the YouTube Puzzlers!
Written by Judy Moulder & Donnalouise / February 2, 2024 / Main Photo: Battle of the Youtube Puzzlers
Hi puzzle friends! I’m Judy from @Addicted2Puzzles! Recently, the 3rd Battle of the YouTube Puzzlers premiered on YouTube and I wanted to share how this battle came to be, written by Donnalouise from @FortheLoveofPuzzles and I'll share a little bit about myself and how I came to be a puzzle fanatic.
I started puzzling early in life before phones and computers took up a lot of our time, so yes, I am talking the 1970s and 80s!
My two sisters and I would do puzzles from time to time, but I remember always wanting to do puzzles! I guess I was obsessed from a pretty young age and that obsession never left me! After I started making money from babysitting and working at Wendy’s, I would buy puzzles whenever I could, usually from the Hallmark store. When I got on Facebook in 2010 and later Instagram, I was so amazed that there were other puzzle obsessed people just like me! Honestly, it still amazes me today! The puzzle community are some of the most amazing people I have yet to meet!
In 2017, I started time lapsing my puzzles on YouTube and doing 3D puzzle tutorials.
I started to meet other YouTubers on social media and one day I came across a post by Donnalouise talking about the Battle of the YouTube Puzzlers (which made its debut in January 2023!). Here is Donnalouise explaining how she came up with such a fun collaboration with the YouTube and social media communities!
After watching the 2022 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in June of that year, I came up with the idea to speed puzzle against other YouTubers. I first reached out to "Janette & her Puzzles" from Slovenia and she agreed to collaborate with me. At first, I thought the name was a bit much - “Battle of the YouTube Puzzlers” - but it has caught on and I like it. It even has a cool hashtag #BOTYP. We chose the first puzzle and the plan was that we would each record ourselves speed running it. We would then release our videos on our YouTube channels at the same time and find out which one of us was the fastest. We started promoting this first Battle and that’s when "Addicted 2 Puzzles" Judy of the United States and "Vicky Makes and Builds” of the United Kingdom showed interest in joining in as well. I then also extended the invitation to “Jigsaw Jubie” of Australia. They have all been a part of the first three Battles - speed running the same puzzle with me. We even had special guest puzzlers join in as well - “Puzzling in 2 Worlds” Russ of Canada for the second Battle and “Puzzlephile” Dan of the United States for the third Battle.
The third Battle was held the weekend of January 27/28, 2024. It is so much fun as our YouTube videos are released back-to-back as Premieres so we can live chat with everyone watching. And the best part is that everyone can join in the fun as well. There is a Google Form for anyone who does the puzzle to fill out. They don’t have to speed run the puzzle if they don’t want to, they can just do it for fun. This third Battle’s puzzle is “The Blue Car” from Clementoni and the Google Form will be open until February 29, 2024, for submissions. You just enter your name, country and time (or “0000” if you didn’t time yourself) and the results will be compiled and shared in early March.
I just love the idea of so many people from all around the world doing the same puzzle.
And with every Battle, we have had more and more puzzlers join in the fun - it’s great! I try to change up the puzzle style, piece count and rules so that every Battle is a little different. It can be a bit tricky picking a puzzle that is readily available worldwide so we encourage people to share their copy if others can’t get one for themselves. I just peeked at the Google Form and we already have 77 entries, beating my goal of 75!! This is so amazing, and I am very grateful that so many puzzlers want to join in this experience with me.
I am always excited for these battles as it really brings the puzzle community together, whether speed puzzling or just puzzling for fun! We hope you all join us in this 3rd Battle of the YouTube Puzzlers! And stay tuned in the spring for more information for BOTYP 4. Who knows what the next puzzle will be, so stay tuned and Happy Puzzling!
To learn more about the Battle of the Youtube Puzzlers, Click Here.
Get to know the Author: Judy Mouder
Judy has been puzzling her whole life with a to-do pile that is overflowing out of her puzzle room! But she wouldn't want it any other way!