 One local family recently walked away with first place the nation's largest jigsaw puzzle contest as part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Our Sarah Winkelman spoke with some team members about the victory in the family division. The last part that we did were the trees because that was the hardest part. Betty explains the team's strategy on how they were able to complete a 500 piece puzzle in just over 37 minutes. I open up the bag and stuff and then rip open the puzzle and then we all start flipping the pieces and we all give the edge pieces to Emily and then the rest of us just kind of pick a color or an area in the puzzle to do and then we kind of do it and then we eventually put it all together. They call themselves the Pillager Puzzlers and the team is made up of mom, Betty, son, Joshua, daughter Emily and family friend Nicole. It's really kind of a great experience and really something fun that we can do together because I mean, yeah, it's just like another cool thing that we can do and kind of bond over, I guess. Betty first heard of the tournament nearly 20 years ago and competed with her siblings. And then when my kids got older, I asked them, would you be interested in doing it? And to my surprise, they said yes. With a long family tradition of putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Whenever we all get together, we are doing puzzles and there's a puzzle going at my house, my mom's house all the time. Even though the family doesn't compete at home, all of their practice help the Pillager Puzzlers win the family division back-to-back years. It's very intense. We're competitors. Emily was voted MVP by her teammates as she takes charge and leads the team while Nicole keeps them uplifted during the competition. And then Josh and I just, we just puzzle. As the excitement continues to build in the room. Just feel the buzz in the air. That's something that's going to, somebody's going to yell, done. Even though the tournament is just behind them, they're already looking forward. Hopefully we can win again next year. Next year the team will move on to compete in the adult division. Reporting in Pillager, Sarah Winkleman, Lakeland News. The Pillager Puzzlers finished over a minute ahead of the second place winners. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.