With schools set to start soon, your stomach may be craving pizza. Or, you might be nervous. Probably neither, I just wanted to play with the title of this issue. The theme is actually more scholarly. Test your knowledge of philosophy with the Dominoes and Butterflies puzzle. Afterwards, relax with
More summer fun to engage your brain. This issue is about pathfinding. Instead of boring old mazes, I found a couple of interactive gems that you can play online. Net From Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection Reassemble the network by rotating the tiles until all terminals are connected.
Collaborating with AI means acknowledging the source of ideas. The following piece was authored by ChatGPT. It never knew my true intent: brainstorming fresh puzzle ideas. The reasons for this will become clear as you read. Initially, I thought about editing out the Elmish ("LLM-speak" and those infernal
My wife and I frequently visit T. J. Maxx. There is always something interesting to catch my eye, whether it is a new snack, kitchen gadget or home furnishings. Recently, I spotted a clear lockbox that just begged me to buy it for a puzzle! (How many of you remember
Lemongello da Cremona, a notorious art forger, has struck again, desecrating the classics for the sake of a pun. I've captured four of them for you to solve. AI-generated art makes possible some really strange and unique puzzles. I've written before about the Connections-style puzzles (see
Visual Puzzle Formats I’ve been thinking a lot about how to structure a visual puzzle book that goes beyond variety and aims for progression, discovery, and depth. What follows is a field guide of puzzle types I’ve worked with or analyzed closely. Spot-the-Differences Mechanic: Visual Comparison Classic visual
"Cartoon mice must be of a different species from the filthy, disgusting, germ-ridden things I pay people to kill." - Hillard Allen Father's Day is such a cool day for me. I have a fun father and fun kids! (My grown children are always going to
As summer rolls into the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll want plenty of fresh puzzles. I’ve got you covered. This week, flex your word-play muscles with Color Code, tackle Impostor Syndrome, and dust off your pop-culture trivia knowledge with Seeing Stars? Finally, I've created three fresh visual puzzles
You sit down to brainstorm ideas for your next puzzle book. You fire up ChatGPT, type "Give me 15 fresh word search themes," and hit enter. The suggestions roll in—music genres, animals, seasonal activities. They look good. They feel familiar. Maybe too familiar. Three books later, you
What Makes a Puzzle “Replayable”—and Should It Be? Activity books often mix in specialty puzzles alongside standard formats. I often notice only one or two of these oddballs in a given book, but those are what I consider "replayable" in spirit. Not because the same puzzle is
Here is a quiet note for you. Mothers Day evokes different feelings for each of us. I hope that you find joy and peace on this day. To mark the occasion, here are a few puzzles. Enjoy! Mothers Day PuzzlesThree Themed PuzzlesMothers Day Puzzles.pdf7 MBdownload-circle
Twin Blitz is a fast-paced visual puzzle where you scan 16 tiles, each filled with a mix of quirky symbols. One pair is an exact match, tap both before the clock runs out. It’s a satisfying challenge for sharp eyes and quick fingers.
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Summary: When LLMs Meet Letter Insertion: A Case Study I wanted to know if ChatGPT could help me brainstorm a list of word pairs, where the second word differed from the first by the insertion of a single letter between the first and second letters of the first word, such
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My dad taught me how much fun it is to make games from stuff lying around the house. He cut open two album covers and taped them together to make a large, foldable board. Then he cut the corners from an entire deck of cards so that only the suit
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Ever stare at a long list of potential puzzle names, themes, or concepts and feel completely stuck on which to choose? You're not alone. As puzzle designers, we often generate dozens of creative options, but the selection process can become overwhelming. When faced with too many good options,
The Magnificent Mulberry Portal is the 9th Wonder of the World - a mysterious botanical anomaly discovered centuries ago that defies all scientific explanation. Despite countless expeditions by the world's greatest botanists, physicists, and adventurers, nobody has ever fully understood how it works. Professor Penelope Pemberwick came closest
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What Are Visual Puzzles? Visual puzzles come in all shapes and sizes. In this issue, I'll talk about a few, link to others and then share a special collection of my best puzzles (some are reprints.) Optical Illusions These are not really puzzles, but they are visual curiosities
What is it like to be a Crossword puzzle? Behind the grid of any puzzle hides a persona that is as rich and varied as a novelist's character. While displaying the traits of its constructor, a crossword puzzle's personality also reflects its environment. It may smile
Brevity is the soul of abbreviation Tvtropes.org describes Hurricane of Puns and cautions against its use. Apparently, I'm a self-proclaimed Pungeon Master. I must confess a weakness for puns that is exceeded only by my fondness for anagrams. (Thanks, Pop!) This morning was a good Friday, when
Happy Spring! I'm going to ease into this new, self-imposed editorial calendar. First, an update, then a bunch of puzzles for you to enjoy. Update I spent the last three months of 2024 writing a book about AI and puzzle design. I spent the first three months of
Alchemy What's old is new again. AI is the new Alchemy, and the world has gone mad, as little workshops spring up all over the benighted web. Let's ignore the doom and gloom. Instead, we will poke around in the, now venerable, ChatGPT-3.5 and leverage
As puzzle designers, our creativity can be stifled when digital workspaces become chaotic jumbles of files. Each new puzzle book project introduces elements, fonts, graphics, templates, and countless versions—all of which can overwhelm your system and your creative process. Without a thoughtful organization that follows the natural lifecycle of
Books
As part of my puzzle design journey, I have joined several groups, mostly on Facebook. I've learned a lot of things and have now become a teacher of things. One of the things, of course, is puzzle design. Long-time readers may recall my essays from Substack. (Someday, I&
When you spend a lot of time constructing word-based puzzles, a mathematics of letters emerges. The most basic example is word length. Let's build a toolkit of more advanced mathematics and use it to gain an appreciation for different puzzles. For brevity, the term dataset refers to a