Looking at the incomplete 2,000-piece puzzle sitting on a desk in his Cambridge, Ont., home. In the basement, Yvette Bellaire wonders how much the hundreds of puzzles she has built over the past few years might have cost.

Hundreds of dollars? Thousands?

This is probably the case since she averages two to three puzzles per week.

But thanks to a Hespeler puzzle exchange Facebook group she created in 2021, she hasn’t paid a cent.

“I love that we are constantly trading puzzles and saving so much money,” Bellaire said.

Bellaire said the pandemic was the perfect time to start the group. She used to go out to buy her own, but she said the restrictions made that much more difficult.

Instead, she created her own community.

“I have a set ready to give to someone now. I mean, I probably have about 50 puzzles saved up,” Bellaire said.

“You learn which members like which themes, etc. It’s really exciting and super economical. Because puzzles are very expensive.”

Bellaire said she was inspired by the Buy Nothing groups that started popping up during the pandemic, where people shared what they had and donated things. It was her husband who said to her, “Why don’t you do that for puzzles?”

“And now there are 170 of us in the group,” she said. “And growing.”

At the time of the group’s creation, Bellaire was new to the Hespeler village of Cambridge. Looking back, Bellaire said the group helped her settle into her new home.

“I love it,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like the Hespeler community for giving, sharing and donating. It’s just amazing.”

Small puzzle library

Across town, near the Speed ​​River that divides the village in two, a small red dresser sits in Tracy MacDonald’s front yard. Above it is a handmade sign reading: “Little Library of Free Puzzles.”

MacDonald’s introduction to Hespeler’s puzzle exchange also began during the pandemic.

“COVID hit and it was very difficult to get puzzles. You couldn’t find them in stores, you couldn’t order them online,” MacDonald said.

She started exchanging them with friends and neighbors when, in 2021, she said to herself: “you know what? These little libraries of books around me would work for puzzles.”

“It kind of caught on.”

The little puzzle library started with a large plastic bin that MacDonald found in his garage. But that was replaced when last year a library regular donated the chest of drawers that is now there.

“Sometimes the drawers are full and (puzzles) are stacked on top of them,” she said. “And then other times, it’s a little rare in the drawers.”

But she said people come every day.

MacDonald said pandemic lockdowns put a strain on social interactions. It wasn’t until his small puzzle library that that changed.

“Puzzles gave us a little way to communicate,” she said, adding that she “had the opportunity to talk to people that we might not have had otherwise because we don’t could not visit the interior.

Even with pandemic restrictions lifting, MacDonald said his neighbors are keeping the exchange going.

“I’m just happy to continue to build the community here because we have a strong community,” she said.

“I think Hespeler is known for that, and any way we can build community and interact with people is a good thing.”

Enigmatologist

The puzzle communities of Bellaire and MacDonald springing up during the pandemic are not surprising, according to Stacy Costa, a Toronto-based enigmatologist.

Simply put, an enigmatologist is an expert in puzzles. Costa creates puzzles, but she also studies how people of all ages interact with them.

“Historically, the idea of ​​puzzles was popular in times of mourning. So we think about post-World War II, even if you look at times of depression, even pandemics… we need something to turn to that kind of gifts. us a little relief.”

During the pandemic, much of Canada was online, something Costa said people were looking to escape.

“People wanted something non-digital. So everyone comes back to that puzzle.”

She said puzzles can help take up long periods of time, provide a distraction, there is no language barrier and completing a puzzle can provide a much-needed dose of dopamine.

“We have this urge to solve. So when it comes to a riddle, just like there’s a great mystery, we have to know the answer.”