There’s a lot going on in the intertwined worlds of puzzles and games, so let’s skip the intro and get to it.
Fifteensquared Celebrates 20 Years of Cryptic Solving!
A year of big puzzle anniversaries continues as we celebrate 20 years of Fifteensquared.
A crossword blog dedicated to cryptic solving, Fifteensquared was founded November 1st, 2006, and it remains one of the most insightful, valuable centers of puzzly conversation in the world of cryptic crosswords.
Their team of solvers and commenters are some of the most knowledgeable and approachable in crossword commentary, and I love reading their takes and learning new tricks (and what I missed!) in each day’s puzzles.
Please join me in wishing Fifteensquared a very happy 20th anniversary. I hope there are many more years of solving fun to come.
Atlas Games Have an RPG Gift Box for You!
As we gear up for the holiday season (gods the commercials have already started!), companies are running all sorts of promotions.
One of the coolest ones out there for roleplaying game enthusiasts is being run by the team at Atlas Games.
They’re offering a gift box of RPG games and supplements to anyone willing to cover the $12.99 shipping fee.
Obviously, the promotion only lasts as long as supply allows, so if you’re interested in sampling supplements from Over the Edge, Feng Shui, Northern Crown, Nyambe, Penumbra, Ars Magica, or others, be sure to click here to check out their 2026 Gift Box!
Wendy’s Launches WendyQuest, a Playable RPG Game (With Real World Perks)!
I’ve covered the various ways that the worlds of RPGs and fast food have crossed over in the past, but I wasn’t expecting Wendy’s to return to the gaming space like this.
Wendy’s has just launched WendyQuest, a 10-hour free RPG game available on iOS, Android, and Steam for U.S. players.
The retro pixel art (apparently AI-free and crafted by game studio 81monkeys) is terrific, and the gameplay allows you to unlock real world bonuses like a medium fries or a burger with purchase.
It will be interesting to see if any references, obvious or subtle, to their previous RPG efforts will be included in the game.
Where Americans Are Looking Up Answers Most
I love digging into data. It’s fascinating to see what you can learn from sifting through carefully cultivated information.
And I’m not alone in that. The team at UnscrambleX also love data, and they’ve shared some of their findings.
UnscrambleX is a free word scrambler, anagram solver, and Scrabble word finder all in one, and they’ve been crunching solver data for the last year.
And apparently, folks in Washington, D.C. need more help with answers than average. (Please insert your own political joke here!)
According to UnscrambleX:
Over 167 puzzle days from June 2025 to October 2026, Washington, D.C. looked answers up 2.5 times as often as the US average per resident, followed by Vermont and New Hampshire; Mississippi looked them up least, at 21% of the average.
Either Mississippi is chock-full of puzzle pros or they’re in the minority when it comes to puzzle-solving in general. Hard to tell.
Check out their full article on the subject here!
The 2026 Baseball TTRPG Jam Is Complete!
We are loaded with RPG news today. Have you ever wanted to mix baseball with your tabletop gameplay? Well, the 2026 Baseball TTRPG Jam has you covered.
For the uninitiated, a game jam (or just “jam”) is when games are designed and/or coded in a short amount of time and often released free to play, for the love of creation and creativity.
And during the month of October, game designers on itch.io were busy creating roleplaying games based on baseball’s rules and mechanics.
There are discussion games, a dungeon crawler, a revenge game, and even one with a pitcher trapped in a time loop.
I love seeing how wildly inventive game designers can get with a single prompt, and this is yet another example.
Click here to check out the reddit thread collecting this year’s games.
A Puzzle Game Site to Try Out!
One of the coolest things about running PuzzCulture is getting to learn about new puzzles and creators in the puzzle space. Several enterprising constructors have reached out to me recently, and I’m pleased to help spread the word about their puzzly endeavors.
Today’s recommendation is Wordtide.
Imagine one Scrabble-style board available to the entire world. That’s the idea behind Wordtide.
Every word played stays there, and new players build on it. Players are assigned to different teams (called Tides) and the words played by everyone contribute to the map.
As someone who used to have a magnetic Scrabble-style board outside his cubicle for anyone to play, I absolutely dig this idea.
Plus there’s a Daily Seven game where you try to make the best possible score with the letters available. You get three tries to maximize your puzzling.
Click here to check out both puzzle games.
To close out today’s post, let’s look at one last bit of Halloween costume fun with a puzzly twist.
Inspired by their 7-year-old’s interest in the New York Times‘ daily menu of puzzle games, reddit user rotajota and his family dressed up AS the NYT games for their neighborhood party.
All of their puzzle costumes are solvable, and don’t worry, the kids had other costumes for their trick-or-treating. (I can imagine a windy night would’ve made it tough to complete their rounds and gather that candy!)
Did I miss any puzzly news or fun board game stories from the last few weeks? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
