Register ON OCTOBER 3rd
Sign up early as this event sells out!
When: Saturday, February 6 & Sunday, February 7, 2027
Location: Saint Paul Union Depot, 214 East 4th Street
Registration opens Saturday, October 3rd, 2026 at 10AM CST
Do you love jigsaw puzzles? Then this is the event for you!
The Saint Paul Winter Carnival is home to the largest annual jigsaw puzzle competition in the U.S.! This is your opportunity to puzzle with hundreds of other puzzle enthusiasts from around the country! The event is open to all puzzlers - competitive and casual alike. Grab your friends and family for two days of lively puzzle fun!
The Union Depot has plenty of parking and is located on the light rail Green line for easy access. For teams visiting from out of town, the Hyatt Place Hotel is right next door.
Event Format
The event format for 2027 will include three 500 Piece Team contests, a 1000 piece Team contest, a 500 piece Pairs contest, a 500 piece Solo contest and
Family Team contest. Participants are welcome to join for a single contest or up to four different contests!
Our puzzle sponsor, PuzzleTwist, will again be supplying FOUR new puzzles, releasing two new puzzles each day of the competition! Three different 500 piece puzzles and a 1000 piece puzzle. Each contest time will feature a different puzzle with the exception of the Open 500 piece teams which will use the same puzzle as the Challenge division. The Family division will use a classic, previously released PuzzleTwist puzzle.
Prizes! The top teams in each category will get great prizes including gift cards from Games by James! In addition, there will be many opportunities for every team to win wonderful door prizes!
Casual Puzzling and Puzzle Swap
The popular Casual Puzzling Area is back, bigger and brighter! This area is FREE to attend for all: contestants and spectators alike. A place to mingle with fellow puzzle enthusiasts while assembling more puzzles just for fun or to warm up for your contest. Master speed puzzler Leslie Mallery is again hosting the free casual puzzling area conducting fun puzzle games such as sprints and puzzle chess for prizes.
Puzzle swap! The Casual Puzzle area will also include a huge puzzle swap! Bring your gently used COMPLETE puzzles to swap for new-to-you puzzles. We request that your puzzles include the original box and that pieces be placed in a ziplock bag to avoid missing pieces.
Important Registration Info
Please read the following information to help your registration go smoothly. Instead of having to purchase each contest individually, you will be able to put all of your selections in your shopping cart and pay all at once. No more entering your payment info over and over, you’ll just have to do that once! VERY IMPORTANT! Registration will require that you fill in information on each of your team members. Be prepared with your team name, team captain name, email, cell phone and home city/state/province, and every team member's name, email and home city/state. If you are purchasing multiple pairs and/or solos for your team, you MUST put in their info including the cell phone number of the Pairs captain or solo participant.
NO NEED TO RUSH YOUR REGISTRATION! You will have up to 30 minutes to enter all of the information and pay. NOTE: You will lose the spots in your cart if you take longer than 30 minutes to complete your registration.
What can you sign up for?
A team captain may register their team for ONE 500 Piece Team event (Challenge, Open #1 or Open #2), ONE 1000 Piece Team event, TWO 500 Piece Pairs events, and up to FOUR 500 Piece solo events. You MUST provide the information for each team member in their respective registrations (Name, Email, City/State) - you may NOT use your own information for multiple Pair / Solo registrations. If your team members prefer to do their own Pairs & Solo registrations themselves instead, that is perfectly fine.
NOTE: Registration will allow you to sign up for only one of the three 500 Piece 4-Person Teams contest because they will all use the same puzzle. (Challenge, Open Saturday and Open Sunday) We have more than one section of this contest to give as many people as possible an opportunity to participate. No duplicate contestants are allowed, even if there is only one repeat person on your team and the other three are new to the puzzle. Watch this page for the Competition Schedule and updates coming soon!
Mark your calendar! Registration opens Saturday, October 3rd, 2026 at 10AM CST.