Hi everyone!
Through Monday, I am linking with the following:
I didn't publish a Sunday Post last week because I had a busier than usual weekend. One of the things I did was an Escape Room with five other people. This was only the second time I did an Escape Room. It was beginner level and we still didn't escape in time. The operator told us we were about 80-85% done.
The theme was high school detention. The scenario was we, the students, were in detention. (Hmmm...any fans of The Breakfast Club out there?) We had a substitute teacher who got bored, so he left us alone and told us he'd be back in an hour. Our mission was to try and escape before then.
The first time I did an Escape Room, I think it was eight years ago, we escaped. However, I had no clue about anything in that experience. I just let everyone else do their thing, and with lots of hints, we escaped with two minutes to spare. That was a level 6/10 room.
There was mixed feedback regarding the Escape Room we did last weekend. Some thought it was harder than the last one, some thought it was about the same, and I thought it was easier even though we didn't escape. I felt like I knew what I was doing with this one, though. I knew what we were looking for. It was just difficult to crack the codes.
But most importantly, everyone had a good time and we all want to eventually do another Escape Room. Unfortunately, the challenge is finding ones that are wheelchair accessible. Several people in my group use wheelchairs and many Escape Rooms are not accessible. So frustrating that we have fewer choices than everyone else, but I think the situation is improving. Eight years ago, I only knew of one accessible Escape Room in the area. Now I know of at least three.
Oh, and as a bonus, we got candy at the end of the experience. I chose a mini Snickers bar, which was my favorite candy bar in high school. I can't remember the last time I had one before last weekend, so that was a nice treat.
This weekend, I've been glued to The USA Jigsaw Association YouTube channel because they're streaming the 2026 Jigsaw Nationals. Karen Puzzles is my favorite puzzle YouTuber, so I've mostly been watching to see how she does. She doesn't claim to be a top speed puzzler, even though she does do well. Her main goal is always to just have fun doing as many puzzles over the weekend as possible. If you advance in the first rounds, then you move on to the finals, so that's her goal. They have individual, pairs, and team rounds. I like listening to the commentators. I've been picking up some tips here and there. They've also been debuting new puzzles made by Ravensburger that will be available to the public starting on Monday. One of my favorite parts of the commentating is when they interview puzzle artists. It's so interesting to hear about their creative process.