Puzzles make me happy.
A bounty of puzzle recs to help spread the joy 🧩
I recently remarked to a friend: “Whenever I get sad about how shitty the world and so many of its inhabitants are, it always helps to just think of all the cool people I haven't even met yet.”
On that note, I share with you a few things I’ve been up to, along with a variety of exciting happenings coming up in the broader puzzle and immersive worlds.
Happy adventuring!
I was on the Mystery Soup Podcast!
The owners of Mystery Soup Escape Rooms in Rhode Island also has a podcast about all things escape rooms, and they were kind enough to interview me for their most recent episode.
Our conversation touched on a number of topics, from my unconventional career path to my favorite escape rooms to some thoughts on the philosophy of puzzle design.
Listen now on your podcast platform of choice!
The Enigmas of March
EnigMarch is a daily puzzle-writing challenge which takes place annually in March.
Sadly, I’ve been too busy traveling to participate this year, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to collaborate with my friend Will Lowry in what has become a lovely annual tradition. Make sure to comment 🎪 on Instagram once you’ve solved it, and feel free to DM me for hints or confirmation.
If you missed my EnigMarch collabs with Will from past years, you can find them here: 2024, 2023, 2022. Yes, they all feature Will’s adorable — and impressively tiny — illustrations.
As usual, I’ve enjoyed seeing everyone’s creative submissions to this challenge. I’ve especially had a blast playing Sandy Weisz’s EnigMarch puzzles, which are actually a full-blown transformation ladder puzzle game called Raddle. It’s quickly become part of my daily morning puzzle ritual, and it’s been amazing seeing his website evolve into a sleek puzzle platform in record time. Check it out here, and learn more about its development in Sandy’s newsletter.
Upcoming Immersive Happenings
Amidst the flurry of utterly terrible news bombarding the USA recently, I’ve been delighted to also see a ton of cool puzzle and immersive events popping up all around the country. Here are some that I’m particularly excited about.
Boston: From the creators of Club Drosselmeyer comes a new “Immersive, Interactive Tiki Adventure” called Cthulhu Luau. Puzzles, mysteries, craft cocktails, and live music… what more could you want?! Running for a limited time in May.
NYC: I woke up today to the fantastic news that Punchdrunk’s Viola’s Room is coming to The Shed this summer and fall! I saw Viola’s Room in London last year and was absolutely blown away by its intimate, refined environmental storytelling. This show is not to be missed.
Brooklyn: If you’re looking for even more magical entertainment in New York, Art of Play’s shop at 69 Atlantic is a sublime source of unique gifts which also functions as a speakeasy magic theater on weekends. Their shows tend to sell out quickly, especially since they were featured in the New York Times, so get on their mailing list to be the first to know about new events. (And pick up a copy of the Tangram journal while you’re there if you want to solve some of my puzzles! I’ve heard that Volume 2 might even lead to some hidden treasure not too far away…)
Houston: Next Friday, April 4, Sandy Weisz from The Mystery League is running Search for a Superhero, a team-based puzzle hunt, as a public event. (This awesome experience is usually only available for private corporate events, so this is a rare opportunity!) Get your tickets now.
San Francisco: Handstand is currently running an escape room pop-up in SF called Jidara. Included in the price is an at-home puzzle game, with copies for every player. I had a chance to play it and was impressed by a high level of production quality, layered puzzles, and a nice keepsake that’s going on my display shelf. Jidara is only running for 3 more days and they just added on a limited number of additional spots after selling out.
Near San Francisco: Later this spring, The Explorers Guild is organizing what looks to be a singularly delightful event called Adventure Camp, a more stationary but similarly immersive/whimsical successor to their Caravan Rally. I so very wish I could be there, but if you’re in the area, please go in my place!
Seattle: From art consortium All of Them Witches comes an immersive dream world called The Shape of The Night. This one looks so freakin cool.
Online: There are quite a few upcoming online puzzle hunts, including the Teammate Hunt this weekend. If you’re looking for teammates, shoot me a message and I can help you find puzzle friends, and if you’re first getting into puzzle hunts, I recommend checking out Boxaroo’s free online hunt called Colby’s Curious Cookoff.
Track Your Escapes on Morty
If you’ve been following my socials, you’ll know that I recently returned from a mega escape room trip around Europe — nearly 70 experiences in the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. I had an absolute blast, and I’m hard at work on a big batch of reviews for Room Escape Artist.
Planning a trip as logistically complex as this one entailed pulling from a ton of different resources, one of which was the escape room tracking app Morty. We especially found Morty useful when deciding whether to play newer games which weren’t yet on TERPECA, some of which ended up being our favorites of the trip.
Morty’s full app is still only on iOS, but their Android and web versions are increasingly coming close to reaching feature parity. If you like playing escape rooms, using Morty is a no-brainer, and they’re constantly adding helpful new features. (Disclaimer: I briefly worked on Morty’s database a few years ago, but I’m just a big fan now!)
I’ll end with a photo of one of my favorite escape rooms: The Alchemist at Sherlocked in Amsterdam. I actually played this game in late beta a couple years ago, and it was truly incredible to revisit it in its full glory. It’s one thing to create experiences where we pretend that magic is real; it’s next level to actually bring the impossible to life.
