National Puzzle Day

Introducing the Mind Behind National Puzzle Day - Jodi Jill

As puzzlers, one of our favorite days of the year is National Puzzle Day. National Puzzle Day is on January 29th and boy do we have fun on that day! Puzzle companies have amazing deals and discounts, companies announce and introduce their new ambassadors, and my favorite part, all the different puzzle-alongs and events we do together as a community are an absolute blast. 

Now take a moment and imagine being an avid puzzler and someone who loves this day SO much and being offered the opportunity to meet and interview the driving force behind this day… How awesome would that be? Well let me tell you, it's absolutely AMAZING! I had the honor and privilege of meeting and interviewing the wonderfully magical Jodi Jill - the human who coined and shared the magic that is National Puzzle Day with us. I’m not going to lie, I was nerding out with excitement at the chance of chatting with Jodi!

Jodi Jill grew up loving all kinds of puzzles - crosswords, word searches, and of course puzzles. She has a website https://puzzlestoplay.com/ dedicated to free downloadable word searches, puzzle facts, and so much more! She has a syndicated Newspaper column called Brain Baffler that she has been writing for 27 years. She’s an author, a consultant for puzzle makers and helps advise them on things like best piece counts for their puzzles, and does work with artists and photographers and helps spread their work through various mediums - but mostly on how to get their art on puzzles. Like the majority of us puzzlers, she supports artists and their work and makes sure their work is spread wide and honored, which is so incredibly important. Jodi is a believer that art should be accessible to all, not just to those who have the means to afford it. 

Jodi has been spreading her love for puzzles since 1993. She started small by spreading the puzzle love by printing out crosswords and word searches and sharing them with everyone - especially kids. As word spread more and more people started reaching out and she would print and share with whoever asked and paid for everything out of pocket. She worked hard to make money for the sole purpose of funding this passion of spreading the love of puzzling to whomever sought it. By 2002 National Puzzle Day was recognized as a national holiday! 

Schools started reaching out to her to come out and speak to students about puzzles and National Puzzle Day - she is currently working with 97 schools spreading the puzzle love! She would send out videos talking about National Puzzle Day to schools and she sends an autographed wooden puzzle piece and gifts it to the school. She says she does that so “they have a little piece of me with them”. How sweet is that?! She was kind enough to give me one too, and now I have a little piece of Jodi with me! 

For as long as Jodi has been involved in the puzzle world, and as passionately as she has been about sharing her love for puzzles with children across the country, Jodi has never created her own puzzle… until now. She shopped around her puzzle to several puzzle companies to no avail, but once she got to Puzzle Warehouse they knew magic when they saw it, and they signed up to sell her puzzle. I was lucky enough to be sent this adorable puzzle and what fun it was to put it together! 

Puzzle Pup - National Puzzle Day Puzzle  

I would like you to meet June Bug. June Bug is Jodi’s adorable doggie. She was a rescue that found her forever home with Jodi last December. How sweet is this image?! Even the puzzle name Puzzle Pup is perfect! This puzzle was created specially for National Puzzle Day. This photograph of June Bug has 17 different shades of brown for her fur and let me tell you, it is not for the faint hearted to put together. BUT, June Bug’s cute face made it an enjoyable puzzling experience. Of course I asked Jodi if she put the puzzle together herself, and she did… FIVE times! And for my speed puzzlers, I asked how long it took for her to put it together and she said 65 minutes. Not too shabby, right? 

June Bug

Jodi led such a fascinating and inspiring life. She was one of five siblings, grew up in Colorado, and then moved to Los Angeles. She had a dream to become a tram driver at Disneyland and fulfilled it by moving to Orlando, Florida, training, and getting the job! Once that dream was fulfilled she moved back to Los Angeles and continued her dream of spreading the love for all kinds of puzzles. She is a Taylor Swift fan like me, loves the Pink Drink at Starbucks, and we share the same love of wanting to bring joy to all the kids in the world. My favorite thing Jodi kept repeating was, “I do this for the kids.” and nothing resonates more with me than working with children and making this world a special and joyous place for them with endless possibilities. 

I was enamored by Jodi the whole time we talked. I was so excited to meet THE PERSON who created my favorite day of the year! She is the most selfless, loving, passionate, and big hearted person I have ever met, and I did not want our time together to end. Just when I thought I could not love her more, I found out that National Puzzle Day is actually her birthday too! She told me that she wanted it to be on her birthday so that she can celebrate her day with the world, sharing the same love for puzzles. This world is a much better and kinder place because of Jodi Jill!  

So please, take a moment with me, on National Puzzle Day to wish Jodi a big happy birthday! Happy Birthday, Jodi! And a Happy National Puzzle Day to all my puzzlers! 

“Puzzles are my little ball of joy!” -Jodi Jill

Happy puzzling!

Marwa

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