📣 Presenting… MY PUZZLE PATREON! 📣
I just returned home from an absolutely exhilarating week at the Reality Escape Con (RECON) in Boston. My mind is abuzz with so many thoughts about the future of escape rooms as a medium and industry. More on all that below.
But first, some very exciting news: I just started a Patreon!!!
Over the past few years, I’ve designed a TON of puzzles. I stopped keeping count, but it’s somewhere in the hundreds. A small fraction of those have been for public-facing projects: Pilcrow Bar, Escape the Plagues, the ASPMC, Enigmarch. I suspect many of you found my work, and this newsletter, through one of those channels. The majority of my puzzles, however, have been for a wide range of private client projects.
Moving forward, I want to design even more puzzles for even more people. This Patreon is a way for you to both support my work — and also become an active participant in it! All tiers of the Patreon, starting at $5/month, will get access to a monthly puzzle Zoom hangout, a secret Discord channel, and other fun goodies.
Which leads into my second big announcement… I’m writing a book about puzzle design! 📕
This project has already been well over a year in the works, starting during my time in an Odyssey Works experience design incubator 2 winters ago. With this book, I’m shaping a path for learning how to become a puzzle experience designer, not just how to construct specific puzzle types. But it’s even more than that: I’m distilling my learnings from the realms of puzzle hunts, ARGs, escape rooms, and treasure hunts to provide a useful resource for anyone designing experiences around shifts in perception, regardless of whether they consider themself to be a “puzzle designer.” I’m thoroughly convinced that we can learn a lot by approaching the world through a lens of wonder, discovery, and curiosity.
Through my Patreon, I’ll be sharing previews of book chapters, and the monthly puzzle hangouts will feature discussions around these excerpts. But you don’t need to be a puzzle designer or theorist to join. Regardless of your background or experience level, whether you’ve ever designed a puzzle, you just enjoy solving puzzles, or you are brand new to this world, your insight and participation are warmly welcomed.
And, of course, all Patreon tiers will receive lots of fun behind-the-scenes content and bonus puzzles. If you enjoy this newsletter and want to help support my writing and puzzle design, in whatever capacity, I invite you to join my Patreon community.
RECON Recap
You know that feeling when you’ve really found your people? It’s a special and all-too-rare sensation.
Yet that precise feeling characterized this year’s Reality Escape Con. There was an overwhelming sense of warmth and inclusion, of mutual understanding and respect, amongst the community of 200-some escape room nerds in attendance. Creators, owners, and enthusiasts alike intermingled, sharing their love for escape rooms and all the while looking forward to the future directions of this industry.
I could write an entire essay reflecting on the talks, lobby conversations, and games that filled the weekend. In fact, I already have a few articles underway on specific topics. But this newsletter is already getting too long, so for now, I’ll just share a few brief highlights:
Level99 in Natick, MA was SO FUN. I especially enjoyed some frantic end-of-the-night questing with fellow Room Escape Artist writer Theresa, Chris of Constructed Adventures, and Neil Patrick Harris (pictured above). What a team!!
Victor Hung’s tech talk about Boxaroo and Level99 was everything I look for in a tech talk and more. It was accessible without oversimplifying, full of nerd humor, and structurally self-aware.
So many amazing lobby conversations! The pre-planned talks and games were all fantastic, yet the lobby was really where the magic happened.
I made a RECON letterbox, and lots of people found it. My letterboxing hobby predates my puzzle obsession (gasp!) and it’s always fun to share my carvings and clues with new, eager audiences.
Puzzling Attire
My friend Justin Ladia is an awesome designer. You may have seen his sleek illustrations in this past year’s MIT Mystery Hunt, for which he was the art director.
He’s also designed some pretty epic puzzle shirts. Through the end of August (i.e. ending tonight!) you’ll get 10% off if you solve this cute puzzle:
I’ve struggled to find nerdy puzzle apparel that’s also passably fashionable, and Justin has nailed it with each of these shirts. The tri-blends are also super soft. (This is not a paid endorsement or anything. I just really love these shirts!)
Review Roundup
I’ve written quite a few reviews and articles for Room Escape Artist over the past few months. These are a few of my favorites.
Field Report on Israeli Escape Rooms: Back in May, I had the opportunity to play 20+ of the top escape rooms in Israel. This article includes my high-level reflections on the scene. Follow along on REA for more reviews of individual rooms coming soon!
Marriott x TED - The Curiosity Room: Yes, you’re reading that right. Marriott is testing out a new escape room-esque experience right in your hotel room! I had the opportunity to stay a night in the San Francisco Curiosity Room, and it contained many “Puzzles Worth Solving.”
Walking Shadow Theatre Company - Cabal: From the creators of online favorite Reboot, this Minneapolis “play with puzzles” was a unique experience blending immersive theater with escape rooms.
Back in March, I visited the Chicago escape room scene. Escape Factor’s Bonus Fun Time Game Show Challenge and 60 to Escape’s Pirates Curse were two of my favorite experiences of the trip.
Puzzle of the Week
It’s back!! This week’s puzzle is, unsurprisingly, themed around Patreon.
Happy puzzling!
Matthew