Mission
The Ohio Jigsaw Puzzle Association is an inclusive statewide community of puzzlers of all skill levels, abilities, and ages. We:
- Curate a calendar of speed puzzling contests, swaps, and recreational puzzling events
- Host regional races, swaps, and skills workshops
- Serve as a liaison between Ohio puzzlers and the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association
About
The Ohio Jigsaw Puzzle Association is a community where you can share your collections, celebrate solves, source hard-to-find puzzles, and make new friends.
While many of us have been puzzling our whole lives, the social aspect of puzzling has grown since 2020 (silver linings and all). Lots of libraries, game shops, and breweries are hosting swaps, races and other puzzle events so we wanted to collect them in once central place so you won’t miss out on anything you want to attend.
Speed puzzling has also had a fun revival so along with the events, we want to grow the community of folks interested in learning how to solve puzzles as fast as possible. We hope to host skills workshops, strategy sessions and team practices for anyone looking to improve or try out a new aspect of puzzling.
Founding Board of Directors
Jessica Henderson, President
Jessica has been puzzling her whole life, but discovered speed puzzling in June of 2023 at the Origins Game Fair Tournament of Pieces and started taking speed puzzling seriously in February 2024, even going to the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in Spain in September 2024. Her first attempt personal best is 44:18 on the Remarks Vintage Restaurant Signs puzzle. In her professional life, she runs a boutique marketing firm helping small businesses with customer retention. She lives in Columbus and is an extrovert so would love to meet you!
Christine Durkin, Secretary
Like many, Christine enjoyed puzzling as a kid but fell out of the habit. In 2016, good friends reignited her interest in puzzles by sharing puzzles from their modern collection. She learned about speed puzzling through the 2022 USA Nationals livestream and has since worked to improve her speed. Her favorite way to puzzle is serving as the sorter and straetgist on a team.
Edith Lewis
Edith is a third-generation casual puzzler who learned speed puzzlers didn’t have to start with the border, so she became a speed puzzler. She lives in the College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati and is a big fan of 300 piece art puzzles, exploring new strategies, and puzzling with others. Edith loves the way people can use all sorts of different approaches to the same puzzle and end up with similar times while speed puzzling.
Juli Logsdon, Treasurer
Juli has fond memories of after-school puzzling with her great aunt and uncle who always had a Charles Wysocki spread out on their dining room table. Her puzzling ramped up during the pandemic and became a passion after competing in her first speed puzzling competition in 2023 at the Origins Game Fair. She may not be the fastest, but she enjoys the challenge of a race. Her favorite puzzles are modern colorful images or cozy seasonal scenes. Juli is a full-time mom to her son Harry and dog Cosmo. When not puzzling or momming, she is likely crocheting/knitting, gardening, baking, or watching F1 with her husband. She is very excited to connect Ohio puzzlers and grow the community.
Josh Trauger
Facilitated and inspired by his mom Josh has been a lifelong puzzler; growing up there was always a puzzle on the table in the basement. In 2019, his love of puzzling reached a new level when he discovered his first speed puzzling contest. In addition to speed puzzling, Josh is a fan of large format puzzles, completing the Educa 24,000 piece Life puzzle in 2020. Professionally, Josh is the operations manager for a deep foundations contractor in Cincinnati, OH. When he isn’t puzzling, you can find Josh cheering on his children at youth sporting events or at UC Bearcats football and basketball games.
Meredith Yeager
Meredith is a lifelong puzzler who accelerated their hobby after discovering Escher and fine art puzzles in college. They began speed puzzling in 2020 and attended their first in-person puzzle event in September 2023. In 2024, they placed 83rd at the USA Nationals and 10th amongst Ohio speed puzzlers. Mer enjoys thrifting and puzzling rainbow, whimsical, and vintage puzzles. They are eager to connect and ramp up the Northeast Ohio puzzling community!
Volunteers Like You
We are a group of volunteers who just want to connect with other puzzlers. If you have skills you want to contribute, we’d love to have you join us.
USAJPA
USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association is a national organization that supports both speed puzzling but also casual puzzling with a monthly puzzle club, discounts, traveling puzzles, and community building.
They are working on infrastructure to facilitate local chapters of the national organization and we hope to connect more officially when that happens, but until then, we’re just besties with everyone over there.
Financial Transparency
This is currently a fully volunteer-funded operation at this time. However, we eventually hope to file as a nonprofit membership organization. We will always share our expenses and income with the membership as we grow.