10 signs you've become a proper Puzzle Nerd®

You’ve just finished one puzzle and can’t wait to get started on the next one. Does it sometimes feel like you’ve got yourself a bit of a puzzle problem? We all know how compulsive and enjoyable puzzling can be, but have you stepped over the line to true Puzzle Nerd® status? Here are ten signs to watch out for to suggest you’ve become a proper Puzzle Nerd®!

1. It’s 3am and you just have to fit one more piece…

Easy on the puzzling there, geekazoid! The bottle of wine is empty, the last chunk of chocolate is finished, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and you can’t quite bring yourself to go to bed. You’re yawning, but you just need to place that particularly tricky piece of the sea or complete that fiendish section of pure yellow – oh all right, let’s face it, you know you’re going to finish the whole jigsaw before you go to bed. Puzzling is what the nighttime was made for.

2. Your house looks like this

A true puzzle ninja never wants to get rid of a much-loved puzzle, even after it’s boxed up and ready to store away. You could join a puzzle swap group, but then you’d have to give away some of your beloved puzzles in order to get a new one.

Real puzzle nerds can have trouble moving around their homes — Achievement unlocked: you can no longer climb the stairs (Pic: Hannah Astley-Marr)

It’s bad enough breaking up your puzzle and putting it back in the box, but at least you can keep it in case you might want to do the jigsaw again some time – right? Well, that depends – once your puzzles have taken over all the spare space in your home and you’re thinking of extending just to house them, you know you’re a true jigsaw fan.

3. You’ve tried doing puzzles on your phone

We all know that work is just an inconvenient break in the puzzling day. But the withdrawal symptoms are real – and if you’re a proper nerd, you’ll have tried easing those feelings by doing online jigsaws on your phone. Yes, it’s true, online puzzles are rubbish compared with real puzzles, but some puzzling is surely better than no puzzling at all! And if it makes that train ride or lunch break go a bit faster, it’ll have to do.

4. Puzzle memes are your safe space

You know you’re a puzzle geek when you spend all your free time (when you’re not puzzling, of course) scrolling through the internet for relatable puzzle stuff and memes. And let’s fact it, there’s an awful lot out there – cats and jigsaws, time-lapse puzzles and satisfying putting-the-last-piece-in puzzles.

5. You’ve ordered (or built) your own puzzle table

Yes, there are plenty of cheap plasticky puzzle tables available that tilt or sit on your knees, but true puzzle nerds covet the real thing.

A beautiful wooden hand-crafted puzzle table with slide-away drawers, and a fold-over wooden top so that you can use the table for other things, while your puzzle stays safe and untouched beneath until you can get back to puzzling. Or, a puzzle table that doubles effortlessly as a dining table. Yes, nerds, this is the holy grail of puzzle furniture.

Check out these amazing tables, which will give you table envy for sure. You can either buy the build plans for a DIY version and make it yourself, or splash out on the ready-built table which is hand-made by Amish craftsmen from solid maple hardwood.

6. You’re a proud dissectologist

True puzzle geeks will know that this is the official term for someone who enjoys jigsaw puzzle assembly – a Puzzle Nerd®, in other words. The term dates back to the eighteenth century when John Spilsbury invented the original jigsaw puzzle. He pasted maps of Europe onto a wooden backing, then cut around the individual countries for others to reassemble, and called them “dissected maps”.

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There’s even a society for puzzle geeks, The Benevolent Confraternity of Dissectologists, which researches and preserves old jigsaws, produces regular newsletters and organises jigsaw-related events, activities and puzzling weekends away. Although based in the UK, it has a worldwide membership of puzzle fans.

7. Your friends stage an intervention

You know you’re a real Puzzle Nerd® when your friends stage an intervention about your puzzle addiction. OK, so this is the fourth evening you’ve turned down an invite to the pub to stay in puzzling, but really who wants to go out when a brand new beautiful puzzle is calling? Your friends are very welcome to stay in and puzzle with you, but there’s no way you’re leaving this jigsaw until at least the sky is finished!

8. You dream of puzzles

You know the bit in The Queen’s Gambit, where Beth Harmon lies in bed planning her advance chess moves with floating chess figures above her head – you’re like this with puzzle pieces. The last thing you see at night is puzzle pieces, you dream about puzzling and when you wake up in the morning the first thing you think about is how soon you can get back to your jigsaw. You really do love puzzles, don’t you?

9. The highlight of your week is the arrival of a new puzzle

Only true puzzle geeks know the excitement of the postie arriving at the door with a delivery of a new puzzle. That sense of relief that you don’t have to go out jogging or do the chores after all – you can stay in puzzling all day. You could even invite some friends over and have a puzzle-reveal party. This cool clip from puzzle lovers Marc and Lyn just says it all!

10. Only a Cloudberries will do

Yes, we know there are other puzzles out there, but we also know that once you’ve tried one of our premium puzzles nothing else is good enough. True jigsaw puzzle addicts know that only a Cloudberries will do.