Every 85 cents donated means 1 meal given to someone in need. A $40 donation is FIFTY meals.
Tabletop game designers from all over the world are helping amplify the reach of this project, spreading the word across social media and contributing to a special gift for donors.
And there is a bonus for any RPG enthusiasts who donate:
Everyone who donates to this campaign can receive a free PDF bundle including an epic one-shot adventure and a new playable species for Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons, letting you and those you love play the heroes in your games that you are in real life. You are saving real lives while forging bonds and memories across the game table.
Please click this link for more information, and if you’re an RPG fan, just use your email to sign up for alerts, follow the instructions, and share the PDF receipt of your donation to receive your free PDF bundle.
And for those unfamiliar with the world of tabletop RPGs, you might be wondering about the origins of the name Power Word Meal.
There are a series of spells in Dungeons & Dragons based on the idea that you’ve learned a word of power, and that by speaking that single word, you can cause a magical effect. Power Word Stun, Power Word Blind, and most famously, Power Word Kill, are terribly dangerous, terribly effective spells.
Which makes it genuinely lovely to see that idea turned on its head with Power Word Meal, spreading the idea that we DO have the power to help others. Not with a magic word of eldritch might, but with a few clicks, a few screen taps, a few dollars, a few moments of our time.
So please cast Power Word Meal with us and make the lives of some deserving strangers better.
The goal? To share research, showcase games, and discuss the future of game studies through the lens of BIPOC experiences (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).
Here is a bullet point list of themes the conference was designed to explore:
Representation and Identity in Video Games
Digital & Analog Games as Cultural Artifact
Games By & About Black and Indigenous Communities
Decolonizing Game Development & Design
Integration of Indigenous & Black Knowledge Systems
Afrofuturism in Gaming
Cultural Preservation & Digital Heritage
Social Impact & Activism Through Games
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Playful Technologies
Both board games and video games were topics of discussion across the three-day event, with panels and presentations covering properties as varied as Yu-Gi-Oh!, collegiate Esports, The Last of Us, murder mystery games, Dragon Age, virtual reality, the cultural value of arcades, and more.
“I think one of the most important things to recognize about games is that they are kind of a cultural artifact. And being a cultural artifact, it’s important to ask questions about what these things mean in society, or what these things mean to the people who make them.”
“… One of the things I think is really interesting in game studies is we have the opportunity to think critically about the kinds of problems we’re solving and then also the kinds of solutions we’re offering. So a lot of what people talk about in, say, decolonizing games is about reinvestigating those two questions, what’s the real problem here? What’s the source of that problem? Similarly, how are we solving the problem?”
For years, I have discussed in this blog how the world of puzzles and games not only reflects our culture and choices, but why that’s important. But I can only examine those things through one particular lens, that of a white cishet male. There are blindspots I’m unaware of and experiences I simply don’t have, despite my best efforts.
That’s why it’s so important to have other voices included in the discussion, and events like this are crucial to the health of the games industry and our understanding of why we play games at all.
How the experiences of Black users suffer in virtual reality due to whiteness as a default in so many games.
How the roles of Black and Latinx characters in games like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals contribute to not just representation, but reinforce perceptions of particular ethnic groups only in violent situations, not those of support or providing nonviolent solutions.
How video games are being used to preserve Latinx culture and the artistic legacy of the Hmong.
I learned about topics like Quare Theory and Misogynoir (how racist and anti-Black depictions affect the public perception of Black women), explained through the medium of video games.
But the article I found myself returning to several times over the last few days was “Decolonizing Play: Exploring Frameworks for Game Design Free of Colonial Values.”
It was startling to realize just how many video games are foundationally built on the values of Colonialism, and how easy it would be to NOT reinforce those harmful cyclical patterns.
From the paper by Elaine Gomez: When the topic of colonization arises, many game developers often hesitate to get involved in meaningful and constructive design conversations around how to mitigate values that are heavily ingrained in game theory and player expectations.
Some of the conversations broached by these panels and papers are uncomfortable, but difficult conversations are worth having. Challenging the biases and preconceived notions that games are often built upon is worthwhile. (I’m hoping to reach out to some of the Conference’s participants for more details in the coming weeks to follow up on these enlightening discussions.)
In the meantime, I encourage everyone to read the proceedings from the event and take some time to really ponder the topics presented.
The world of puzzles and games is big enough for everyone, and only gets better when everyone feels included. The 2025 Conference on BIPOC Game Studies is proof of that.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Boswords Fall Themeless League is a clever weekly spin on traditional crossword tournament-style solving. Instead of cracking through a number of puzzles in a single day (or two), the Fall Themeless League consists of one themeless crossword each week, scored based on your accuracy and how fast you complete the grid.
Each week’s puzzle only has one grid, but there are three sets of clues, each representing a different difficulty level for solvers. Smooth is the least challenging, Choppy is the middle ground, and Stormy is the most challenging. (When you register to participate, you choose the difficulty level that suits you best.)
Each week’s puzzle is accompanied by a one-hour broadcast on Twitch, starting with a preseason puzzle and broadcast on Monday, September 29th at 9 PM Eastern.
The Fall Themeless League then runs the next nine Monday nights starting at 9 PM.
Don’t worry if you can’t attend the Monday night broadcasts. Solvers will have until the end of the day Sunday each solving week to complete that week’s puzzles!
As for the puzzles themselves, each year the Boswords team assembles a lineup of top-flight constructors, and this year is no exception.
This year’s constructors are Carina da Rosa, Barbara Lin, Ryan Mathiason, Sophia Maymudes, Paolo Pasco, David Quarfoot, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Jeremy Venook, Emily Yi and Wayne Zhao.
I’ve participated in the Spring and Fall Themeless Leagues in years past, and it always sparks a renewed appreciation for what talented constructors can do outside the traditional themed structures of a grid. The grid work, the fill, the cluing… these are all given greater focus.
Consider checking it out, you won’t be disappointed!
Will you be participating in this year’s Fall Themeless League, fellow solvers? Let me know in the comments section below, I’d love to hear from you!
Several friends started sharing this video with me not long after it was posted (and already going viral).
While so much of modern politics is mired in mudslinging, negativity, fearmongering, and hate speech, Zohran Mamdani opted instead to get his fellow New Yorkers moving, excited, and motivated in a healthy, fun, engaging way: a scavenger hunt.
This video got 114,000 views in one day. And as for the actual turnout:
We announced the #ZcavengerHunt *yesterday* …within 2 hours of dropping the first clue, nearly 3,000 New Yorkers came to the first stop to participate. https://t.co/C7IDbSN8cA
So many players documented their adventure across social media, not only excited about taking on this walking-friendly public challenge, but meeting fellow New Yorkers who were similarly buzzing about this fun, educational event!
I did the first two clues on the #ZcavengerHunt and got to bike home over the bridge after and I have to say, Zohran Mamdani making New Yorkers take in the beauty of this city is truly the best pic.twitter.com/qfxvIZOEtu
Ran around the city today (immediately after landing home at LaGuardia this morning…fitting the mayor theme!) for @ZohranKMamdani ‘s #ZcavengerHunt
Didn’t come in time to get a card, but still had a great time regardless. It was amazing seeing so many people come out for this! pic.twitter.com/Q4ZAUu3cP0
I have officially stopped doing the scavenger hunt after two clues, but in that time I ran into multiple friends and then found a small community garden I've never seen before so I'm counting the event as positive pic.twitter.com/EpMITVZax4
The tweet above brilliantly summarizes some of the joys that come along with a public event like this. It’s not all about winning or completing the challenge. Sometimes, it’s about discovering something new about a place you thought you knew, or exploring a place that you didn’t know before!
It was an absolute joy to follow all of the posts across Twitter and Bluesky about the event. It gave me flashbacks to The Great Urban Race from years ago!
At the end of the #ZcavengerHunt. Here at little flower in Astoria. There is a massive line where you get a photo with zohran as the prize pic.twitter.com/F7Q1ND2bh7
By any and all metrics, this was a huge success. THOUSANDS of New Yorkers came out to explore, enjoy the city, meet fellow puzzlers, and revel in a truly rare occurrence: a campaign event that left people smiling at the end.
Feels like all of enby NYC is out here doing the #ZcavengerHunt and that's rad
When I talk about puzzles bringing people together, this is the energy I mean. Whether it’s a tournament or a scavenger hunt or simply a few people gathered around a kitchen table, puzzles are community builders.
Yes, puzzles can be a solitary endeavor, and a delightful one at that, but so much of the joy of puzzling comes from solving together, sharing the experience.
Here’s hoping we see more of this energy in the future.
The eighteenth edition of Lollapuzzoola, as is tradition, arrived on a Saturday in August. (I was not in attendance, but I did purchase the Solve at Home puzzle pack.) I finally had a chance to sit down and try my hands at this year’s tournament puzzles, and I was certainly not disappointed.
Lollapuzzoola continues to push the envelope with inventive themes and unique spins on how to bring crosswords to life. (Never forget competitors MEOWING for milk at Lollapuzzoola 10!)
This year’s theme was “We Put the Zoo in Lollapuzzoola.” Every puzzle had something to do with animals and animal-based wordplay, and the constructors were clearly inspired in all sorts of ways. Let’s take a look at what they came up with.
Warmup Puzzle A: Twinletsby Brian Cimmet
This puzzle felt more like hitting the ground running than warming up, but it definitely got the creative juices flowing. The solver is presented with two identical grids and two sets of clues, and you have to figure out which grid each answer applies to.
This was complicated by the fact that several of the clues were the same for multiple entries. For example, the clue to 1 Across for both grids was “Mythical equine beast.” Naturally, the only thing to do is start writing in one grid and let the answers populate and push you toward the next entry.
I really dig Twin Crosswords or Twinlets puzzles, and Brian has a knack for putting just enough common letters in the same spaces in both grids to keep you guessing. (And for writing one exceptionally long clue that never disappoints.)
Beginning and concluding the acrosses with mythical beasts was a great hook, and I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.
Interesting grid entries included our mythical beasts (SIMURGH, what a shout!), JANE DONE, ME THREE, and INTEGER, and my favorite clues were “Oscar Cimmet, to Brian Cimmet” for SON and “Amazing song or British sausage” for BANGER.
Warmup Puzzle B: Meet Cuteby Brooke Husic
An apt pair — HELLO KITTY and BYE BYE BIRDIE — ties together this themeless midi, although the meet cute of the title is slightly less cute with the crossing entry COULD GET IT. (While I was solving, I thought the other long down entry was a similarly saucy ARE YOU DOWN, before it turned out to be ARE YOU DONE, heh.)
Brooke is a pro at making the most of a tight grid, and this puzzle was clean and loaded with great trivia in its cluing, particularly for entries solvers have seen loads of times, like ORS or UNO. Breathing new life into crossword classics can be tough, but Brooke always goes the extra mile.
Interesting grid entries included SSRIS, CLUSTER, and ARE YOU DONE, and my favorite clues were “Last number shouted before “Feliz ano nuevo!” for UNO, “Group of stars, computers, or consonants” for CLUSTER, and “Percussive string instrument technique heard in funk music” for SLAP BASS.
I think creating a proper puzzle #1 is one of the toughest tasks in crosswords. It has to be challenging enough to engage the solver, but accessible enough to ease them into a full day of competition. It has to represent the spirit of the event and pique interest in the puzzles to come.
That’s a lot, but Hannah delivers a solid starting puzzle with a fun theme: entries that start with commands to a pet, like DOWN, STAY, or ROLLOVER. (I also appreciated the dog-centric cluing peppered throughout the puzzle. That’s dedication to the gimmick!)
I definitely need to look up more of Hannah’s puzzles going forward.
Interesting grid entries included STEM CELLS, TEWA, T-SHOT, and ITHACA, and my favorite clues were “Alvin and the Chipmunks or Josie and the Pussycats” for TRIO and “Latter member of a rhyming candy duo” for IKE.
Wait, wrong one…
Puzzle #2: Cave Dwellers by Mark Valdez
This puzzle combined a great visual element — lots of black squares and a squat, wide design to evoke the setting in the title — and paired it with a smart gimmick for the themed entries.
We’ve unknowingly ventured into a puzzly cave with bats hanging upside down from the ceiling… so all of the themed entries reading down start with TAB instead of BAT. Diabolical!
Mark crammed LOADS of these hidden bats into the cave, making for an impressive feat of puzzle construction.
Interesting grid entries included SO SUE ME, AM DIAL, and PAWNEE, and my favorite clues were “Tower on the sea” for TUG and “Short king?” for TUT.
Yes, all your favorite animals like helicopter and hat…
Puzzle #3: Balloon Animalsby Kate Hawkins
Size matters in this 19x stormer, where animal names not only appear in multiple entries, but each letter fills a 2×2 set of boxes! I was definitely confused on several of the down entries, since I knew the answers, but they didn’t fit. When it finally clicked for me, it was very satisfying to write those huge letters across the grid.
I’ve seen rebuses and shared letters and repeated letters, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen ballooned letters before. I can only imagine the a-ha moment happening in real time during the tournament!
Interesting grid entries included RAW SCORE, TESLA COILS, AND SCENE, and ARCHIVAL, and my favorite clues were “Curry popular in the Bay Area” for STEPH, “Bedizen with lace or ribbon” for TRIM, and “Took the wrong way?” for STOLE.
Puzzle #4: Shady Charactersby Brooke Husic
Brooke is one of the most inventive constructors in puzzles, and this 15x is no exception. Every clue that includes the word “red” required the solver to use the opposite of that word in the clue instead. For instance, “Hatred” clued the grid entry KINDNESS (a one-for-one swap) while “Spotted Serengeti predator” clued the grid entry GIRAFFE (swapping only “predator” and not the entire clue).
This was bolstered by the instruction in 63A (“what you should do, appropriately, when you see red”) for the revealer CALL BULL. Which is just lovely wordplay, hitting both the misleading cluing gimmick and referencing the classic concept of waving red to a bull.
This one was tough but quite clever, definitely the puzzle I struggled with most. (I was having flashbacks to a similarly devious #4 puzzle from Brooke in the 2021 edition of Lollapuzzoola.)
Interesting grid entries included GASOLINA, IN SEASON, CRITTERS, and PREFECT, and my favorite clues were “Useful paper for a trip” for LSD TAB and “Matter of record?” for VINYL.
Good job folks, we did it. We found my new favorite stock photo…
Puzzle #5: Wild Discoveriesby Kareem Ayas
This 21x two-page delight managed to fit two hidden answers (spelled out with circles), another scattered throughout the grid, an anagram, a rebus, and an answer beyond the grid itself, all tied together by the revealer SCAVENGER HUNT, tying together the animals and the puzzle gimmick perfectly.
This was SO MUCH FUN. The creativity is off the charts. Kareem had lots of clues that referenced the main gimmick, providing hints to our six crafty scavengers, and really making the puzzle feel unified and thoughtfully assembled.
Interesting grid entries included CARRYON, EXECRABLE, VOYAGER, and UV LAMP, and my favorite clues were “Glue bottle bull whose mate is Elsie” for ELMER and “Imitates nested spoons with a partner or pet” for SNUGGLES.
Puzzle #6: Championship Finalby Malaika Handa
As always, there were two sets of clues for the Finals puzzle, the Local and the more difficult Express clues. No matter which clues you were working with, you were in for an excellent tournament finale.
This grid fill was SMOOTH, offering a lot of strong vocabulary, interesting crossings, and devious cluing. Everything you could hope for, highlighting the strengths and possibilities of a smartly constructed themeless puzzle.
I had the privilege of interviewing Malaika years ago for the blog, and I’m overjoyed to see her continue going from strength to strength in constructing.
Interesting grid entries included SAYSO, TRIPSITTER, KOREAN TACO, and RAT CZAR. Both the Local and Express sets of clues had some gems, so I’ll list them separately below:
Local clues:
“Game whose box depicts someone covering their mouth” for TABOO
“It might help you treasure your chest” for TOP SURGERY
“Lead-in to tail or trial” for MOCK
Express clues:
“Possessive that becomes another possessive if you add a letter” for OUR
“Fictional Russian aristocrat portrayed by Garbo, Leigh, and Knightley” for KARENINA
“Way of getting something off one’s chest” for TOP SURGERY
“Body found deep in a forest, perhaps” for LAKE (SO DARK, I LOVE IT)
“Board present at a corporate event?” for CHARCUTERIE
“Target of much paper coverage” for ROCK
There was also a tiebreaker themeless midi by Sid Sivakumar. It was a quick and satisfying solve, offering the apt pair of TALKS TURKEY and CRIES WOLF (though I enjoyed the grid-spanning down entries more, STICK FIGURE and SO FAR SO GOOD).
My favorite clues were “Well-supported gp.” for OPEC and “Coin on which a star indicates it was minted in Hyderabad” for RUPEE.
I’m sure I sound like a broken record at this point, but that’s because there are only so many ways to talk about how GOOD things are. (It’s way easier to complain about the bad than to find ways to celebrate the good.)
The puzzles at Lollapuzzoola always impress, and this year was easily my favorite edition of the tournament so far. Every puzzle had a strong theme, good fill, and topnotch cluing. So many of the themes were creative, playful, and eye-opening in how they played with the solver’s expectations.
There are so many great puzzle tournaments each year, and constructors sweat over these brilliant grids for our enjoyment. But Lollapuzzoola truly remains its own unique flavor of puzzles, embracing imaginative themes and clever execution like none other.
I cannot wait to see what they’re cooking up for next year.
Did you tackle this year’s Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament, fellow puzzlers, either from home or live in person? Let me know in the comment section below, I’d love to hear from you!
No, sorry, we’re not doing a post about Superman’s dog.
Instead, today we’re discussing how the solution to one of the great unsolved cryptographic mysteries of our time is going up for auction in October.
For the uninitiated, Kryptos is a flowing sculpture made of petrified wood and copper plating, sitting over a small pool of water. It was revealed to the world in 1990, coded by former chairman of the CIA’s Cryptographic Center Edward Scheidt, and designed by artist Jim Sanborn. Designed to both challenge and honor the Central Intelligence Agency, for decades Kryptos has proven to be a top-flight brain teaser for codebreakers both professional and amateur.
There are four distinct sections, utilizing different forms of encryption. And amazingly, the fourth section continues to elude codecrackers to this very day.
It took nearly a decade before anyone announced a solution to the first three encryptions. A computer scientist named Jim Gillogly announced in 1999 that he had cracked passages 1, 2, and 3 with computer assistance.
The CIA, not to be one-upped, then revealed that one of their own employees, an analyst named David Stein, had solved those same three passages the year before, using only pencil, paper, and lunchtime man-hours.
But a 2013 Freedom of Information Act request into records of the National Security Agency revealed that an NSA team actually cracked those same three passages back in 1993 as part of a friendly rivalry between the NSA and CIA, provoked by former NSA director and then-deputy CIA director William O. Studeman.
Passage 1 employs a Vigenère cipher, a letter-shifting cipher that has been used for centuries, also known as a periodic polyalphabetic substitution cipher, if you want to get fancy with it.
The message, penned by Sanborn himself, reads Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion. [Iqlusion is an intentional misspelling of “illusion.”]
Passage 2 also employs a Vigenère cipher, but utilizes a different keyword than Passage 1. The message, also composed by Sanborn, points toward something hidden nearby:
It was totally invisible. How’s that possible? They used the earth’s magnetic field. x The information was gathered and transmitted undergruund to an unknown location. x Does Langley know about this? They should: it’s buried out there somewhere. x Who knows the exact location? Only WW. This was his last message. x Thirty eight degrees fifty seven minutes six point five seconds north, seventy seven degrees eight minutes forty four seconds west. x Layer two. [Again, there’s an intentional misspelling here with “undergruund.”]
Passage 3 uses a transposition cipher, which relies on the positioning of given letters in order to properly spell out a message. The message is inspired by the words of Howard Carter, the archaeologist who opened King Tut’s tomb:
Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker, but presently details of the room within emerged from the mist. x Can you see anything? q [Again, there’s an intentional misspelling with “desparatly.”]
Although some codebreakers believe the misspellings of “iqlusion,” “undergruund,” and “desparatly” are simply Sanborn’s crafty attempts at misdirection, others believe they are clues hinting at how to crack Passage 4, which is only 97 characters long.
Sanborn has even offered hints to help frustrated solvers in their efforts to unravel the mystery of Passage 4. In 2006, he revealed that letters 64 through 69 in the passage, NYPVTT, decrypt to “Berlin.”
And in 2014, Sanborn revealed that letters 70 through 74, MZFPK, decrypt to “clock.” So the message has something to do with the Berlin Clock, although Sanborn has stated “there are several really interesting clocks in Berlin.”
Finally, in 2020, Sanborn revealed that letters 26 through 34, QQPRNGKSS, decrypt to “northeast.”
And yet, despite all these hints and several decades, K4 remains unsolved. (And to those hoping that AI will prove smarter than humans in this instance, that hasn’t been the case. Sanborn revealed to The New York Times that he has received solutions devised by ChatGPT and described them as “nothing short of fairly silly.”
So, if you win the auction, what do you get?
the handwritten K4 code, complete with a signed typed letter by Ed Scheidt, the CIA employee and cryptographer behind all four Kryptos codes
the copper model submitted to the CIA as a sample of the final piece
photographs relating to the creation of Kryptos
the original dedication pamphlet signed by late CIA director William Webster
copies of the coding charts used to encode Kryptos
And apparently, being the secretkeeper for Kryptos can be profitable. Sanborn grew weary of fielding dairy requests and queries for solutions, clues, and other data, and actually started charging a $50 fee for replies. He claims this fee has earned him $40,000 a year!
Sadly, Sanborn feels that he no longer has “the physical, mental or financial resources” to maintain his role as the keeper of K4’s secret, and wishes to hand that responsibility to another, which would allow him time to focus on other artistic endeavors.
And given that he’ll be turning 80 around the same time that the auction should be wrapping up, it’s fair to say he has more than earned this retirement from Kryptos.
The online auction of Kryptos by RR Auction begins on October 17 and closes on November 20 at 7 p.m. ET.
Will you be bidding, fellow puzzler? I fear my budget of — *checks wallet* — $29 is not going to get it done.
PuzzCulture 