Piece Talks

Piece Talks

Discussions with competitors, organizers, and puzzle makers in the competitive jigsaw puzzle world. We cover speed puzzling, puzzle chess, and pretty much any other way that people are using jigsaw puzzles to compete.

Episodes

June 13, 2026 97 mins
Hanna Lehikoinen didn't stumble into competitive speed puzzling. She sprinted straight at it. Growing up in Finland, Hanna was surrounded by puzzles and competition in equal measure, and it turned out that was exactly the right training ground. When she discovered speed puzzling, the switch flipped almost instantly: within days she had an Instagram account, a timer, and her sights set on Worlds. In this episode, we trace Hanna's jo...
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Emma Quirke won the UK Nationals in 2025. Rachael Chambers won it in 2026. Does that make them bitter rivals? Quite the contrary! In this episode we dig in to their intertwined history, how their differing approaches to puzzling land them within second of each other over and over again, do a deep dive into their World Series experience, and find out why they may be one of the strongest pairs out there.
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May 3, 2026 86 mins
EB and I are joined by several of the competitors that made a splash at this year's US Nationals. The theme that kept coming up over and over? How much everyone loved this year's event. Joining us are: Alice Rowe Jessa Douglas Josh Trauger Lewis Dracobly-Helsel
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April 19, 2026 92 mins
Louise Jackett knew she had found her tribe at her very first competition. Since then, Lou has dedicated herself to giving others that same sense of community, building from Covid-era competitor to one of the most influential figures in Australian competitive puzzling. Along the way she made decisions that shaped the culture of the sport in ways she probably didn't anticipate, including an impulsive choice that gave Australian puzz...
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March 22, 2026 68 mins
Trigger Alert! THIS EPISODE CONTAINS NEARLY NO STATS! We wanted to explore a different way of talking about the upcoming US National Championships in Atlanta. To help us out, we brought back some former guests, and a new one you might recognize.
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March 15, 2026 85 mins
Thomas Kaeppeler has been at Ravensburger pretty much his entire working life. From working on the factory floor at Ravensburger headquarters in Germany, to becoming the President of Ravensburger North America. In this episode, we get a whole DIFFERENT kind of nerdy.
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March 1, 2026 108 mins
Hannah Doyle really didn’t think about jigsaw puzzles much until a fateful night where she was looking for something to do. Suddenly she was obsessed, and within a year she was finishing second in the California state competition, live streaming puzzles on Twitch, and gearing up for US Nationals and Worlds.
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February 22, 2026 109 mins
If you think that being a competition judge is primarily about taking down times, well…you’re right. But international judges Daphne Harmsen and William Shandling show us that it’s also about innovation, empathy, and a deep sense of fairness.
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February 15, 2026 109 mins
What happens when you combine the analytical mind of a physics educator with the precision of a world-class violinist? You get a partnership that shares a single competitive brain to deconstruct jigsaw puzzles at a cellular level. In this episode, Jim and Mari break down their unique roles: Mari provides the world-class "hands" while Jim serves as the analytical "eye in the sky," spotting patterns and pieces from a distance that ...
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February 8, 2026 92 mins
Lauren Kautz's first puzzle memory is also the story of her first cuss word. And honestly, that tells you everything you need to know about her. In this episode, we trace her journey from a kid doing puzzles upside down just to make them harder, to a three-time state champion and member of the legendary Betches. Along the way: an arch-rival turned best friend, an undefeated streak that had to end somewhere, tears at Nationals, and...
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January 26, 2026 88 mins
Brand Experience Director for Cobble Hill, LINDA MAXWELL joins me to talk about how a self-described “California girl” ended up working for a Canadian jigsaw brand and how they came to sponsor teams like the Golden State Puzzlers and events like the US Nationals. I learned so much from Linda, and we only had time to talk about a small amount of the topics we could have explored!
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January 11, 2026 135 mins
I gathered up some previous guests and asked them to bring some topics we can all talk about. Joining me on this episode are: EB Caron Katrina Coleman Kristin Thuv Sarah Schuler Valerie Coit
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December 28, 2025 128 mins
Before we had any idea what we were going to do for the 2025 Portland Jigsaw Master livestream, I put a call out for people who would be interested in hopping on the livestream and chatting for a brief chat. The thinking was that it would be fun to get some different perspectives on the world of speed puzzling. Some brave souls immediately raised their hands. In this episode I pulled together those six short conversations as wel...
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December 14, 2025 69 mins
You might know Tammy McLeod as one of the founders of the United States Jigsaw Puzzle Association. You might know her as a Guinness World Record holder. Or possibly as a US National Sudoku champion, a member of the US escape room team, or competitive ballroom dancer. But however you know her, you’ll probably agree that she brings an unrelenting drive to every single pursuit.
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November 30, 2025 87 mins
Andrew Bradburn placed third in the US Nationals competition…in 1983. In this episode he talks about what that experience was like, how he was present as the USAJPA began to come together, and what he’s been up to since.
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November 16, 2025 113 mins
If you’ve watched the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, you’ve probably seen Charlie Kendall. Officially he’s the onsite announcer, but he occasionally appears on the livestreams and the odds are good that if something needs fixing, he’s in the middle trying to fix it.
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November 2, 2025 157 mins
The last time we talked to Wiktor Kacprzak, we didn’t have enough time with him. We did not make that mistake this time. If you ever wanted to deep dive into a world-class competitor’s experiences at Worlds, this episode is for you!
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October 26, 2025 59 mins
If the first two episodes in this series were novels, this one is a collection of short stories of things we thought were interesting. We talk to Emma Williamson about her surprise win in an individuals semi-finals round, EB relays text conversations she had with Worlds Individuals Champion Weronika Huptas, and with her partner in winning the Pairs finals Anna Kazana. We talk to Andreas Heyerick and Daniela Berendsen of the Europ...
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In the second episode of the Worlds Wrap mini-series, EB Caron and I check in with two-time World Champion Alejandro Clemente León to see if the 2025 Worlds ended up being as stress free as he thought it was going to be.
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October 12, 2025 63 mins
In the first episode of the Worlds Wrap mini-series (!), EB Caron and I talk to European Champion Kathi Reiner about the progress she's made since last year's Worlds and how she managed to place in the top 3 of every event at this year's Worlds. There may even be a stat or two.
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