Piece Talks

Sarah Schuler is a force of nature both in and out of competition, with multiple podium finishes in the US Nationals and World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships. We cover a lot of ground, from her childhood spent competing at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, to her string of second place finishes in major competitions, to her current project to bring competitive puzzling to the masses at breweries across the Twin Cities.

EB Caron joins me for the second of two episodes on who to watch at worlds.

This time around: Everyone else!

BONUS: Predictions!

EB Caron, world-class puzzler in her own right, joins me in the first of two episodes exploring who to watch at worlds.

First up: the Americans!

Yvonne Feucht was the Individual’s champion of the 2022 US Nationals competition, is the current overall leader on speedpuzzling.com and the second member of the Golden State Puzzlers team to appear on the show.

We talk about everything from what it’s like to compete on the national and world stage, to the best way to spend your 40th birthday.

Lane Weatherly is the cofounder of Portland Puzzle Company, which, beyond just making great puzzles, hosts a weekly jigsaw puzzling league in Portland Oregon, and is the founding sponsor of the Portland Jigsaw Masters competition.

We talk about everything from how puzzles are cut, to how to make the best spectator experience possible for a puzzle competition.

Aly Krasny is one of the cofounders of the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association

And a member of the titanic team known as the Golden State Puzzlers.

We talked about how a local puzzling competition got started in her house,

how the USAJPA got started, and her experiences as part of the USA Nationals competitions.

Fair warning though, about halfway through the conversation we dive deep into her efforts to speed run a puzzle and the lessons she learned along the way. Prepare to get nerdy!

Speed puzzling powerhouse Andrea Peng talks about her experiences at the World and US Nationals competitions, and discusses how she approaches puzzles when competing individually, in pairs, and in teams.

The podcast cover art for this episode is from Andrea's favorite puzzle.