242 posts tagged with puzzle.
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Puzzle games to play as a family.
The whole family had enormous fun playing Gorogoa together. Just one of us holding the controller and the whole family calling out and arguing what to do. We had similar fun with Chants of Sennaar.
Are there other games like this that we can play together like this? [more inside]
Places to buy jigsaw puzzles NOT designed by AI?
What it says on the, erm, "box." We are a dedicated jigsaw puzzle family, and it's become incredibly difficult to find puzzles that don't have an AI-generated feel. We do not like the hyper-bright colors, or compositions that feels generated, not intentionally designed. I miss the days of photos of real, beautiful places that haven't been made cartoonish through hyper-color saturation. Another family member enjoys the Americana style paintings (Jane Wooster Scott); in general, things that look natural or painted by a human. Where can we still find these??
TV show with an episode with a mechanical ram subplot help!
A long long time ago, if my memory serves me well (well, I was a kid at the time), I seem to recall watching a fictional TV show (which I think was American and I think was a late 80s or early 90s detective series) that as part of a particular episode's subplot featured a door and a mechanical ram! [more inside]
Please help me brainstorm "mystery" motifs!
I write crochet patterns for little pictorial motifs ("patches"). Normally my patterns are heavily illustrated, but it's also fun to do "Secret Patches" with just written notation, so the maker doesn't know what the motif is going to be until they've made it (kind of liked a crocheted "Vertex" puzzle). I want to do a collection of these, with all the motifs relating in some way to the theme of "secrets" or "mysteries" ("enigmas," "puzzles," etc.) What should the motifs depict? [more inside]
Replacement for digits?
The New York Times beta for Digits has gone dark. What's next? [more inside]
In search of a new global Gamele
I play various daily games (though we don’t always play daily) with people in my life : Wordle, Worldle, WhereTaken, even Flagle and Globle. My favourites are Worldle and Where Taken, because I am learning so much geography and other international fun facts. I like the picture-based or photo-based guessing component, as well as the questions that follow, such as neighboring countries, flag, etc. Do you know of any other free world geography-based games? Am open to other super fun daily games too, as long as they are accessible on mobile phone. Ideally I wouldn’t need to create an account. Thank you in advancele!
I have a ridiculous alphabetical / mathematical question
Three words: CHEF CHELSEA CHERRY (P.S. I'm not shouting) ...Alphabetically, which word is CHELSEA closer to: CHEF or CHERRY? And, more importantly* why? Can you help me come up with a mathematical model for this?
*this is not important at all. [more inside]
Mystery Cipher Puzzle
My uncle just sent this to me:
kunk, z, n, p, e, m, a, x, r. k=t
It's a cipher puzzle, that's all he'll tell me. And obviously, the two k's in "kunk" are supposed to be t's. I can usually work out puzzles where whole words are represented by the wrong letters, but this one where there are just a string of single letters separated by commas has got me flummoxed. Is anyone able to solve this and then explain how this puzzle works?
Seen in a certain light, at a certain width..?
What’s the name for the type of pattern that only appears when selecting the right width of a grid? And what are similar puzzles/concepts/explorations of seemingly chaotic patterns that leap to life and order when a certain parameter is tuned correctly? [more inside]
iOS Point + click Escape Room / Puzzle games for kids
My 8yo daughter and I just finished playing the really great Agent A spy/escape room/puzzle game on iOS. Can you recommend any other games that might scratch the same itch? [more inside]
looking for a good mystery/puzzle videogame
My kid and I are looking for a videogame to play together, or at least for one of us to stream while the other kibbitzes. Do you have any suggestions? Full parameters inside. [more inside]
Which way does the knife go when peeling
This is mostly a question not about correct answers, but rather I was wondering about common practice. It is that, when you're peeling veggies etc, do you hold the blade towards you and pull it inwards, so to speak, or do you push the knife away from you? [more inside]
Ideas for unique scavenger hunt / escape room clues with a unique form!
We're having a party! The party is a puzzle! It's very exciting.
We've got schemes afoot to get guests searching the house, puzzling out clues, completing little challenges, etc etc. If you've even been a part of something like this, what was the one clue, challenge, or trick that you loved, that really blew your mind, or that did something with the format you hadn't expected? We do have some budget, so if it requires a small prop ($10 or less), that's likely workable. [more inside]
Music/logic apps?
Fairly early in the smartphone era, I had a phone game that was a logic game or puzzle using simple geometry and also ?harmony?, represented by something like fluid dynamics. It was pleasant to listen to and got difficult pretty quickly. I think it started in black and white and developed colors. The name was vaguely portentous, and maybe started with R. Do you remember such a thing? [more inside]
Finding a more complicated version of this wooden color sorter
My daughter was absolutely entranced by this game at a shop, the Goki colour and pattern sorting board. She has autism, and loves to sort and make patterns, and the physicality of this is great, but it's meant for 4 year olds, and she is 10. I'd love to get (or make!) a more complicated version of this with more pattern possibility or find similar toys, are there key words to search for, related toys/games, anything?
Snowflake crossword, literally
A friend came across an old photocopy of a very specific kind of word puzzle in the shape of a snowflake with hexagonal cells. She really enjoyed it and I'd love to find more for her, but my web searches have turned up empty, perhaps because I don't know the correct name and there was no identifying information on the photocopy. Here's how the crossword puzzle worked: [more inside]
Treasure Hunt Questions inspirations
I've been tasked at work with creating a fun staff activity for our staff holiday party. Previously folks enjoyed my chain-of-clues style* treasure hunts. I was looking to crib some ideas off of the old Dropbox Annual Quiz from years ago where answering questions got you more free storage, but it (and its walkthroughs) seem to have disappeared. [more inside]
General name for this type of puzzle/quiz? (besides 'this or that')
What is a better title than "This or That!" for puzzles/quizzes of the type: "I'm going to read you a word/phrase - you tell me if it actually belongs in category X or category Y!" These are often seen online, heard on radio shows and podcasts, and are usually meant to be humorous - for example I am doing these ones on a radio show... "Daft Punk Song or Brand of RV" and "Song By Moby or Self-Help Book Title". I'm looking for a general puzzle title like "It's time to play... GUESS MY CATEGORY!" - but better.
What goes in a mystery/escape room/puzzle box?
My dad has a big birthday coming up, and I want to make him a puzzle box like those subscription mystery/escape room things. But I've never actually subscribed to one. Have you? What puzzles were good? What should I know? [more inside]
Where can I get custom puzzles made? Difficulty: Small minimum orders
I'm trying to offer a custom puzzle for sale in my store, which is a tiny gift shop inside of a state park. However, most places that I look have MOQs that start around 1,000 units. I have room for ideally 50, at most (MOST) a hundred puzzles, tops, in my storage. Are there any companies that can help me get this done and still offer a puzzle for sale at around $35 a unit (so 17.50 wholesale or less)? [more inside]
A puzzle or nonsense or a mathematical formula. What does it mean?
Anyone know what this means and if there is a 'solution', then what is it? [more inside]
ISO Hardware to check if three connections have been made in sequence
I am making a puzzle and want a low-battery-consumption and small-hardware way to check if three connections have been made in sequence, but not all at the same time. [more inside]
Crossword clue says to "unscramble letters"
I'm new to solving crosswords. What does it mean when the clue says to "unscramble letters, [number] - [another number]"? See, for example, 16-across on the Toronto star's puzzle from 12/09/20. (I can't link directly to the specific date, so you will have to manually select the puzzle from the correct date.)
On-line escape room for young teens?
I'm looking for an escape room, or similar puzzle room, that my Girl Scouts can do together via Zoom as they work on the Game Visionary badge. It needs to be appropriate for 13- and 14-year olds, collaborative, and fun. There will be anywhere from four to ten players, and I won't know ahead of time how many people will show up. Any suggestions?
Other Mobile Games like "The Room" Series
I really like escape/puzzle games like The Room series for iOS and Android. I'd like to play some more, but I'd prefer to go with titles that aren't as creepy as The Room (which I enjoy but can only play during the day because I get spooked easily.) The games don't need to be nearly as elaborate as TR -- just fun and challenging. What would you recommend? I am on Android.
Wikipedia pages that are recognizable (but not trivially) from their ToC
I got this idea for a puzzle genre: Given the table of contents of a Wikipedia page, identify the subject. What are some Wikipedia pages for which this is an interesting challenge, neither too easy nor too hard? [more inside]
Not quite an ARG, but almost
Help me brainstorm fun clues to hidden treasure. [more inside]
Can I predict if a randomly-generated puzzle will be solvable?
I enjoy a mobile puzzle game called Fill (Google Play, browser-playable knockoff). You're given a grid with some number of cells blocked out and a starting position. The object is to fill all of the remaining cells using a single continuous line. I can easily generate puzzles of this sort with dice and graph paper, but is there any way that I, a functioning innumerate, can know with certainty if a given configuration is solvable? [more inside]
Early 2000's online puzzle/adventure game
I'm trying to find a short online game from ~10-15 years ago, but the name currently escapes me and I haven't had luck uncovering it via web searches. Description below the fold... [more inside]
Where can I find this puzzle box?
I'm looking for this puzzle box, or the plans for one, or even pictures of one disassembled. I've seen them on a site called SiamMandalay, but they're sold out.
More games like this
I really enjoy the text-based "logic puzzles" on Sporcle (e.g. Carmen Sandiago puzzle). There's only a handful of them on Sporcle. Googling "logic puzzle" yields different logic games, not the specific type I'm looking for. Do these have another name I could search for?
The Perfect Jigsaw-Logical Puzzle Mashup
This year, we pulled this "talking" jigsaw from the back of the closet and it was a hit because once the little four-piece "windows" are assembled, figuring out where to place them in the larger puzzle was a matter of visual clues and logic. The "Talking Puzzles" are no longer made so I am looking for some other style of jigsaw that requires more use of color/image/word clues and logic and less dependent on matching shapes. Any ideas? [more inside]
Having survived this jigsaw puzzle, I have a few questions.
Are the die-cut patterns used to produce jigsaw puzzles graded by difficulty or challenge? How have these designs evolved over time, or by geography/market? [more inside]
In search of searching...or something
My wife is looking for a new hobby/activity which scratches a particular problem solving/puzzle-ish itch. We've tried looking but honestly aren't even entirely sure what we're looking for so I suggested we see what kind of ideas the hive mind might offer up.
She's mostly looking for stuff that can be done indoors/at the computer but all suggestions welcome!
Her thoughts inside. [more inside]
Excel crossword puzzle that triggers conditional formatting when won?
I’m making a custom crossword for which the player will input their guesses into Excel. My plan is to have two sheets in this document: a hidden puzzle with all the correct letters in it (the player is on the honor system), and a visible sheet with the proper boxes blacked-out and the rest empty. (Obviously each cell has to correspond exactly between them.) I know just enough about Excel to know that there’s gotta be a way to set up a visible indicator when the puzzle is completed successfully, but… [more inside]
Solving Puzzles for Dummies
As a family activity while with the grandparents, we took a family photo, made it into a puzzle, constructed the puzzle, and want to glue it and frame it! Unfortunately, we solved the puzzle right on the dining room table, and we don't want to glue the puzzle to the table.
How do we transfer the puzzle onto something else, so we can glue it? [more inside]
Puzzle me!
I am searching for an online game that I first came across via a link on Metafilter. I’m sure it’s not good for my time management skills to re-discover it, but I’d love to play it again! [more inside]
If I have to solve OREO a billion times, you can solve a foreign brand
Looking for non-US cultural references/words (English or otherwise) that can fit into my first crossword. Especially if it has to do with Asia, Oceania, Eurovision, or local names for countries. [more inside]
Music video riddle
In the video for Crumb - Locket , behind the stoned guy at 4:26 the letters are rearranging themselves on the poster. I feel like it's an anagram or some riddle. Any ideas?
Epoxy resin for puzzle
I have a big puzzle and want to encase it in epoxy resin. Any tips on how to do this? [more inside]
Japanese Puzzle Boxes
I'm looking at getting my husband a Japanese puzzle box for his birthday. Which are the best types? [more inside]
Puzzles for Kindergartners
What are some good puzzle games I could buy for my kindergartner? [more inside]
Singing one song to another's tune
What's a song that you can sing over another's tune that fits impeccably, unexpectedly well?
Puzzling puzzles!
I came across a website (which may or may not have been linked from AskMeFi)- it was the equivalent of a puzzle magazine, but with harder more puzzley puzzles. [more inside]
Eurogames for iPhone
I have an iTunes gift card and I'd like to use it to upgrade the timewasters on my phone. Looking for Euro-style or puzzle games to play on a (very) small screen. [more inside]
a heroine, a puzzle, a novel
Looking for books with puzzles, and preferably female protagonists - think Special Topics in Calamity Physics and The Westing Game. [more inside]
A strange twist of fate
I was doing the laundry this morning and noticed a pair of underwear got twisted in a weird way. I spent a few minutes trying to fix them--turning them inside out, flipping them around--but nothing worked! Metafilter, please help me untwist these knickers. [more inside]
"Social Media Fails". How so?
Ok, this is driving me nuts. The theme of today's USAToday Crossword is "Social Media Fails". How do these answers fit? Spoilers below the fold. [more inside]
What should we get to manage jigsaw puzzles?
We want to work on puzzles and sometimes "pause" them and put them away for a while. [more inside]
Puzzle me this... Can you recommend a puzzle manufacturer?
For the last 4-5 years I have co-published a certain puzzle game that has gone viral many times over, so much so that it's become a full-time occupation for some in our company. For the last year we have been desperately been trying to move our production away from China and lift the quality of our upcoming releases, but having a real hell of a time finding a new factory. I know this is a bit of a longshot on the green, but can anyone recommend one at all? [more inside]