A juggernaut is a powerful, unstoppable force that barrels through anything in its way. A Jiggernaut is all of that, with a puzzle twist. Introducing Centralia’s Jessica Douglas, a devoted puzzle enthusiast with a strong competitive streak. That drive helped Jessa, also known as Jigsaw Jessa, and her team, Jiggernauts, take first place at the 2026 USA Jigsaw Nationals recently.
Piece by Piece Into Puzzling
As a child, Jessa enjoyed puzzles to escape the chaos of having brothers. “I loved, loved puzzling as a kid,” she says. “It was kind of like my getaway and introvert time, where it was just me in the puzzle.”
As an adult, Jessa became drawn to the speed side of puzzling. After finishing a particularly tough thrift-store puzzle in a single day and posting it on Instagram, she joked that she should start a dedicated “Puzzlegram.”
That playful idea soon grew into something much bigger — a career as a puzzle content creator.
“It became so much more for me,” Jessa says. “Getting to know all these other people that are in the puzzle community, getting to know brands I’d never heard of, like smaller brands that feature illustrations that are whimsical and kind of cottage core. That’s my kind of jam. I instantly fell in love.”
Jessa’s content soon caught the attention of puzzle companies, leading her to step into competitive puzzling.
“I would make funny videos,” she says. “Then I decided to try speed puzzling and signed up for nationals in San Diego in 2024 as my first in-person competition. I did really well for my first time, and I was hooked.”
Beyond the joy of puzzling, Jessa found the people she met to be one of the best parts of her hobby-turned-job.
“The puzzle community was so welcoming and inclusive, and you just find your people there,” she says. “You’ve got doctors, you’ve got moms like me, and just like everybody, there’s something that we can connect on, and it’s puzzles.”
Jigsaw Jessa’s Path to a National Title
The national jigsaw puzzle competition has three divisions, including individual, pairs, and four-person teams. After several qualifying rounds, thousands of participants are narrowed to the top 50.
This year, in the individual division, Jessa finished 13th and feels that competing solo is especially challenging. “Individuals are hard because it’s like a whole mental game within your brain,” she says. “You’re fighting all your thoughts of negativity, like you are really slow right now.” For pairs, Jessa and her partner, Kelly Walter (who won first in all three events last year), finished third.
Despite not having a chance to practice together beforehand due to living in different parts of the country, the four-person team of Jiggernauts, consisting of Jessa, Kelly Buhr, Hannah Scott, and Alice Rowe, still advanced to the finals and won ahead of the second-place team by over two minutes.
“It’s very heated,” shares Jessa. “Teams are super fun. I love teams. With pairs and teams, you get to bounce off each other and encourage one another. Teams can be challenging because you’re working on a 1000-piece puzzle, and there are eight arms in there. You can’t see what you’re doing necessarily, but you get in the flow. You are in there, like a cobra, super-fast, flying through those puzzles.”
Building Community, One Piece at a Time
While puzzles are a big part of Jessa’s life, she’s also an artist and illustrator, including designing an Anne of Green Gables puzzle for Book Worm Puzzles, and there’s another puzzle illustrated by Jessa in the works now.
“My worlds are colliding in a really fun way, with illustrating and puzzles and speed puzzling coming together,” she says.
Jessa and her friend Joyce also run a puzzle-themed Etsy shop called Puzzworthy, where they sell fun, puzzle-inspired clothing, shoes, mugs and other gifts for puzzle fans.
While there isn’t a large puzzle community in Lewis County, Jessa hopes that will change in the future. “I love this community,” she says. “I love that it is growing and flourishing. There seems to be more community things happening, and people who are advocating for that and making things happen.”
She sees similarities between life in a small town like Centralia and the lessons she has learned from puzzling.
“In the world of speed puzzling, the more connected and communicative we are with each other, the better things work,” she says. “I feel like we’ve seen that within small communities, hearing each other out, listening to each other, and advocating for each other. That is what makes the world go round, remembering that we are all unique, but we also all have different perspectives and voices to listen to each other. We are all puzzle pieces, and the only way it works is if we all come together. Otherwise, we’re all off on our own. We’re little lost pieces and coming together makes a beautiful picture.”
Follow Jigsaw Jessa on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. See the thrilling win of Team Jiggernauts here.
