My Competitive Jigsaw Puzzler - Simmie Berman

Summary

Tosh Show – “My Competitive Jigsaw Puzzler – Simmie Berman”

Host: Daniel Tosh
Guest: Simi (Simmie) Berman
Date: March 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Tosh Show explores the quirky, competitive world of speed jigsaw puzzling through the sharp, playful banter of Daniel Tosh and his guest, Simi Berman. While Simi’s NASA credentials (she’s a mechanical engineer on the Dragonfly mission) would be enough for any interview, Tosh zeroes in on her ranking as one of America’s fastest jigsaw puzzlers. The conversation ping-pongs between childhood puzzle habits, the bizarre details of puzzle competitions, and life as a scientist, all peppered with Tosh’s signature irreverence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Biggest Puzzle Brags & Family Dynamics

• Largest Puzzle Completed: Simi shares her biggest accomplishment:

  • “Me personally, I did a 9,000 piece puzzle…It’s like an underwater scene.” (00:01)
  • Daniel jokes about the “sadness” of assembling a puzzle on the floor (00:10).

• Daniel’s “Fake Family” Rant:

  • Tosh riffs on his relationships with in-laws versus blood relatives, explaining logistics of family travel and why his real family “got the first 40 years” (02:00).
  • Memorable quote: “Let me tell you something. I call them the fake family because they're not the real family.” (01:23)

2. Check-In with Daniel’s Mom

• Exclusive phone call confirms Daniel’s family travel quirks and shares relatable generational banter:
  • On Aging & Travel:
    • “I turn 80 tomorrow. We don’t fly. Don’t do airports anymore.” (04:14 – Daniel’s Mom)
  • On Staying With Family:
    • “That doesn’t sound good. Do you want to be with me that long?...You know, they used to say a guest is like a fish. It smells after two days.” (04:37 – Daniel’s Mom)

3. Meet Simi: Speed Puzzler and NASA Engineer

• Introduction: Raised Jewish in Massachusetts, born in Korea, works at NASA, competitive puzzler (13:48).
• Vibes and Stereotypes: Tosh admits to wearing a “grandma-y” sweater because he associates puzzling with grandmas, to which Simi retorts, “Wait till you speed puzzle. It’s not grandma puzzling.” (14:21)
• Competitive Puzzling is NOT for Grandmas: Simi explains the energy and excitement of real tournaments (14:25).

4. Competitive Jigsaw Puzzling: Inside the Scene

Contest Structures & Demographics

• The Scene:
  • USA Jigsaw Puzzle Nationals have thousands of members, with about 800 in the main event heats (24:03).
  • “It’s like a lot of women in their mid-30s and up. The fastest puzzler right now is a 12-year-old…He’s so fast.” (23:56)
• Competition Format:
  • Everyone in a “heat” gets the same puzzle, unseen until the round begins (24:15).
  • “Each heat, all 200 people will get the same exact puzzle. They give it to you like in a opaque bag.” (24:18)

Puzzle Rules & Tactics

• Strategy:
  • “You open the bag, dump it out, take the box…flip them over, pull out all the edges and put them to the side.” (29:27 – Simi)
  • Simi shares how speed puzzling bends standard approaches (e.g., not always doing the border first, especially for collage images).
• Challenges:
  • On missing pieces: “They give you a penalty if you’re missing a piece, a time penalty.” (28:06)
  • On “cheating”: “It's a pretty sharing giving community, so it's not gotten super cocky.” (28:29)

The Community

• Who Competes?:
  • “Still a growing community” (26:17)
  • From children to seniors: “They’ve started doing senior divisions now for people like 55 and up…The best is a 12 year old, he cannot compete in nationals individually but can as a pair or team with adults.” (28:57)
• Team Names and Swag:
  • Team names often feature puns: “Golden State Puzzlers”, “War and Peace” (32:11–32:18).
  • Many teams have matching t-shirts and puzzle accessories; Simi’s mother-in-law got her puzzle earrings (38:44).

Prize Money and Status

• Monetary Reality:
  • “Only Nationals gives monetary prizes…enough that it can subsidize your trip if you were to go to Worlds. But most competitions, when you win, you win a puzzle.” (35:36–35:52)
  • Top payouts are “a few thousand dollars, not a million” (36:01–36:03).
  • Some who run channels or competitions make a living from it, but “maybe less than five” people (36:05).

5. Jigsaw Technique & Mishaps

• Speed vs. Joy:
  • Tosh: “I don’t really enjoy the act. I just like, when it’s being done, it makes me feel good because I feel like it’s family.” (36:16)
• Bad Puzzling Partners:
  • Simi: “Yeah, all the time. And I do remember when my kids were little...they would put the edge pieces the wrong way.” (36:56)
• Redoing Puzzles:
  • “Speed puzzlers redo puzzles a lot to practice and get faster and try different techniques.” (37:10)
• Puzzle Preferences:
  • Bright colors are best; solid color or “night sky” images among the worst to assemble (32:43).
  • On wooden vs. cardboard: “We only speed cardboard puzzles.” (30:35)

6. NASA Life & Dragonfly Mission

• Professional Side:
  • Simi details her work on NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan—building a 2000-pound, 8-rotor drone for surface exploration (18:35–19:40).
  • Simi’s nerd credentials are strong, but she downplays her genius:
    • “Are you the smartest person you know?” “No, I’m like the dumbest person amongst my friends.” (22:03)
• Dabbling as an Astronaut:
  • “I did apply to be an astronaut like many years ago…I made it past the you’re completely unqualified round.” (21:34)

7. Lightning Round: Puzzles, Family, and Swag

• Puzzling Gifts:
  • Simi gifts Daniel a competition puzzle and custom puzzle boards from Zacho Puzzle Boards (44:31–46:17).
• Tosh’s Games Closet:
  • Daniel force-gifts Simi random board games he doesn’t want: “You’re just gonna get a lot of my other games.” (42:32)
  • Simi: “Wow, this is a lot of…” Daniel: “Did you ever go through it? Five seconds. I know. I don’t want these.” (43:39–43:46)

8. Live Puzzle Race – Daniel vs. Simi

• Simi Smokes Tosh:
  • They attempt a live, round jigsaw puzzle.
  • Tosh, frustrated: “Wait a second. It’s round. Yeah. I thought it was gonna…Oh, you dirty dog. I didn’t know it was round.” (48:58)
  • Laughter and playful shade when Simi wins:
    • Simi: “The downfall was starting with the edges.” (50:52)
    • Tosh: “That was the downfall.” (50:53)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Grandparent Wisdom:
  • “A guest is like a fish. It smells after two days. Don’t stay.” (04:54 – Daniel’s Mom)
• On Gifted Kids:
  • “I totally shove STEM down their throats…my little one…is really into Legos and circuits…and Lulu’s like a total art, like theater, music kind of kid.” (18:09 – Simi)
• On Rank and Speed:
  • “You’re currently ranked number 25 in the nation. How much faster is the top rank athlete?”
    • Simi: “I can do probably a 500 piece…in like the 47 to 50 something minute range. And the top people do it in like 30 minutes.” (33:41)
• Swag Gifts:
  • “This is a box top holder for you.”
    • Tosh: “A what holder?...I just feel like its purpose…”
    • Simi: “I think that you’re gonna use it and you’re gonna be like, I didn’t know what I was missing.” (47:01–47:48)
• On Puzzle Paraphernalia:
  • “They really lean into the puzzle culture. There’s, like, whole companies that sell puzzle paraphernalia and puzzle clothes and puzzle fabric.” (39:20)
• On Pandemic Hobbies:
  • “Sourdough bread. Jigsaw puzzles. Sewing. Animal Crossing. I was a total cliché all the way.” (39:48 – Simi)
• Debating Puzzle Sports:
  • “Do you consider yourself an athlete? And is jigsaw puzzling a sport?” (38:10)
    • Simi: “I would not call it a sport. I call it maybe a pursuit.” (38:23)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:01–00:12 – Simi’s largest puzzle and childhood puzzling habits
• 01:23–03:26 – Daniel on family: “fake family” vs. “blood”
• 04:14–05:13 – Daniel’s phone call with his mom: generational perspective, family travel, puzzle preferences
• 13:48–14:21 – Simi’s introduction, “grandma-y” puzzling myths, and childhood
• 18:35–19:40 – Breakdown of Simi’s NASA project, Dragonfly
• 23:56–24:03 – The diversity of puzzlers: “The fastest puzzler right now is a 12-year-old.”
• 24:03–25:03 – Competition structure; puzzle selection and fairness
• 29:27–29:49 – Simi’s step-by-step puzzle strategy
• 33:41–34:08 – National rankings and the speed gap between elite puzzlers
• 36:16 – Why Tosh loves puzzles (family/festivity)
• 48:31–51:05 – Live puzzle race: Tosh flails, Simi triumphs; practical tips exposed

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Tone & Style

• Irreverent, playful, and insightful: The banter swings easily between serious (“Tell me everything you can about Dragonfly...”) and silly (“Do you have a chant?” “We don’t have a chant.”)
• Self-deprecating humor: Both Tosh and Simi poke fun at themselves and at the sometimes-absurd competitive puzzle community.

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers an unexpectedly rich window into competitive jigsaw puzzling, blending Simi’s technical expertise and genuine joy for the hobby with Daniel Tosh’s relentless wisecracking. If you’ve ever wondered what “speed puzzling” is, how one might fashion a career at NASA while ranking top 30 in the country at jigsaws, or wanted tips on how to approach your family’s next holiday puzzle session, this is the episode for you.

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Essential Quotes for the Curious

• “Wait till you speed puzzle. It’s not grandma puzzling.” — Simi (14:21)
• “They give you a penalty if you’re missing a piece, a time penalty. Because sometimes people lose pieces…You have a time limit before you have to take a maximum penalty.” — Simi (28:06)
• “You’re currently ranked number 25 in the nation…how much faster is the top rank athlete?” — Daniel
  “Pretty fast. I can do a 500-piece in 47 to 50 something minutes and the top people do it in like 30 minutes.” — Simi (33:41)
• “Do you consider yourself an athlete? And is jigsaw puzzling a sport?” — Daniel
  “I would not call it a sport. I call it maybe a pursuit.” — Simi (38:23)

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Daniel Tosh]

What's the largest puzzle you've ever done?

[Simi]

Me personally, I did a 9,000 piece puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, that's a real number.

[Simi]

It's like two. It's like an underwater scene.

[Daniel Tosh]

What was the dimensions of it?

[Simi]

I don't know. I had to do it on the floor.

[Daniel Tosh]

On the floor. That's kind of sad.

[Simi]

I was a lot younger.

[Daniel Tosh]

Posh show. Posh show, pub show. Let's do it. It's toss. Show time, everybody. Big inhale. The other day I was reading. Ed.

[Simi]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

How long should a 50 year old be able to hold his breath?

[Eddie]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

Because I was worried, because I felt like I was just so out of shape. I'm like, I should be able to go longer than this, right? How long do you think you should be able to hold your breath?

[Eddie]

60 seconds.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. Do you think you can go 60?

[Eddie]

I don't know.

[Daniel Tosh]

It said between 30 and 60 seconds and I was like, oh, okay. So I just, like. So I just went underwater and I timed it. I put a timer on it and I went. And I didn't even give myself a chance to get a good breath. Just went under.

[Eddie]

All right.

[Daniel Tosh]

And then I was like, oh, no, this is bad. I can't do it very long. And I popped up. I was at 45 seconds already.

[Eddie]

Look at you.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm right in the sweet spot.

[Eddie]

You're like a 30 year old.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, felt good. Got the fake family coming over, all the in laws. Let me tell you something. I call them the fake family because they're not the real family.

[Eddie]

They're not your real blood.

[Daniel Tosh]

Blood. Blood is what draws the line.

[Eddie]

Exactly.

[Daniel Tosh]

If you're not, it's like sister in laws and stuff, you're not my. Right, right. Let's not kid ourselves. And if it's my fake family, you know, like my wife's brother and then who he married. Now I gotta call her something, right? This is getting ridiculous.

[Eddie]

So many levels to it.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's too many levels. But yeah, they're on their way. They're traveling normally. I refuse to fly my in laws out here unless it's a direct flight. The last time I gave them a connecting flight, at one point, it was the middle of the night and they were on a street in Dallas with their luggage.

[Eddie]

So sad.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's how bad things went, man. So I was like, okay, I can never give you guys a connecting flight. You have to have a direct flight. Now, some people probably wonder, daniel, you spend so much time with the in laws, what about your real family? Do you do things with them? No, my real family, they got the first 40 years of my life, and the in laws have gotten the last 10. And also, it's a wife thing. And we're in a position where if they come tag along while we're doing shows and things, it's not a convenience. It's actually helpful. They help with the kids, etc. Now, my parents, they don't fly anymore. Could they fly? Of course. They choose not to. So the only time I get to really spend time with my family is when I'm on the East Coast. Okay. But don't worry. I do plenty of wonderful things for them. Okay.

[Eddie]

But don't worry.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, well, people are like, oh, seems like the in laws are getting the best of it. My parents, they did all right. Okay. They reaped the fruits of my labor long ago, and they're grateful. Let's check in my mom. Watch how quickly my mom will say how grateful she is.

[Simi]

Hey.

[Daniel Tosh]

Hey.

[Daniel's Mom]

What are you doing?

[Daniel Tosh]

I have two quick questions.

[Daniel's Mom]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

One, People have wondered, you know, I spend a lot of time with my in laws. Why am I not traveling with my family? And I wanted you to address that,

[Daniel's Mom]

that we don't want to fly anymore. I turn 80 tomorrow. We don't. We don't fly. Don't do airports anymore.

[Daniel Tosh]

But is that good? That's fine. I said that.

[Daniel's Mom]

And a long drive. And we don't do long drives to California.

[Daniel Tosh]

But what about actual spending? Like, lots of time. Like the idea of going on a trip with me someplace, like, for days and days. How does that sound?

[Daniel's Mom]

That doesn't sound good. Do you want to be with me that long?

[Daniel Tosh]

You've never asked to come on a tour. Would you like to be on a tour bus with me for, like, a couple weeks?

[Daniel's Mom]

I think not. I think not.

[Daniel Tosh]

Fun way to see the country.

[Daniel's Mom]

Daniel, how long. How much do you like to be with me for. For days and days and days. And, you know, they used to say a guest is like a fish. It's like it smells. After two days, you don't stay. My mom taught me not to overstay ever. With anybody.

[Daniel Tosh]

You think? Well, I mean, but what about. What about the grandkids? Don't you want to spend some QT with them?

[Daniel's Mom]

Yeah, but still, you do your thing, and. And Grandma's just kind of think, well, what it was like when we were 20, 50 years ago, 70 years ago, whatever.

[Daniel Tosh]

How's your health right now? You went to the dentist? Everything good?

[Daniel's Mom]

Everything's good. And I don't have to go back for Six months. Yep.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, that's what we all do. We all go. You know what? Just recently my dentist started trying to make us go three times a year.

[Daniel's Mom]

I know. Well, and they tried to do that deep cleaning thing and that you could go every three months or something and that. But I way I say no to that, too.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm not going. I'm not going three times a year. I like to go every twice a year. That's it.

[Daniel's Mom]

On the radio.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, it's on the radio. We're on 102 jams. Don't touch that dial.

[Daniel's Mom]

I listen to iheartradio.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, I used to be with iheartradio, and then they didn't pay me like Lipson. Lipson said, you know what? We'll give you the big dollars, cuz you're doing quality work and I hard.

[Daniel's Mom]

Yeah, but you do long commercials now, and people don't like the commercials.

[Eddie]

It is true. She's right.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, I can't. I can't argue that.

[Daniel's Mom]

What else do you want me. What else do you want me to say?

[Daniel Tosh]

I had one. Oh, hey, have you done any puzzles lately?

[Daniel's Mom]

Y. You know, we're up in North Carolina now working on a puzzle right now, but it's only a thousand.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's a thou. Well, a thousand's a real puzzle.

[Daniel's Mom]

This is a bigger. This is a bigger place than our place where we stay up here.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you guys, isn't that nice that when you go to a hotel, you stay at a bigger place than your home?

[Daniel's Mom]

That's not a hotel. We're in a cabin.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you guys rented an Airbnb?

[Daniel's Mom]

No, it's a house. It's a cabin.

[Simi]

Whatever.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, I'm saying, is it.

[Daniel's Mom]

Is it Airbnb? It's not through airbnb.

[Daniel Tosh]

What's it through through? Is it through a hotel? No, they rent cabins. Just like a bunch of them.

[Simi]

Yes.

[Daniel's Mom]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

So anyway, the reason I asked about the puzzling is I have a. A. A professional speed puzzler on today that I'm interviewing.

[Daniel's Mom]

Oh, well, I have to. I. Well, I always listen to it.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah. Why do. Why do you and your conservative friends listen to my podcast?

[Daniel's Mom]

My conservative friends? Don't they? There's just a couple people that follow you, and they're not conservative.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, so they don't.

[Daniel's Mom]

So they always tell me what I always think. Yeah, well, I don't agree with that.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did you get any feedback from that one?

[Daniel's Mom]

What was it the one that.

[Daniel Tosh]

The one that.

[Daniel's Mom]

No. Well, I don't. I haven't been there because I left. I left the state of Florida. We went to North Carolina.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. You had. You got out of Dodge once. Things. Yeah. On the land. Good for you. All right, well, you sound great. You sound great. Get out there. Get your steps in. We. What are you at a day? 10,000, 20,000?

[Daniel's Mom]

I don't know. I walk a couple hours. I don't know. I go by time. It's probably not steps. I'm old, Daniel.

[Simi]

You don't understand.

[Daniel's Mom]

I'm getting old.

[Daniel Tosh]

I understand. You have to be old because I'm old.

[Daniel's Mom]

I know. And you're 30 years younger than me.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, man. I got 30 more years. That's exciting.

[Daniel's Mom]

Maybe. Maybe.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right, I'll let you go. Tell Dad I said hey.

[Daniel's Mom]

I will. I. I hope this isn't all on the air.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, I hope it is. I'm like, uncut. This puts us on Patreon.

[Daniel's Mom]

That's bad. Okay. Love you.

[Daniel Tosh]

Love you. Bye.

[Simi]

Bye.

[Daniel Tosh]

I can't believe she's getting to do a thousand piece puzzle up there in her cabin in North Carolina. The point I was trying to make is that we. We just kind of. My mom just kind of does her own thing. She has her own life.

[Eddie]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

She's not impressed with anything that I do. And, you know, she's. I mean, she pretends that she's not. She listens to this podcast first thing Tuesday morning, and they cash the checks. I don't give them money anymore. I cut them off. I said, you guys got to knock it off.

[Eddie]

All this puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

You're 80.

[Eddie]

80 years old, going to North Carolina, do puzzles.

[Daniel Tosh]

You like doing puzzles, Eddie?

[Eddie]

No, I hate them.

[Daniel Tosh]

You hate puzzles?

[Eddie]

Yeah. Megan likes them. So she does them and I don't.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, I'm hoping to get a few pointers from today's guest because my puzzle game, it's a C at best. I'd like to get it up to a B. Enjoy. Shoot your shot on Prize picks and get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. That's right. Prize Picks is now giving you $50 in lineups when you sign up and play your first $5. March Madness is upon us. I'll be honest, guys. I recorded this before selection Sunday, but I'm still ready to give you my picks. Okay. College basketball is notoriously sloppy, so when you build your Prize Picks lineup, you're going to want to stay away from any offensive achievements. Pick less on scoring, more on steals, more on rebounds. A lot of hustlers out there right now because they're going to miss tons of shots, stay away from full brackets, and just do player stats on Prize picks so you can enjoy all the upsets while cheering on some kids you've never heard of. Download the Prize Picks app today and use Code tosh to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code tosh to get $50 in lineups AFTER you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks it's good to be right Spring is here and now is the best time to plant. Fast growing trees can help anyone get their home and yard ready with spring planting essentials and trees and plants and that are guaranteed to thrive. Every plant is backed by their alive and thrive guarantee, guaranteed to arrive healthy and ready to thrive in your yard. They have real life plant scientists on staff to ensure plants are happy and healthy before shipping. You hear that Eddie? Yep, a plant scientist.

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[Daniel Tosh]

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[Simi]

Thank you.

[Daniel Tosh]

Look at. That's a lot to unpack. Oh, my goodness. All right, first question. Simmy. Do you believe in ghosts?

[Simi]

Uh, sure.

[Daniel Tosh]

Sure. No. You don't though, right?

[Simi]

I don't know. I haven't really thought about it too much.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, I'm giving you an opportunity right now to think about it.

[Simi]

I believe in aliens.

[Daniel Tosh]

You do? Well, that's not ghosts.

[Simi]

I know, but.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right. Do you want to know why I picked this sweater to wear for you?

[Simi]

Sure.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, because I associate puzzling a little bit. No disrespect with grandmothers.

[Simi]

Oh, yeah, that's fair.

[Daniel Tosh]

And then I picked a sweater that felt grandma y.

[Simi]

Okay. Wait till you speed puzzle. It's not grandma puzzling.

[Daniel Tosh]

No, no, I don't mean. I don't know if I'm capable of speed puzzling.

[Simi]

Well, we're gonna find out.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah. Now the goat is a TV show on Amazon. I hosted. One of the final rounds was a puzzle and it was like 12 pieces and I had to watch these cont. And it was just baffling at how horrible they were. Anyway. All right, let me get to it. You were born in South Korea, adopted in 1984, raised in Massachusetts in a Jewish family. My only real question is F, Marry. Kill the Sox. Celtics Pats.

[Simi]

Marry the Red Sox. Kill the Celtics. F the Pats. No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eddie]

It's pretty good answer.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm going to be honest with you. I think she nailed it. I think she nailed it. I think that's what you have to do. Sorry, Celtics. How racist were kids in Massachusetts growing up?

[Simi]

There were like no Asian kids in Massachusetts where I grew up. So not that racist, I guess. I also grew up and went to a Jewish day school and so it was tiny. There was like five kids in my fourth grade class.

[Daniel Tosh]

Uh huh.

[Simi]

I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of like black and Hispanic kids, so maybe not so racist.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, well, I mean, they can not where I'm from.

[Simi]

I'm not saying that about other areas.

[Daniel Tosh]

You speak Hebrew?

[Simi]

Kind of. Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, so first of all name Mead Lif, Ghosh Otek Simi Toda Shlakat et Hazman Lashevet Velia Stef et Hazipur Shlach. I think that was perfect, right? Okay.

[Simi]

You said something about sitting. That's all I could.

[Daniel Tosh]

Here's what we're going to do, Simi. I'm going to use AI to clean up my Hebrew.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

And it's going to come across perfect.

[Simi]

I learned Hebrew really well till fourth grade and then have not really spoken it since then.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are you Jewish?

[Simi]

I am Jewish.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. You're still Jewish?

[Simi]

Still Jewish?

[Daniel Tosh]

Uh huh. Oh man. I'm not. Oh man, oh man, oh man. How often are you going to temple? You raising your kids Jewish?

[Simi]

My kids are Jewish, yes. So we go to. Our synagogue is Reconstructionist, which is like kind of liberal, hippie, dippy Jewish.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Simi]

And we go every Saturday cause they have Hebrew school.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do they enjoy it?

[Simi]

I think they like seeing their friends and I think they like the tradition part. I think the services can get a little boring for them.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, I.

[Simi]

But we do all the holidays and stuff.

[Daniel Tosh]

Sure. What about Christmas? Do you celebrate Christmas with him?

[Simi]

My husband is not Jewish, so we do Hanukkah in our house and then Christmas with his. They get both.

[Daniel Tosh]

That is nice. That's really the way it should be. Just as many gifts as possible. Do you spoil your children?

[Simi]

Probably.

[Daniel Tosh]

You do.

[Simi]

Yeah, probably. Who doesn't?

[Daniel Tosh]

My son just asked me the other day, he goes, what does spoiled mean, dad? And I was like, oh no. But then I found like a little. I thought to myself, I go, well, there's a difference between being spoiled rotten and spoiled. So I was like, you're just spoiled. You're not the rotten part yet. But it's fast. It's quickly approaching. Okay, you graduated from Cornell. Do you miss Central New York? No, that's a trick question. No one does. No one does. It's all.

[Simi]

I liked my time there, but I don't need to live there.

[Daniel Tosh]

At what age did it become obvious that you have the mind of a rocket scientist?

[Simi]

I get to be like a little annoying about it. I don't actually. I'm not a rocket scientist, I'm a mechanical engineer. So we build the stuff that goes on top of the rockets. But I mean, I like always liked doing puzzles and Legos and stuff as a kid. Liked math, went to college and actually wanted to be an architect, but I'd never taken an art class. So I ended up just doing engineering. And it was like, I don't know, I like it. It's pretty fun. But I probably wouldn't say I had the mind of an engineer. Probably till like 5 years ago is when I finally felt confident in myself as an engineer. Really? Yeah.

[Daniel's Mom]

Huh.

[Daniel Tosh]

Were your grades just off the charts?

[Simi]

I did have good grades. I mean, I went to Cornell.

[Daniel Tosh]

So is. Is the. Is the writing already on the wall for your girls? Are they.

[Simi]

Oh, I totally shove stem down their throats, like pretty aggressively. My little one, Rosie's really into Legos and circuits and that kind of stuff. And then Lulu, my oldest, is like a total art, like theater, music kind of kid.

[Daniel Tosh]

So that's good. A little balance in the house. All right. But before we dive into your competitive jigsaw career, we can't blow past the fact that you work at NASA. Tell me everything you can about Dragonfly, even if I have to cut this out of the interview.

[Simi]

I work for a company called the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. So we are. NASA contracts us to build spacecraft for them. And so I am the lead of the thermal mechanical subsystem for Dragonfly, which. Dragonfly is a 2000 pound 10 foot by 2 foot ish 8 bladed rotorcraft that's gonna go to Titan. We're scheduled to launch in 2028, and then it takes five and a half years to get there. And when it comes down, it's gonna come down with a parachute. And as it's like coming down with the parachute, we're gonna turn the rotors on and then it's gonna fly off and land, take samples and pictures and then do that 50 times.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's gonna do that 50 times on Titan, which is the moon of Saturn.

[Simi]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, I only looked it up last night.

[Simi]

Sadly, it's called it, I think one seventh the gravity and like the atmosphere is I think, four times as thick as Earth, so it's very conducive for flight. So I think the lander here on earth is like £2,000 and it's like flying a Vespa approximately when you're on Titan.

[Daniel Tosh]

A Vespa scooter?

[Simi]

Yeah, like the weight of a Vespa flight.

[Daniel Tosh]

I've had a Vespa scooter and I'll be honest with you, I've tipped it and it's fallen on me. Didn't feel light. Okay. You ever ridden a Vespa?

[Simi]

I've never ridden a Vespa.

[Daniel Tosh]

You ever ridden a motorcycle?

[Simi]

Nope.

[Daniel Tosh]

What about an E bike?

[Simi]

Nope.

[Daniel Tosh]

Where you stand on E bikes. You gonna let your kids have E bikes?

[Simi]

Probably.

[Daniel Tosh]

They're cracking down New Jersey. New Jersey just did the first smackdown on all pedal assist bicycles. Kids are getting killed. It's no good. Okay. Hey, there's a hotel.

[Simi]

What?

[Daniel Tosh]

They are. I just got I to show you this. You tell me if I wasted a million dollars, you can reserve a spot for the first hotel that's going to be on the moon. And it's like a million dollars. Well, it's going to cost $10 million, but to reserve the spot is $1,000 non refundable and then you have to put a million dollars down.

[Simi]

When do they say you can stay there?

[Daniel Tosh]

I didn't know.

[Simi]

Feels like it's going to be a while.

[Daniel Tosh]

That seemed like too much reading, so I just stopped. I just made sure that I could get my thousand. I'm only gonna lose $1,000.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is this a bad idea?

[Simi]

I think it's gonna be a while.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's the first lunar hotel, you can already take reservations. Am I the only one that's excited about this?

[Simi]

Would you fly on like a SpaceX or a Blue Origin rocket?

[Daniel Tosh]

Not SpaceX.

[Simi]

Would you fly on the blue origin one?

[Daniel Tosh]

I guess I don't have a desire. I mean the hotel on the moon just seems so stupid.

[Simi]

Seems like a much bigger commitment.

[Daniel Tosh]

It just seems so stupid. I was like, well, I gotta give him a thousand bucks. And the dumbest thing we'll get on track in a second is the anti gravity planes that just wanna like just dip and let you float around for a few. I have no desire to do that.

[Simi]

Oh, I would do that.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean I do that when the turbulence is bad and it's like, oh, should have put my seatbelt on. But no, I don't want that. You've already done that?

[Simi]

No, I've never done it, but I would.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you have any desire to go to space?

[Simi]

We were just talking about this. I did apply to be an astronaut like many years ago and I made it past the you're completely unqualified round. And then that was it. I wasn't actually qualified. So I tried once.

[Daniel Tosh]

You look like an astronaut right now. Just cause of the usa, like USA jigsaw puzzles. I know it's jigsaw puzzles, but I mean if you walked right past with a helmet on, I'd be like, it's an astronaut. Answer this next question as humbly as you can. Are you the smartest person you know?

[Simi]

No, I'm like the dumbest person amongst my friends.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh man, that's nice that you hang out with people above you.

[Simi]

I know.

[Daniel Tosh]

See, I don't do that. You know, I just try to hang out with just complete morons all the time. Right, Ed?

[Eddie]

Yeah, we do, man. That's our thing.

[Daniel Tosh]

When did you first develop a passion for puzzling?

[Simi]

Well, so as a kid, I always puzzled just with my mom. Like she would sort all the puzzle pieces for me and I would do them as a kid.

[Daniel Tosh]

When you were a child and you started doing puzzles, were you doing age appropriate or were you jumping up pretty quickly?

[Simi]

I feel like when I was like 9 or 10, did like thousand piece puzzles. I don't know if that's age appropriate or not.

[Daniel Tosh]

I don't know.

[Simi]

But then in 20, like during COVID right, Like I just started doing more puzzles and I was like, oh, I think I'm kind of fast at this. I wonder if. I wonder if I am fast. I have no idea. And so I was looking online and in 2022, they had the first USA Jigsaw Puzzle Nationals in San Diego. And I saw it online and I had no idea what it was. And I was like, I am not gonna go to this. Cause it's in San Diego and if it's lame, I don't want to have flown all the way out there.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, I mean, but San Diego, it's nice weather. You go to the beach, you walk

[Simi]

around, you can see it's a pretty far flight. But then it turned out that the program I worked on before Dragonfly is called Europa Clipper. It's on its way to Jupiter right now. And we worked with jpl and so we had to deliver. I built the big antenna on it. There's a big ten foot high gain antenna. And we had to deliver it to JPL the week after USA Nationals. So I thought, oh, if my company will pay for me to fly to California, I'll check it out. And so I showed up and I didn't know a single person. And I walked in and was like, these are my people. And it was super fun. And then you just really, really quick, you fall down the puzzle rabbit hole.

[Daniel Tosh]

What do those people look like?

[Simi]

There's a lot of women.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, so it's women and age range.

[Simi]

I think it's like a lot of women in their like mid-30s and up. Oh yeah. The fastest puzzler right now is a 12 year old. And he's so fast.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is he a white dude?

[Simi]

He is.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, that really pokes some holes in the theories here and how many people are competing.

[Simi]

So USA Jigsaw Puzzle has over 3,000 members. Okay, so that's like the national organization. At nationals, the individual competition, there's four heats, 200 people per heat. So 800 people are gonna compete.

[Daniel Tosh]

When you say heat, are they all doing the same puzzles?

[Simi]

Yeah. So each heat, all 200 people will get the same exact puzzle. They give it to you like in a opaque bag. Yeah. And then each heat is a different puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's in an opaque bag. Does that mean that you don't have a box to stare at the photo?

[Simi]

No, you have the box. You just can't see what it is. So they, like set out all the tables, and every table has a puzzle, and it's the same puzzle. And then they say start. And you open it up and you have the box and you can look at the picture and you can do the puzzle. But each heat will have a different puzzle. So nobody has the advantage of having seen the picture and been able to study it ahead of time.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is this a puzzle that could have been bought at a store?

[Simi]

So at nationals, they have all unreleased puzzles. So they get all brand new puzzles for nationals.

[Daniel Tosh]

But other competitions.

[Simi]

In other competitions, sometimes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Sometimes you could be like, oh, my goodness, I've done this puzzle. Now my question to you is, is that really an advantage?

[Simi]

It is totally an advantage.

[Daniel Tosh]

How is that an advantage? You remember pieces and shapes.

[Simi]

Usually you remember the picture. So you're like, oh, there's a flower in that corner.

[Daniel Tosh]

Or we can all. You can see the flower on the box.

[Simi]

But when you're sorting all the pieces, it's real helpful to know without having to keep looking at the box or when you're trying to figure out where the pieces go without having to keep referring to the box.

[Daniel Tosh]

What number pieces are we talking about for the. For these contests?

[Simi]

500 piece puzzles.

[Daniel Tosh]

500 piece puzzle.

[Simi]

So for individual, you do 500 piece pairs. You can do. They do 500 piece this year. And then teams were doing. In the prelims, it's a 500 piece followed by a 1000 piece. And then in finals, it's two 1000 piece and teams is four people.

[Daniel Tosh]

Could you put me on your team and I could be on your team, But I don't do anything.

[Simi]

I don't think. What do I have to do? No, because I have a team already. But you could compete if you want to. We could get you a spot if you.

[Daniel Tosh]

If you're not a speed. Like, do you have to hit a certain mark to be even become eligible into the tournaments?

[Simi]

No, you just sign up. Each competition has a time limit, so usually it's around two hours. Is the time limit.

[Daniel Tosh]

I don't like that, though. I feel like you should have to be able to be a certain level to even get in so that people like Eddie and I just don't sign up just to do it. There's no chance I could finish.

[Simi]

That's what we want, right? It's still a growing community. It's still a growing.

[Daniel Tosh]

What about sponsors? Do you have any sponsors?

[Simi]

I do not have sponsors, but Von's team has a sponsor.

[Daniel Tosh]

Their team has a sponsor?

[Simi]

Yeah. Their team is sponsored by Cobble Hill.

[Daniel Tosh]

Cobble Hill?

[Simi]

Yeah. Which is a connect Canadian company

[Daniel Tosh]

that reminded me of a Hallmark movie. Oh, it's. It's sponsored by Balsam Hill. What about Ravensburg?

[Simi]

The Ravensburger?

[Daniel Tosh]

Like, Ravensburger, Springbok. Do they sponsor anybody?

[Simi]

I don't think Springbok does. I don't know that Ravensburger sponsors any individuals, but they're like, the main person at national, so we do all Ravensburger puzzles at Nationals.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. Are elms the Tiffany of puzzles?

[Simi]

Oh, I'm not a good person to ask about these.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you like elms?

[Simi]

I've never done one.

[Daniel Tosh]

You've never done an Elms?

[Simi]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, my goodness. Let me tell you something, okay? They are fun.

[Simi]

Great.

[Daniel Tosh]

I did an entire beautiful Elms recently, and then, sure as shit, yes, they're wooden and the shapes are very different. But I was missing a piece, and I just couldn't wrap my head around that I was missing it. Now I have two young kids, so there's a good chance that one of them likes to hoard the last piece and then come in and go, oh, were you looking for this? Finish the puzzle. Do your girls do that? Ever try to do the last piece?

[Simi]

Oh, 100%.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, if ever they save the

[Simi]

last, like, five pieces for them to do.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, so you. You're just general. I just get furious. I will rip their hand from putting

[Simi]

it in, smack it away.

[Daniel Tosh]

They do not get that satisfaction. You have to earn that. But anyway, sure enough, though, with this, you can call the company and you just photograph the spot that's missing and

[Simi]

they give you a replacement.

[Daniel Tosh]

They sent me two replacement pieces. I'm like, I don't need two. But now they're like. They've labeled me in their system as somebody that loses pieces. Has anybody in a tournament claimed that a piece was missing?

[Simi]

That has happened before. I competed at a competition, and we were missing the last piece, and it was like a very obvious red piece. They give you a penalty if you're missing A piece, A time penalty. Because sometimes people lose pieces. Like they drop them on the floor, they're in the bag or whatever. And so you have a time limit before. Like you have to take a maximum penalty that they just add to your time and then you can just be done.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is there any way to cheat in doing a puzzle?

[Simi]

There probably is a way to cheat. I don't think people really do that. It's a pretty sharing giving community, so it's not gotten super cocky.

[Daniel Tosh]

What about drug testing? They drug test you?

[Simi]

Not yet.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is there an age where puzzling. Where you kind of fall off?

[Simi]

They've started doing senior divisions now for people like 55 and up. I think there are people above 55 that are still very competitive, but they do have senior divisions. And then for. There's a minimum age that you have to be to be able to compete in the national competition.

[Daniel Tosh]

Minimum. If the best is a 12 year

[Simi]

old, he cannot compete in nationals and individuals, but he can compete as a pair or on a team with adults.

[Daniel Tosh]

I might enter one of these. What do you think, Ed? You want to be on my team?

[Simi]

Should come. Jigsaw Nationals is this year.

[Daniel Tosh]

Where?

[Simi]

Atlanta.

[Daniel Tosh]

Ugh, sorry.

[Simi]

They were in San Diego the last two times and they're moving it around the country.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, well, probably a big piece. I wish I would have gotten in on this a year ago.

[Daniel's Mom]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

What's your strategy? Walk me through opening a bag of pieces.

[Simi]

Okay, so you open the bag, dump it out, take the box. Everyone has box top holders so you can see your picture. Dump out all the pieces, flip them over. I pull out all the edges and put them to the side. Depending on what the image is, I'll do the entire border or sometimes I won't. Like if it's a collage with like really distinct blocks, I'll just do the things and then I just pick out a color or an object or something that speaks to me and do that first.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Simi]

And you just go really fast.

[Daniel Tosh]

Just the general strategy of all of us that do puzzles. I mean, that's what I do.

[Simi]

But not everyone dumps all the pieces. I mean, when I used to do them, I would like pick all the pieces out of the box and stuff.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, I dump them all out. Let's get going. Do you get upset when they try to get cute and do new shapes with pieces?

[Simi]

So there's random cut and that's like the funny shaped puzzle pieces. And then there's ribbon cut, which is when they're kind of more in order to. So we Always do. At nationals, we do Ravensburger puzzles, which are always ribbon cut and they're really fast. But I do like random cut puzzles. I think they're fun.

[Daniel Tosh]

I don't like it when they do something cute like with a corner where it's two pieces.

[Simi]

Well, wooden puzzles too. They do that more.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, wooden puzzles. That's the worst.

[Simi]

We only speed cardboard puzzles.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are there breaks during competitive puzzling or do you have to wear a diaper and just go for it?

[Simi]

Yeah, just go for it. Well, like, the individual competition is a maximum of two hours.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Simi]

Teams, I think, is only like three hours or something.

[Daniel Tosh]

I know, but basketball players, tennis players, they all run to the bathroom during.

[Simi]

Just need that endurance, man.

[Daniel Tosh]

What's the largest team number of people?

[Simi]

Four.

[Daniel Tosh]

Four. Oh, man, that's a lot of hands.

[Simi]

It is a lot of hands. There's a lot of. We were practicing last night and, like, making sure we stay out of each other's way. And how do you sort the things and how do you pass the pieces and stuff like that?

[Daniel Tosh]

Do people. Do people like. Like, you're the edge girl. You're the flowers.

[Simi]

We all have roles, like who opens the bag, who puts the box up, who opens the inner bag, who does the edge, who sorts.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you have a chant?

[Simi]

We don't have a chant.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do they ever do puzzles in the tournaments that are provocative images or no. Are they all like just landscapes?

[Simi]

No, they bring in specific artists and sometimes the artists will come to the competitions, which are really cool. We do do landscapes. I personally hate food puzzles, like pictures of food. A couple years ago, nationals, it was like a super close up photo of sushi and it was disgusting.

[Daniel Tosh]

You don't like close ups of food?

[Simi]

Yeah, it's gross looking to me. I don't want to do that. But usually they're like nice illustrations or something like that. There's been a couple. There's one that was a bunch of Mandela stones, like a bunch of dots. And that was really hard. So some of them are hard and people have opinions about it.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do the teams have names?

[Simi]

Yes. Oh, so many. Lots of puzzle pun names.

[Daniel Tosh]

Puzzy Power.

[Simi]

So Yvonne's team is the Golden State Puzzlers. I'm joining their team. And we are War and Peace.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right, I had a few more for you.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

What do you got, Pazeltoff. Puzzle skills. Win. Is that a good one?

[Simi]

Trying to think of other team names.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you guys have jackets?

[Simi]

Most people make, like, T shirts and wear matching T shirts.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Simi]

There's a lot of puns.

[Daniel Tosh]

What's your favorite type of puzzle?

[Simi]

I don't know. I like bright colors.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you. Do you like puzzles that. What about, like. Puzzles are just like one color, the whole thing?

[Simi]

I've done a few. I don't. I'm not.

[Daniel Tosh]

You'll enjoy those.

[Simi]

I don't really need to do a super difficult puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Have you ever done a puzzle upside down?

[Simi]

As in you can't see the image

[Daniel Tosh]

or as in yes, can't see the image?

[Simi]

No, there are people who do that and, like, practice.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is that like a training mechanism?

[Simi]

I don't know. For like p. Shape recognition and stuff.

[Daniel Tosh]

What's the worst image to assemble?

[Simi]

Ooh, People have a lot of opinions on these. Some people don't like fur. Usually it's something really dark.

[Daniel Tosh]

I feel like night sky.

[Simi]

Yeah. When there's just not a lot of gradient and it's a lot of solid colors. And then you can't, like, tell any differences with the lighting and stuff.

[Daniel Tosh]

For a while there's gag gifs. We were taking photos of family members and then having them turned into puzzles and giving them. Do you have any of those?

[Simi]

I do. It's weird to puzzle your own face. Like, I've gotten a couple. It's kind of weird.

[Daniel Tosh]

You don't like it. Okay, you're currently ranked number 25 in the nation. How much faster is the top rank athlete?

[Simi]

Ooh, pretty fast. Like, you know, I can do probably a 500 piece. Average time is somewhere in like the 47 to 50 something minute range. And the top people do it in like 30 minutes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, now, is there a scenario, though, where, listen, the pieces fall right for you that day. Is there a world where you could beat the number one puzzler just randomly, not consistently, but like a single one off right now?

[Simi]

I don't think so.

[Daniel Tosh]

You don't think? Okay. The means of sport is pure. That's what I say. Do you guys hang out afterwards and get drunk? How do you celebrate?

[Simi]

Do you want to know how we celebrate? We go and do puzzles. Like, not even kidding. This is the best. We had a competition this weekend. We all competed. Left and went to, like, the coffee shop across the street and then just did another puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

You do a puzzle at a coffee shop, you just take up that much

[Simi]

room, you take the whole table off.

[Daniel Tosh]

That is just. That's just a jerk move if you ask me.

[Simi]

He took over.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, the wi fi is bad enough, but now we got people doing puzzles.

[Eddie]

Come on. I just want to have some coffee.

[Daniel Tosh]

I want a scone. This woman's got a thousand pieces. Pieces set up.

[Simi]

Yeah. We took the whole lobby over of the hotel and just did.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do people stop you and marvel at the speed of which things are happening?

[Simi]

Like, if I'm doing it in a coffee shop.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yes. Yeah.

[Simi]

The other day, I was doing the lobby, and these, like, random people in the hotel were, like, just watching.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did people start tipping you?

[Simi]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Because if you were in a lobby and I saw that, I would tell my son, hey, go give her 20 bucks. That's pretty awesome.

[Simi]

That's something for the joy of puzzling.

[Daniel Tosh]

I know, but, I mean, if I see that, like, I'm honest. I think if you set up a table in Venice beach, you could straight hustle people. I think people would be into it. You could really make some coin.

[Simi]

You could race people. I guess.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah. How much do you make in this world? What kind of prize money is there?

[Simi]

Oh, only Nationals gives monetary prizes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Simi]

And it's not a ton of money. I think they tried to give you enough that there's a world competition every year. So I think their goal is to make the prize be enough that it can subsidize your trip if you were to go to Worlds. But most competitions, when you win, you win a puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, well, that's. I mean, that's appropriate.

[Simi]

You come home with, like.

[Daniel Tosh]

But what kind of money is the. Is the world's. Like, what are we looking at?

[Simi]

Oh, I don't know how much they make.

[Daniel Tosh]

A million dollars?

[Simi]

No, it's like, a few thousand dollars.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, well, that's what I wanted. I wanted to know an answer.

[Simi]

You professional puzzling people out there that have, like, YouTube channels or, like, run competitions, and, like, they actually make a living off of puzzles. But it's like, maybe lesson five.

[Daniel Tosh]

You know why I like puzzles? I don't really enjoy the act. I just like, when it's being done, it makes me feel good because I feel like it's family. It reminds me of family time. It usually reminds me of the holidays. I just think when it's set up on a table, I always just. I visually like that there's a puzzle being worked on, and I like to go by and do a couple pieces. That's all I'm at. Although my agent, she is the worst. Like, it doesn't compute with her. She's that person that tries to cram pieces that don't fit. They're not even the right. The color. And I'm like, what's wrong? Maybe she's colorblind. I don't know. It's embarrassing. You ever do a puzzle with somebody that's just terrible?

[Simi]

Yeah, all the time. And I do remember when my kids were little and they like would put the edge pieces the wrong way and I was like, it's really clear that there's a line right here. Like, why aren't you lining them up? But they were like four, so.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah. Do you ever redo a puzzle?

[Simi]

Yes. Oh, so speed puzzles. Redo puzzles a lot to practice and get faster and like try different techniques and stuff like that. But sometimes I just like the image, so I'll do them again.

[Daniel Tosh]

I've never done a puzzle twice in my life. I mean, other than children's puzzles. Once I've done it, it's like I did it. You don't glue them and hang them up, do you?

[Simi]

I do not. Some people do.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you see how mad I got? Like, I was like scared that you were gonna have people have like books

[Simi]

where they keep them.

[Daniel Tosh]

Maybe if you put it in a book, I could get my head around thinking that way. And if you're a competitive puzzler, that's also acceptable. Oh, this is so much. What's the largest puzzle you've ever done?

[Simi]

Me personally, I did a 9,000 piece puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, that's a real number.

[Simi]

It's like two. It's like an underwater scene.

[Daniel Tosh]

What was the dimensions of it?

[Simi]

I don't know how to do it on the floor.

[Daniel Tosh]

On the floor? That's kind of sad.

[Simi]

I was a lot younger. I know a big table, you just

[Daniel Tosh]

want to, you want to bust into somebody's home and you see a 9000 or on the floor, you're like, oh, wow, this girl knows how to party.

[Simi]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

We recently had a chess grandmaster on the show who considered himself an athlete. Do you consider yourself an athlete? And is jigsaw puzzling?

[Simi]

A sport like this is very controversial.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, well, I'm just asking your opinion.

[Simi]

This is my personal opinion. I would not call it a sport. I call it maybe a pursuit. So chess, he considered chess a sport?

[Daniel Tosh]

He did. Very.

[Simi]

And like, is poker a sport?

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, I mean, some people, I guess,

[Simi]

but I know there is a lot of people that consider it a sport.

[Daniel Tosh]

I got it. So you're, you're of sane mind. Do people buy you jewelry with, with a puzzle piece on it?

[Simi]

I think I did get. My mother in law bought me a pair of earrings, I think, with puzzle pieces on it. It was my first piece. But puzzlers, like, like a lot of them. Like a lot of puzzle accessories. Yes. Hair clips and earrings. And necklaces and shoes and dresses.

[Daniel Tosh]

I remember as a child my brother kind of snapping at my parents because they got him a tie that had computers on it. And he's like, I get it. I like computers and like, it really, like, put a tone over that Christmas where I was like, all right, we don't buy them anything with computers on puzzles.

[Simi]

Lean into it. They really lean into the puzzle culture. There's, like, whole companies that sell puzzle paraphernalia and puzzle clothes and puzzle fabric.

[Daniel Tosh]

And if you walk into a toy store with your kids, do you immediately just walk on over to the puzzles?

[Simi]

I do. And physically make barriers between me and the puzzles.

[Daniel Tosh]

Ah, that's just funny. That's just funny. You just like something. What's really funny is that you like it just. In the past five years, when most people. The pandemic hit, they learned to do sourdough bread.

[Simi]

Oh, I did that, too, as a sourdough bread. Jigsaw puzzles, sewing, animal crossing as a total cliche all the way.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's just delightful. Is your jignificent other also a puzzler, a good name?

[Simi]

No, he is not. He's, like, extremely not a puzzler.

[Daniel Tosh]

Does he make fun of you about it?

[Simi]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Simi]

No. He's the number four puzzler in our family. Like, he's truly terrible.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are you allowed to tease or no? Does he tease you about all the. Like, not with all the. By the way, is it potentially, like, you would stop your career to focus solely on this? Would it ever get to that level or. No?

[Simi]

Right now, I don't think it's that lucrative. At least not for me.

[Daniel Tosh]

I know, but, like, let's just say that money doesn't become the driving factor.

[Simi]

And would I just puzzle? Yeah, probably I do that. Launch Dragonfly and then move on to puzzling. All right.

[Daniel Tosh]

Dragonfly. That's such a long. Are you gonna see that thing through? That's nine years, 10 years.

[Simi]

Yeah. So it launches in 2028. And as a mechanical engineer, like, once it's in space, generally, we're kind of done.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you don't check in on it. You don't have, like, an app where you can just see how she's doing.

[Simi]

The thermal people propulsion do, but it will fly for five and a half years, and then it's going to land. And so once it lands, we have. We do have work again. Or people on my team will have work again to.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm a flat floor, so I don't believe any of that.

[Eddie]

I wish we were flat Earthers.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, man, imagine how much easier life would be if we were flat. If you actually believe such a wall

[Eddie]

at the end of this. And that's it.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is this a wall? They leave it to wall. No. I thought it was a ledge.

[Eddie]

No, it's a flip side to the. To the plate. I don't know what we live on.

[Daniel Tosh]

We'll be right back. PA Show. When not working on planetary robotic exploration, or planning high impact space missions, or solving 1500 piece puzzles, what does Simi do to unwind?

[Simi]

Oh, I'm a big baker. Yeah. So I make like very elaborate cakes for my children.

[Daniel Tosh]

Cakes. That's fun. Do you have a sweet tooth?

[Simi]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Me too.

[Simi]

I love candy.

[Daniel Tosh]

I don't really love candy.

[Simi]

I actually don't really like eating cake, but I really like making cake.

[Daniel Tosh]

I like cake. I don't like icing.

[Simi]

It's not great. Swiss meringue. You're gonna make Swiss meringue? American buttercream is very sweet. I don't like it.

[Daniel Tosh]

I like naked cakes that like powdered sugar. Call it a day. Everybody that's on the show gets some gifts. Okay. Just stuff that's at my house. Now, a lot of people know that I like games, board games and stuff. So they buy me games. But I don't like to play. I don't like to learn new games.

[Simi]

Fair.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's just like, I'd rather just. I'm gonna have more fun playing monopoly. Deal, Rummy cub, whatever. The handful of games I like. So you're just gonna get a lot of my other games.

[Daniel's Mom]

Great.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, wait, I got this. Your kids hold cards. Well, this is. Do your kids have one of these?

[Simi]

We do have those.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, now you got another one.

[Simi]

Thank you.

[Daniel Tosh]

This is. Your kids are gonna love 1980s music trivia game. Oh, it looks like a cassette. I don't want that.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

Pass the pigs. That's a good one.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you'll love it. What's this? Throw. Throw. Avocado. I don't know what that is. Not gonna learn it.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

Some of these I open, but like, what is this? Nerds? Fast, frenzied fun. I doubt it. Oh, look at that. Oh, my goodness. You kidding me? How many decks of cards are in this game? Oh, that's a. My kid. If I open this game up at my house, my kids would have all of the cards out immediately and I would never get them back in their color coordinated boxes.

[Eddie]

It's like, It's a simple 12 deck.

[Daniel Tosh]

Shoot. So many decks. That's crazy. What are you running a casino? Do you gamble?

[Simi]

I don't.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, yeah. Boring.

[Simi]

I know. I'm pretty square.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's fine.

[Simi]

Wow, this is a lot of.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did you ever go through it? Five seconds. I know. I don't want these. What is this? Bang. Oh, I don't see. I can't do this because I don't let my kids see anything with guns.

[Simi]

Okay.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, look at this clue. But the golden girls edition.

[Simi]

All right.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you're gonna love that. You are gonna love it. You're have to get this off my desk. Cause it's getting ridiculous at this point. Okay, then this. Do you have one of these already? Because I can't wait to give it to you. This is an inflatable roll up puzzle, Matt.

[Simi]

Oh, yes. I used to have one of those.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, now you have another one.

[Simi]

Okay, great.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. My mom got me this. I'm like, Mom, I'm not like. She's like, wait, you roll it up, say. I'm like, I don't need it. I'll. I'll work around our puzzle.

[Simi]

Okay?

[Daniel Tosh]

She wants me to. No, this has to go on the floor. Okay. What you're doing, that's not the floor.

[Daniel's Mom]

Floor, floor.

[Simi]

All the way up?

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, all the way. There's a nightmare. So many games. You're gonna love all of those. I hope you wanted to have checked luggage.

[Simi]

Do you want me. I did bring you some stuff.

[Daniel Tosh]

You brought me something?

[Simi]

Yeah, but it's.

[Daniel Tosh]

What do you have up here?

[Simi]

Better.

[Daniel Tosh]

Simmy. I don't want more stuff that I have to re. Give to someone else.

[Simi]

This was from the teams competition last year at USA Jigsaw National. That was a teen teams.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, teams. Thank goodness. I was like, lake Tahoe, California. Now that's just beautiful. Now this is. It's not accurate because this house overlooking Emerald Bay doesn't exist. Okay? So that's. That's bullshit.

[Simi]

No, artistic.

[Daniel Tosh]

Whatever. The geese and. God, I hate these geese. They just shit in your yard all day long. And then my dog just eats poop. I'm like, I can't get him to stop. I'm like, oh, it's just a nightmare. But the bears are fun. A thousand piecer. Have you done this one yet?

[Simi]

Yeah, we did it as part of the competition last year. It's fun.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you know how long this would take me?

[Simi]

You got some time.

[Daniel Tosh]

The answer is a while.

[Simi]

We got a bunch of stuff here. Okay. So then we have. I have a friend named Zach and he has a company called Zacho Puzzle Boards. And he makes like really nice puzzle boards. So he made you a few.

[Daniel Tosh]

Wait, wait. A few things. Wait, wait. What am I supposed to do with a. What's this?

[Simi]

It's a tiny puzzle board.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, how so? I have to buy a puzzle that fits in this. Is that a standard size?

[Simi]

There's mini puzzles in my.

[Daniel Tosh]

But I mean. Well, then what am I supposed to do with. And that's what, glue in here or something?

[Simi]

No, no. You just do the puzzle on that board and there's like little puzzles.

[Daniel Tosh]

You can do the puzzle on this board. This is the dumbest gift I've ever seen. And I bet you my tiny tray.

[Simi]

And this is a sorting tray. So when you're doing all your puzzles and you want to sort your pieces.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, this is. Now you're giving me junk with them.

[Simi]

These are like highly coveted people.

[Daniel Tosh]

This is cute. Well, yes, this is cute, but I don't understand. I don't have a puzzle that small.

[Simi]

You didn't bring a micro puzzle?

[Daniel Tosh]

I would keep this for one reason. Drywall. Like if I. Oh, yeah, sure.

[Simi]

You don't sort your puzzle pieces when you do your puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yes, I sort them, but what do I need this for?

[Eddie]

Like wallpaper?

[Simi]

You could, like, put all the tree pieces on there so that you make room. So when you're doing the puzzle, you have places to put all your pieces.

[Daniel Tosh]

I know, but why don't you just put all the tree pieces in a

[Eddie]

spot or in a frisbee if you

[Simi]

don't have enough space. It depends. If you do a larger puzzle, you might need more space.

[Daniel Tosh]

I have a 12 foot dining room table.

[Simi]

Okay, well, we don't all have very

[Daniel Tosh]

large dining room table. I know. I have a 12 footer. Okay. That I don't allow people to ever sit at.

[Simi]

There's only so much like an individual.

[Daniel Tosh]

You only have in this for the race. Well, this is nice. Thank you. This is very thoughtful.

[Simi]

He made you this. This is a box top holder for you.

[Daniel Tosh]

A what Holder?

[Simi]

A box top holder. So get your box top and then you can slide it in.

[Daniel Tosh]

How does a box top work? Just because I don't. Because I've always thought boxes just stood up fine without anything.

[Eddie]

Oh, but if it falls over.

[Simi]

That is secure for you.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is the most useless thing I've ever. No box falls. What are the. Are you guys doing things with? Who's coming by?

[Eddie]

Swing like a gust of wind.

[Simi]

Like move your arms.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yes, I've moved my arms, but I'm not. I know where they're going. It's not willy nilly in my head.

[Eddie]

Somebody Walks by the table fast.

[Daniel Tosh]

This says Tasho. And by the way, I, I, I love nothing more than beautiful wood. So this is very thoughtful and I appreciate it. Thank you. I just, I just feel like it's purpose.

[Simi]

I think that you're gonna use it and you're gonna be like, I didn't know what I was missing. You pull that out.

[Eddie]

People like this guy knows what he's doing.

[Simi]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

Especially once I start doing this Trace.

[Eddie]

And then the little micro puzzle tray.

[Daniel Tosh]

No, that, that, this is. This makes no sense to me.

[Eddie]

Could be a soap dish.

[Daniel Tosh]

This is, by the way, These, this is nice. The guy does good work.

[Simi]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

You said he's 12.

[Simi]

No, this is a different person. This is Zach. He has a company called Zacho Puzzle

[Daniel Tosh]

Boards in state New York. All right. Zach. Zach.

[Simi]

He makes really nice handmade Zach.

[Daniel Tosh]

You watched Zach's business Skyrim. What's supposed to go? Oh, this.

[Simi]

Because the box top holder's in there.

[Daniel Tosh]

Get all. What do you have over there? Is this what we're actually.

[Simi]

So then if you wanted to compete, we brought puzzles to race.

[Eddie]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, yeah, I'll race.

[Simi]

We could do the Apollo. And this one doesn't have a picture, so maybe. I don't know if you have a preference.

[Daniel Tosh]

I want to see what I'm doing. Okay. I don't have a Beautiful Mind over here. I can't start.

[Simi]

Big picture.

[Daniel Tosh]

This will be perfect. Watch this. Eddie, this is so much easier now. Oh, yeah, that does help. You want to go for this? Give me a countdown. You ready? Go ahead, Eddie.

[Eddie]

Three, two, one. Puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is there. Is this tricky? Wait a second. It's round. Yeah. I thought it was gonna. Oh, you dirty dog. I didn't know it was round. That's just awful. Oh, my goodness. It's round.

[Simi]

Take a picture.

[Daniel Tosh]

I know, but I thought it was gonna still have a square edge. I thought that was like a circle inside. And there's words I'm gonna have to spell.

[Eddie]

That's what's gonna get you.

[Daniel Tosh]

Have you put pieces together already? This is so embarrassing. Ah, my first piece. First piece.

[Eddie]

First piece.

[Daniel Tosh]

Second piece. Do you guys announce that? Are you allowed to trash talk?

[Simi]

Try to be respectful, okay?

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. Oh, like, I'm almost done. You can't say stuff like that.

[Simi]

People do not generally say that, but there is commentary during the competitions.

[Daniel Tosh]

Guys, I'm starting to cruise now. Oh, holy cow. I'm actually cruising. Oh, man. I feel like you are possibly in trouble in the gift. Oh, gosh. What is this? H. What? Oh, that's. Oh, I know what that is. That's not right either. Oh, look, I had two. Oh, those two aren't right. Ugh. This would be so stressful in competition. I can definitely see myself getting mad. Is that right? It doesn't feel like it's right. You know what? I'm just gonna go at my own pace.

[Eddie]

Yeah, exactly.

[Daniel Tosh]

Wait a second. This is wrong. Some of these pieces just fit. No. What? What is that? I didn't think it would do this. I want to stop. This is just a piece away from being done. Oh, man. How can that be? The problem is, once you start getting embarrassed, you can't function, right? Oh, hey, I got my first. Oh, that's not right.

[Eddie]

That's perfect. That's how it stops.

[Simi]

Good job.

[Eddie]

Congratulations, Simmy.

[Daniel Tosh]

Look at what I got done. Is mine good?

[Simi]

The downfall was starting with the edges.

[Daniel Tosh]

That was the downfall.

[Simi]

Yeah, you gotta start with the middle on the round puzzles.

[Eddie]

I've never, never seen a round puzzle.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, I don't know that I have either. Just a dumb. Good for you. Do you have to shake hands afterwards?

[Simi]

We do not usually, but sure. People give, like, high fives and congratulate

[Daniel Tosh]

each other when they lose. They congratulate.

[Simi]

It's not like head on. It's not head to head. Like, you'll finish and the people next to you won't be done yet.

[Daniel Tosh]

What about the finals? Is the final finals not a head to head?

[Simi]

I mean, it's like 100 people doing

[Daniel Tosh]

it all at the same time in the finals. The first or 200 people. Not very prestigious to make the finals then. Well, thank you for being on the show.

[Simi]

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[Daniel Tosh]

It was very entertaining. I appreciate it. Good luck to you. And yeah, I'll see you in Atlanta.

[Simi]

All right, I'll see you there. We'll get a team for you.

[Daniel Tosh]

Pa show. I want to thank Simi for teaching me how to puzzle. Carl, you like puzzles? As a yes if I ever heard one. We got a lot of good plugs today. We have the patreon.com tossshow. You want to check that out? My first farewell tour. Let me tell you something about this tour. It is mind blowing to me. Some places where we just have to add show after show, and then some places it's like pulling teeth. What's going on, Tuscaloosa? Get out there and buy some tickets. Macon, Macon, Georgia.

[Eddie]

Macon.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's a big market. And I know people are like, well, why aren't you coming to Miami? I'm like, I was there. You missed the show. You're in Peoria. Why wouldn't you stop by Chicago? I was just in Chicago. I'm stuck with peoria. What else? Toss showstore.com. now, my favorite hit the music. Turn off the music. It's time for they Love Me. They Love Me Not. This is where Eddie each week picks a comment from our YouTube page of someone that's a fan, reads it to me, I get all excited. Then he picks a negative comment, reads it to me, I get upset, and we say goodbye.

[Eddie]

It's a cruel bit. It's a cruel bit.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right, let's do it. They love me. What do you got for me this week, Ed?

[Eddie]

Jeff Sevy, 6812 Jeff Sevy.

[Daniel Tosh]

I know him.

[Eddie]

Yeah. Excellent episode. Very interesting. Tosh is the best interviewer out there. Kudos to everyone involved with this production.

[Daniel Tosh]

That doesn't put me in a good mood. I don't like it when people can, like, say thank you to everyone involved. I don't like you guys getting the praise because it goes to your head. And Dylan. Dylan starts walking around all cocksure. Do people still say cocksure? I bet somewhere, Dylan, how do you walk cocksure?

[Eddie]

That's how I walk every day. Just take a look at me.

[Simi]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

No, I mean, it's nice. And am I the best interviewer? Of course I'm not. I'm not the best interviewer. That's Phil Donahue.

[Eddie]

Yeah, absolutely. Hands down.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. Phil Donahue. Steve Allen. Okay. And then Magic Johnson.

[Eddie]

That's the three.

[Daniel Tosh]

Those are your top three best interviewers of all time.

[Eddie]

Magic Johnson, the Smile that Stole Late Night. Don't remember that.

[Daniel Tosh]

Kudos, by the way. Kudos to everyone involved. Remember Kudos? The candy? The granola that was covered in chocolate, like, real thin and small. I enjoyed those.

[Eddie]

Delicious.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, they had little tiny M and Ms. In them.

[Eddie]

Right.

[Daniel Tosh]

I was a fan of kudos. Are they still around? Went out of business. They went out of business. Okay. They still have to have a box. The company still has to have a box too. Send us an old box of kudos. When did they go out of business?

[Eddie]

2017.

[Daniel Tosh]

2017. All right, so that box is fine, Right? That's plan. As long as it's not over 10 years old.

[Eddie]

We're right there. We're good.

[Daniel Tosh]

Send us a box of kudos. I used to eat those all the time. I was like, oh, I'm eating a granola bar. It was just nothing but chocolate. Okay. That was. They love me. Well, I want to thank him for saying such positive stuff. About me and the crew here. What do you got for they Love Me Not?

[Eddie]

It's from Gatsby myself. Tennis is boring.

[Daniel Tosh]

Tennis is boring. That's just all. That's all he wrote?

[Eddie]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

You don't like tennis?

[Eddie]

Not a fan.

[Daniel Tosh]

I disagree with you. See you next week.