Dakota’s Puzzle Story: 

Dakota (They/Them) lives in Wisconsin and works as a Software Engineer. Dakota grew up puzzling with their mom, who is said to have never gone to bed when a puzzle was unfinished. Dakota started timing puzzle assemblies at home in 2022, found local in-person competitions later that year, and has been hooked ever since. Now, Dakota gets to share the love of puzzling with their nephews, sharing heartwarmingly that they have done two specific puzzles from Dakota’s childhood: a large-format 300-piece Pinocchio floor puzzle and a 101 Dalmatians puzzle.

Now, Dakota is the President of the Wisconsin Jigsaw Puzzle Association, helping organize and run events with WI-JPA. Dakota also helps run Sarah Does Puzzles events in the Madison area. For USAJPA, Dakota is a year-round volunteer as part of the SORT group, which helps State Organizations with the start-up and sustainment processes. 

Dakota is looking forward to competing at the 2026 Winter Carnival in Minnesota and attending the 2026 USA Jigsaw Nationals in Georgia. “As I'm competing, it’s just me against the puzzle and I’m just trying to improve myself and do the best I can against that puzzle.”

Q&A Time:

What is your best advice for someone who wants to improve their speed puzzling abilities?

“Do more puzzles! If you are lucky enough to be friends with someone faster than you, puzzle with them as often as you can. I was lucky enough to have one of the Top 10 puzzlers come to an event I was running last winter, only to realize we live in the same apartment building! We then got to puzzle together often and just puzzling with her helped me get better!”

Do you have a favorite brand, type, or style of puzzle?

“I really enjoy PuzzleTwist because the surprise is always fun! I recently tried a new puzzle brand named Final Piece, and I really enjoyed the 3D design of the ‘Bear Country’ puzzle!”

What is the puzzle community like in your area?

“The puzzling community in Wisconsin is growing fast! In July of 2024, I was always on the hunt for local competitions. It was challenging to find them across many different platforms, so I started a Facebook Group where I shared any local puzzle events I could find. The group quickly grew through word of mouth at local events and I met so many amazing puzzlers in Wisconsin as a result. I hosted my first speed puzzling event at Delta Beer Lab in November of 2024, and now those events are hosted as Sarah Does Puzzle contests and we've been going strong for over a year! 

I and some other Wisconsin puzzlers started the process of becoming a state affiliate of USAJPA. I spent the entire car-drive up to Winter Carnival in January of 2025 working on the first draft of the WI-JPA bylaws. WI-JPA ended up hosting five events in 2025, including a Wisconsin State Jigsaw Puzzle Championship! We sold out competitions for solo, pairs, and teams divisions! WI-JPA has a large variety of events already planned for 2026, one of which is planned to be our 2nd annual state championship in the fall of 2026!”

What do you enjoy most about the puzzle community?

“I love the people. I have always enjoyed the jigsaw puzzles, but meeting so many good people coming together over the joy of puzzling is a very unique experience. We all come from so many different backgrounds and getting to celebrate each other's successes is so fun. ”

Tell us a bit about your puzzling teammates.

“My favorite teammate to puzzle with is my spouse, Aster. We get to puzzle together a lot at home and compete regularly in local competitions. We are competing in Pairs at Winter Carnival. For Nationals, I am pairing with my fellow WI-JPA Board Member, Kabao L. The WI-JPA Board Members try to compete together at as many local puzzle events as we can. It’s nice to get to enjoy a puzzle with all of them!”

Connect:

Dakota can be found through the Wisconsin Jigsaw Puzzle Association’s Instagram @wijigsaw