In a recent Gameplay newsletter, Sam Corbin wrote about three-word instructions / mottos (like “Eat, Drink and Be Merry” or “Live, Laugh, Love”), and pondered a slogan like that for puzzle solving.
It’s a definite challenge for sure, like trying to come up with a poignant six-word memoir. But I’ve never been one to turn down a challenge simply because I’ll probably fail. I WELCOME IT.
So, today, I thought I would pitch in and come up with some slogans (not all fitting the three-word formula) for various puzzle outlets.
Penny Press / Dell Magazines
I’ve always thought a great slogan for them would be “We’re As Puzzled As You Are.” It’s light, a little self-deprecating, and fosters a feeling of camaraderie between publisher and solver.
But a three-word instruction for them?
How about Sample, Savor, Solve? Sample a variety puzzle you’ve never tried. Savor the ones you know you like. And, as always, solve.
The New York Times
I mean, a good motto would obviously be “All the Clues That Are Fit to Print,” playing off the classic NYT slogan.
But for a later-week crossword, how about Determine, Decipher, Discover?
Determine what you know, decipher tricky clues, discover the gimmick.
The Los Angeles Times
Now, The LA Times has several mottos (like “Read the Paper,” which could easily be converted into “Read the Down Clues”), but my favorite is their historical slogan, “Stand Fast, Stand Firm, Stand Sure, Stand True.”
And when it comes to puzzles, that could be Stand Watch, Stand Pat, Stand Back.
Let your eyes go to the clues you know immediately, trust your instincts on ones you’ve filled in, and then stand back and survey your work to unravel the theme.
Doesn’t really work with the three-word motto, though.
Maybe Stop, Drop, and Roll!
Stop what you’re doing and solve a puzzle. Look at those down clues. And keep trying ’til you’ve solved it.
Fireball Crosswords (and other meta outlets)
For me, it was actually easy to come up with a three-word motto for solving these, because it’s what I do when I try to unravel a meta while completing the grid:
Pattern, Exception, Association.
Look for a pattern or rhythm outside the regular solve. Look for exceptions that feel intentional. Look for associations on a second read.
But what about for a general three-word instruction for crossword solving?
For solvers still getting used to crosswords, I would recommend Blanks, Bios, Back-and-forth or Fill, Famous, Flip, which both fit some of my solving advice for newbies.
Fill in the blank, scan clues for famous names, flip to the crossings once a word is filled in and work on that section.
Oh, and if you suspect a puzzle will be difficult, always remember:
Write Light, Alright!?
Hopefully one of these mottos works for you, fellow solver. Do you have any suggestions, leave them in the comment section below! We’d love to hear from you.
Welcome to the PuzzCulture 2025 Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide!
We’re so excited to be bringing you our biggest ever gift guide! There are so many tremendously fun and puzzly products to share with you this year. We just might be your one-stop shop for all things puzzly!
In this edition of the Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide, we have endeavored to strike a balance between the most affordable price we could find for each product and the most reliable outlet to get your gifts to you in time for the holidays!
Please enjoy this assortment of dice games, brain teasers, card games, puzzle books, group & party games, murder mysteries, escape room games, and board games, all organized in price from lowest to highest. We’re sure you’ll find the right gift for any puzzler on your list!
Any amounts in Pounds have been placed where they’d land roughly when converted to dollars. And please note that shipping is not factored into any of these prices.
Since most of the puzzle books, magazines, and puzzle bundles in this year’s gift guide are between $5 and $15, and most subscription services are between $15 and $30 per year, we figured we’d bundle them all up front before we get into all of the games, puzzles, and other terrific holiday treats!
Pencil-and-paper puzzles are alive and well, and we’re happy to share some of our favorites with you.
Maybe you’re looking for a grab bag full of different puzzles, like their Winter Fun Holiday Pack ($27.95) or a Championship Puzzle Pack of 40 magazines ($33.95)! Or perhaps you’d prefer one kind of puzzle, with the ease of printing at home with Print N’ Solve Magazines and Puzzle Packets (starting at $4.75). Either way, the folks at Penny Dell Puzzles have got you covered.
And be sure to check out their deals on Facebook and Twitter throughout the holiday season. They’ve got bundles and discounts for days!
And while we’re on the topic of puzzle books, some of the best constructors (and many favorites of the blog) have released their own books for your perusal! And with New York Times,Los Angeles Times, and USA Today puzzles to their credit, you’re sure to find some quality puzzlers within these pages!
Many top constructors and organizations market their puzzles directly to solvers, so between email subscriptions and downloadable puzzle bundles, you’ve got plenty of quality choices!
You’re all scientists that have invented time travel, but can you outfit your time machine and outrace your fellow inventors to the day the patent office opens and claim US Patent #1? This strategy game is an all-time favorite and it’s a perfect Print-and-Play joy for friends and family to try out! ($5)
Flip 7 (Eric Olsen/USAopoly, party/group game)
In this push-your-luck card game with the cards numbered one through twelve, the concept is simple: flip over your cards and don’t repeat a number. Problem is, there’s 1 one and 12 twelves, so you’re bound to repeat sometimes. Can you Flip 7 and score extra points? ($7.99)
Math Dice (ThinkFun, dice game)
Can you out-think and out-math your opponents when it comes to addition, division, square roots, and more? That’s what awaits players with Math Dice, a deviously fun game of who can get closest to the target with only their math skills and cleverness! ($7.99)
Coaster Games is a six-pack of games encompassing all sorts of gameplay styles. Counting, word building, deduction, strategy, resource management, and more, and they all fit in your pocket. Perfect for parties or quickplay fun between longer game sessions, you’re guaranteed to find something to enjoy here! (£6.99)
There’s Been a Murder (Pressman, party/group game)
Can you and your friends solve a murder? In this card game, every card can help you solve the crime (or hinder the investigation, if you’re the murderer). It’s amazing how Pressman boiled down all of the elements of a murder mystery into a card game this easy to learn, a game that you’ll happily play again and again. ($8.99)
That’s Not a Hat (Ravensburger, party/group game)
A White Elephant gift exchange is always a fun time, especially watching the gifts getting traded all around. But, if they were still wrapped, could you remember every gift as it moved from person to person? That’s Not a Hat puts your memory to work, asking if you can recall each gift as it is hidden from view and passed around the table. It’s tougher, and more fun, than you think! ($9.99)
Tired of turn-based combat and strategy? Light Speed has you covered. In this real-time card game, you play your ships as quickly as you want until one player runs out of cards, and then you see what happens! With combat, mining, strategy, and speed, this card game is great fun. ($10.95)
FALLING (Crab Fragment Labs, card game)
Some card games go quickly, but FALLING only takes 90 seconds. You’re all falling, and you want to hit the ground last. This game is insanely fast, chaotic, and an absolute riot to play over and over. Give it a shot. Trust me, you’ve got the time. ($10.98)
Get Lucky (Crab Fragment Labs, card game)
In this quick-play card game, you must scheme against your fellow players to be the first to kill Doctor Lucky. But Doctor Lucky is called that for a reason, so it’s gonna take a few tries, even with upgraded weapons, motives, and opportunities. Will you be the one to succeed? ($14.95)
Exit: The Game: Dead Man on the Orient Express (Kosmos, escape room/solve the mystery game)
Exit: The Game products create an escape room experience by combining a deck of cards, a guidebook, a sliding decoder ring, an interactive phone app, and miscellaneous items to be used throughout the game. What sets Dead Man on the Orient Express above and beyond is that there’s a mystery to solve in the background, even as you tackle all the delightful escape room-style puzzles! ($14.99)
All of us have rolled dice in games before, but can you roll what you need as fast as possible? That’s the challenge of Tenzi, a game that pits up to four players against each other in tests of speed and dexterity. Can you roll ten 6’s before everyone else? ($18.95)
It’s a race against time to locate all of your spies before your opponents. But in order to do so, you need to communicate information with a single word. Codenames will put your word association skills to work as you try to find secret agents disguised with code words, while avoiding innocent citizens and dangerous assassins along the way! ($19.94)
It’s hard enough to build a cube out of Tetris-style puzzle block shapes, but imagine trying to disassemble — and then reassemble one — INSIDE a 3-D triangular frame. Egyptian Triglyph bends your brain into new shapes and taxes your spatial awareness in very cool ways. A topnotch reinvention of a puzzly classic! ($19.99)
What’s better than a trivia game? A trivia game with bluffing! Can you convince your fellow players that your fake trivia answer is the correct one? Try your luck and your skill with Sounds Fishy! ($19.99)
Enigmas Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards: Midnight edition (David Kwong/Dave Shukan, solve the mystery game)
A puzzle hunt lurking within a normal deck of cards? It sounds impossible, but when you’re dealing with puzzler and magician David Kwong, anything can happen with Enigmas! Can you unravel the mystery hiding amongst these playing cards? ($20)
12 Days (Calliope Games, card game)
A proper holiday-themed game for the holidays? You betcha. This wagering game, based on the 12 Daysof Christmas, has some of the most beautiful art in the entire card game genre. Plus the two ways to earn points — winning each day of Christmas with the lowest card in the pot vs. keeping as many of a certain value card as possible for the end of the game — offer tons of strategic opportunities in a simple card game. What a treat! ($20)
Word Fluxx and Cat Fluxx (Looney Labs, card game)
The chaos and ever-changing rules of Fluxx have taken many forms over the years, from anatomy and astronomy to Star Trek and Alice in Wonderland — and they’ve made their most accessible Fluxx games yet with Word Fluxx and Cat Fluxx. Build your words or delight in your feline friends as you try to win this classic quick-changing card game! ($20)
Up to $30
Alice is Missing (Hunters Entertainment, escape room / solve the mystery game)
Can you and your fellow players solve a mystery without ever saying a word? That’s the challenge offered by the uniquely atmospheric and haunting RPG mystery gameAlice Is Missing.
A game played entirely through text messaging, each player takes on the role of a character in the town of Silent Falls, trying to find out what happened to Alice Briarwood. We promise, you’ve never played anything like it. ($21.99)
Puzzometry (jigsaw puzzle)
For a next-level jigsaw challenge, Puzzometry is tough to top. These beautiful pieces can be combined in seemingly endless combinations, and yet, there’s only one solution. Available in seven different styles — Puzzometry ($22.33), Puzzometry Jr. ($17.58), Puzzometry Squares ($22.33), Puzzometry Hex ($22.33), Puzzometry Steps ($22.33), Puzzometry Six ($22.33), and Puzzometry Jr. 2 ($17.58) — you’ve got distinct challenges appropriate for all different ages!
[Check out the full review of the original Puzzometry by clicking here!]
Fragments of Chaos: An Einstein Tile Challenge (Palmetto Puzzle Works, fill-the-frame puzzle)
Einstein’s influence is still felt today, as we have recently discovered the “Einstein monotile” (a tessellation without symmetry), and naturally, someone clever has turned the idea into a puzzle. Can you place these 23 irregularly-shaped pieces into the hexagonal grid? ($22.50)
Qwirkle (MindWare, board game)
A wonderful mix of Uno and Mexican Train Dominoes, Qwirkle is a tile-placing game where you try to maximize your points while minimizing the help you give to your opponents. With six bright colors and six different shapes to match up, Qwirkle is endless fun that’s so easy to jump into! ($22.99)
The Game of Wolf (Gray Matters Games, party/group game)
In the dog-eat-dog world of trivia, is it better to go alone or with the pack? In The Game of Wolf, trivia and strategy meet as you try to answer questions and double your points! With fresh topics and loads of interesting questions, The Game of Wolf has become my go-to trivia game. ($23.48)
Slapzi (Tenzi, party/group game)
Slapzi will keep you on your toes. In this quick-reaction game, you’ve got to match your picture cards to the clue cards before your opponents. But with clues like “Not sold in a hardware store” or “Two of the same letter together,” this isn’t as easy as it appears! ($23.95)
[Click here to check out our full review of Slapzi!]
Athena (Project Genius, brain teaser)
Put your chess skills and tactics to the test with Athena. A puzzle requiring you to think several steps ahead in order to reunite a statue with its pedestal on a busy archaeological dig site, Athena has over 50 challenging patterns for you to solve! ($24.99)
Cracker Games: The Imp Box (The Dark Imp, party/group game)
Six unique family games in a reusable box that looks like a Christmas cracker? What an idea! Voting, collecting, observation, and trading are among the gameplay styles you’ll find in The Imp Box, and this neat little package packs a lot of variety into a small space! (£19.99)
This advent calendar has no numbers on the doors, and solving a daily puzzle is the only way to figure out which door to open! This clever, festive, chocolate-filled treat is a puzzly twist on a holiday classic! ($27)
Spaceteam (Timber and Bolt, card game)
Can you repair your ship and get the engines up and running before a black hole ends your space adventure forever? That’s the name of the game in Spaceteam, a cooperative, communication-based game where you have to accomplish various tasks with your fellow players while sharing tools. It’s delightful chaos, heightened by the five-minute hourglass timer counting down your dwindling seconds before disaster strikes! A definite favorite around here. ($27.95)
Gloomand Gloomier (Atlas Games, card game)
Do you enjoy The Addams Family or the art of Edward Gorey? Then Gloommight be a strategy game worth checking out. In this tactical game with a sinister twist, you’re trying to make your Victorian family miserable for points and the lives of your opponents’ families better! Yup, misfortune equals good fortune for you! With gorgeous transparent cards you can lay over each other to track your scores, there’s no storytelling game out there quite like it.
Tavern Puzzles / Tucker-Jones House Inc. (brain teaser)
These hand-forged beauties are ready to challenge your dexterity and cleverness, as you accept the Tavern Puzzles challenge. Whether you’re trying to remove twice as many pieces in a Collaborative Effort or free the triangle from Tridiculous, you’re sure to put your skills to the test. ($29.95 each)
A trip to the beach in game form, Seaside is all about collecting tokens from the sea and building the biggest stack. This simple game offers surprising depth and strategy, and the tokens are beautiful and environmentally friendly. You could take this game anywhere and set up in seconds! ($31.99)
The Light in the Mist (Allplay, solve the mystery game)
We’ve got puzzles in calendars, puzzle boxes, games, and playing cards, but how about a puzzle AND a story hidden in a tarot deck? The Light in the Mist walks you through the memories of a missing friend and creates a unique puzzle-solving experience! ($34)
Bring your puzzle skills to life as you assemble a working roller coaster from these wooden pieces. Assembling handcranks and gears to operate the machine along with the structure of the roller coaster itself makes this 3-D puzzle more exciting and satisfying than the average 3-D puzzle. ($39.95)
Unlock!Games(Asmodee, escape room / solve the mystery game)
Unlock! games consist of entirely of a deck of cards and your app. The cards provide locations, challenges, helpful items, solutions, and warnings, all identified with numbered or lettered cards in the deck. There are numerous Unlock! escape games to try — covering everything from haunted houses to desert islands — and they’re offered in sets of three! ($39.99)
Wavelength (Asmodee, party/group game)
Can you get your teammates to pick the exact spot on the dial you want… with a single word? That’s the challenge of Wavelength, a literal game of inches that shows where our opinions differ and where they align. A terrific party game you can learn in seconds! ($39.99)
Tsuro: The Game of the Path (Calliope Games, board game)
A path-laying game with tons of style and historical spirit, Tsurocasts up to eight players as flying dragons, and tasks you with laying out your path with special tiles. Try not to meet any other dragons or fly off the board! It’s a simple mechanic with plenty of replay value, and perfect for quick games with large groups. ($40)
Sagrada (Floodgate Games, dice game)
One of the most beautiful strategy games on the market today, Sagrada is a singularly peaceful gaming experience. Compete with other players to build the most beautiful stained glass window, but with dice instead of glass! Unique and challenging, Sagrada is something else. ($40)
Up to $60
Godzilla: Tokyo Clash (Funko Games, board game)
Choose one of these four iconic monsters and let loose your fury all over Tokyo in Godzilla: Tokyo Clash. This tactical monster-vs.-monster game allows you to smash buildings, vehicles, and your fellow monsters on a game board that’s different every time you play! Will you be King of the Monsters by the time Tokyo is in ruins? ($42.99)
[Check out our full review of Godzilla: Tokyo Clashhere!]
Cluebox Escape Rooms in a Box (iDventure, brain teaser)
These multi-stage puzzle boxes are completely self-contained. You need to explore every inch of its surface to find clues and tools to unlock each stage of the puzzle box and reveal further challenges. Whether you delve into Davy Jones Locker ($49.99) or try to unravel the mystery of Schrodinger’s Cat ($44.99), you will definitely find your puzzly mettle tested by these devious devices!
Knot Dice Celtic Animals (Black Oak Games, dice game)
Can you twist, turn, and spin these dice to complete beautiful, elaborate patterns inspired by Celtic knots? That’s the name of the game with Knot Dice Celtic Animals, a dice game as challenging as it is gorgeous. With single-player and multi-player puzzles included, you’ll be tying yourself in knots for days! ($45, available in several colors)
And you can add new wrinkles and patterns to your solving with Knot Dice and Knot Dice Squared! ($40 and $45, respectively)
[Click here to check out our full review of Knot Dice and Knot Dice Squared!]
Chessplus
The first thing you learn in chess is how the pieces move. But what if that could change? What if you could make new pieces that move in unexpected ways? How would that change the game? With Chessplus, you’ll find out, as you mix and match chess pieces in order to capture your opponent’s king. The possibilities really are endless! ($45)
How about the chance to build your own game? Is that puzzle enough for you? Pinbox 3000 provides all the pieces you’ll need, plus valuable advice for brainstorming and creating your very own pinball game. It’s endlessly customizable, so you can make your Pinbox pinball game as simple or as complex as you like! ($49.95)
The Great Dinosaur Rush (APE Games, board game)
Bring the insane real-life rivalry of paleontologists Cope and Marsh to life in The Great Dinosaur Rush! As you collect fossils and discover your own unique dinosaur, you must also steal bones, sabotage other scientists, and more! Show off your cunning and creativity in this game that proves historical truth is weirder than fiction! ($50)
Arcs (Leder Games, board game)
Each player represents a different alien civilization, trying to complete their established goals and rule the galaxy. Arcs is a fairly complex game, and it’s definitely one that takes some time to play. But the art is beautiful, the gameplay is nicely balanced, and there are tons of different choices to make. ($54)
$70 and Over
Leviathan Wilds (Moon Crab Games, board game)
In this exciting strategy board/card game, you must climb one of seventeen leviathans and scramble all over it to heal it while avoiding its attacks. Be both action hero and environmentalist by scaling these beautiful beasts and trying to save them! ($74)
Lightbox (Eric Clough, brain teaser)
A puzzle box unlike anything you’ve ever seen, Lightboxcreates different patterns of shadow and light as you shift and arrange the various plastic plates that make up the box. As you twist and reset them, different electrical connections are made, and different plates light up. As gorgeous as it is challenging, Lightbox is a very eye-catching puzzle that always wows new solvers. ($85)
[Check out our full review of Lightbox by clicking here!]
Simply the coolest marble run builder I’ve ever seen, the Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL offers hundreds of pieces and a terrific base to build upon. Create ramps, loops, and elaborate patterns with ease! And although there are smaller Gravitrax games to start with, the Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL is an absolute wonder! ($129.99)
Thank you to all of the constructors, designers, and companies taking part in this year’s holiday puzzly gift guide! So great to have so many of you back, and so marvelous to welcome so many new faces and new puzzles and games!
Welcome to the PuzzCulture 2025 Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide!
We’re excited to be bringing you our biggest gift guide ever! There are so many tremendously fun and puzzly products to share with you. We just might be your one-stop shop for all things puzzly!
This guide is broken down by age group, so we’re sure you’ll find the perfect gift for puzzlers of any age on your list!
The first thing you learn in chess is how the pieces move. But what if that could change? What if you could make new pieces that move in unexpected ways? How would that change the game? With Chessplus, you’ll find out, as you mix and match chess pieces in order to capture your opponent’s king. The possibilities really are endless! ($45)
A wonderful mix of Uno and Mexican Train Dominoes, Qwirkle is a tile-placing game where you try to maximize your points while minimizing the help you give to your opponents. With six bright colors and six different shapes to match up, Qwirkle is endless fun that’s so easy to jump into! ($22.99)
For Ages 7 and Up
Tenzi (dice game)
All of us have rolled dice in games before, but can you roll what you need as fast as possible? That’s the challenge of Tenzi, a game that pits up to four players against each other in tests of speed and dexterity. Can you roll ten 6’s before everyone else? ($18.95)
Tsuro: The Game of the Path (Calliope Games, board game)
A path-laying game with tons of style and historical spirit, Tsurocasts up to eight players as flying dragons, and tasks you with laying out your path with special tiles. Try not to meet any other dragons or fly off the board! It’s a simple mechanic with plenty of replay value, and perfect for quick games with large groups. ($40)
For Ages 8 and Up
Flip 7 (Eric Olsen/USAopoly, party/group game)
In this push-your-luck card game with the cards numbered one through twelve, the concept is simple: flip over your cards and don’t repeat a number. Problem is, there’s 1 one and 12 twelves, so you’re bound to repeat sometimes. Can you Flip 7 and score extra points? ($7.99)
Word Fluxx and Cat Fluxx (Looney Labs, card game)
The chaos and ever-changing rules of Fluxx have taken many forms over the years, from anatomy and astronomy to Star Trek and Alice in Wonderland — and they’ve made their most accessible Fluxx games yet with Word Fluxx and Cat Fluxx. Build your words or delight in your feline friends as you try to win this classic quick-changing card game! ($20)
A trip to the beach in game form, Seaside is all about collecting tokens from the sea and building the biggest stack. This simple game offers surprising depth and strategy, and the tokens are beautiful and environmentally friendly. You could take this game anywhere and set up in seconds! ($31.99)
Simply the coolest marble run builder I’ve ever seen, the Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL offers hundreds of pieces and a terrific base to build upon. Create ramps, loops, and elaborate patterns with ease! And although there are smaller Gravitrax games to start with, the Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL is an absolute wonder! ($129.99)
It’s hard enough to build a cube out of Tetris-style puzzle block shapes, but imagine trying to disassemble — and then reassemble one — INSIDE a 3-D triangular frame. Egyptian Triglyph bends your brain into new shapes and taxes your spatial awareness in very cool ways. A topnotch reinvention of a puzzly classic! ($19.99)
Coaster Games is a six-pack of games encompassing all sorts of gameplay styles. Counting, word building, deduction, strategy, resource management, and more, and they all fit in your pocket. Perfect for parties or quickplay fun between longer game sessions, you’re guaranteed to find something to enjoy here! (£6.99)
A White Elephant gift exchange is always a fun time, especially watching the gifts getting traded all around. But, if they were still wrapped, could you remember every gift as it moved from person to person? That’s Not a Hat puts your memory to work, asking if you can recall each gift as it is hidden from view and passed around the table. It’s tougher, and more fun, than you think! ($9.99)
Put your chess skills and tactics to the test with Athena. A puzzle requiring you to think several steps ahead in order to reunite a statue with its pedestal on a busy archaeological dig site, Athena has over 50 challenging patterns for you to solve! ($24.99)
Knot Dice Celtic Animals (Black Oak Games, dice game)
Can you twist, turn, and spin these dice to complete beautiful, elaborate patterns inspired by Celtic knots? That’s the name of the game with Knot Dice Celtic Animals, a dice game as challenging as it is gorgeous. With single-player and multi-player puzzles included, you’ll be tying yourself in knots for days! ($45, available in several colors)
And you can add new wrinkles and patterns to your solving with Knot Dice and Knot Dice Squared! ($40 and $45, respectively)
[Click here to check out our full review of Knot Dice and Knot Dice Squared!]
Cracker Games: The Imp Box (The Dark Imp, party/group game)
Six unique family games in a reusable box that looks like a Christmas cracker? What an idea! Voting, collecting, observation, and trading are among the gameplay styles you’ll find in The Imp Box, and this neat little package packs a lot of variety into a small space! (£19.99)
Math Dice (ThinkFun, dice game)
Can you out-think and out-math your opponents when it comes to addition, division, square roots, and more? That’s what awaits players with Math Dice, a deviously fun game of who can get closest to the target with only their math skills and cleverness! ($7.99)
A proper holiday-themed game for the holidays? You betcha. This wagering game, based on the 12 Daysof Christmas, has some of the most beautiful art in the entire card game genre. Plus the two ways to earn points — winning each day of Christmas with the lowest card in the pot vs. keeping as many of a certain value card as possible for the end of the game — offer tons of strategic opportunities in a simple card game. What a treat! ($20)
Slapzi (Tenzi, party/group game)
Slapzi will keep you on your toes. In this quick-reaction game, you’ve got to match your picture cards to the clue cards before your opponents. But with clues like “Not sold in a hardware store” or “Two of the same letter together,” this isn’t as easy as it appears! ($23.95)
[Click here to check out our full review of Slapzi!]
This advent calendar has no numbers on the doors, and solving a daily puzzle is the only way to figure out which door to open! This clever, festive, chocolate-filled treat is a puzzly twist on a holiday classic! ($27)
Leviathan Wilds (Moon Crab Games, board game)
In this exciting strategy board/card game, you must climb one of seventeen leviathans and scramble all over it to heal it while avoiding its attacks. Be both action hero and environmentalist by scaling these beautiful beasts and trying to save them! ($74)
US Patent #1 (Crab Fragment Labs, board game)
You’re all scientists that have invented time travel, but can you outfit your time machine and outrace your fellow inventors to the day the patent office opens and claim US Patent #1? This strategy game is an all-time favorite and it’s a perfect Print-and-Play joy for friends and family to try out! ($5)
Godzilla: Tokyo Clash (Funko Games, board game)
Choose one of these four iconic monsters and let loose your fury all over Tokyo in Godzilla: Tokyo Clash. This tactical monster-vs.-monster game allows you to smash buildings, vehicles, and your fellow monsters on a game board that’s different every time you play! Will you be King of the Monsters by the time Tokyo is in ruins? ($42.99)
[Check out our full review of Godzilla: Tokyo Clashhere!]
Sounds Fishy (Big Potato Games, party/group game)
What’s better than a trivia game? A trivia game with bluffing! Can you convince your fellow players that your fake trivia answer is the correct one? Try your luck and your skill with Sounds Fishy! ($19.99)
Light Speed (Crab Fragment Labs, card game)
Tired of turn-based combat and strategy? Light Speed has you covered. In this real-time card game, you play your ships as quickly as you want until one player runs out of cards, and then you see what happens! With combat, mining, strategy, and speed, this card game is great fun. ($10.95)
Pinbox 3000 (Cardboard Teck Instantute)
How about the chance to build your own game? Is that puzzle enough for you? Pinbox 3000 provides all the pieces you’ll need, plus valuable advice for brainstorming and creating your very own pinball game. It’s endlessly customizable, so you can make your Pinbox pinball game as simple or as complex as you like! ($49.95)
Unlock!Games(Asmodee, escape room / solve the mystery game)
Unlock! games consist of entirely of a deck of cards and your app. The cards provide locations, challenges, helpful items, solutions, and warnings, all identified with numbered or lettered cards in the deck. There are numerous Unlock! escape games to try — covering everything from haunted houses to desert islands — and they’re offered in sets of three! ($39.99)
Bring the insane real-life rivalry of paleontologists Cope and Marsh to life in The Great Dinosaur Rush! As you collect fossils and discover your own unique dinosaur, you must also steal bones, sabotage other scientists, and more! Show off your cunning and creativity in this game that proves historical truth is weirder than fiction! ($50)
Spaceteam (Timber and Bolt, card game)
Can you repair your ship and get the engines up and running before a black hole ends your space adventure forever? That’s the name of the game in Spaceteam, a cooperative, communication-based game where you have to accomplish various tasks with your fellow players while sharing tools. It’s delightful chaos, heightened by the five-minute hourglass timer counting down your dwindling seconds before disaster strikes! A definite favorite around here. ($27.95)
One of the most beautiful strategy games on the market today, Sagrada is a singularly peaceful gaming experience. Compete with other players to build the most beautiful stained glass window, but with dice instead of glass! Unique and challenging, Sagrada is something else. ($40)
For Ages 11-12 and Up
Enigmas Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards: Midnight edition (David Kwong/Dave Shukan, solve the mystery game)
A puzzle hunt lurking within a normal deck of cards? It sounds impossible, but when you’re dealing with puzzler and magician David Kwong, anything can happen with Enigmas! Can you unravel the mystery hiding amongst these playing cards? ($20)
FALLING (Crab Fragment Labs, card game)
Some card games go quickly, but FALLING only takes 90 seconds. You’re all falling, and you want to hit the ground last. This game is insanely fast, chaotic, and an absolute riot to play over and over. Give it a shot. Trust me, you’ve got the time. ($10.98)
Puzzometry (jigsaw puzzle)
For a next-level jigsaw challenge, Puzzometry is tough to top. These beautiful pieces can be combined in seemingly endless combinations, and yet, there’s only one solution. Available in seven different styles — Puzzometry ($22.33), Puzzometry Jr. ($17.58), Puzzometry Squares ($22.33), Puzzometry Hex ($22.33), Puzzometry Steps ($22.33), Puzzometry Six ($22.33), and Puzzometry Jr. 2 ($17.58) — you’ve got distinct challenges appropriate for all different ages!
[Check out the full review of the original Puzzometry by clicking here!]
Get Lucky (Crab Fragment Labs, card game)
In this quick-play card game, you must scheme against your fellow players to be the first to kill Doctor Lucky. But Doctor Lucky is called that for a reason, so it’s gonna take a few tries, even with upgraded weapons, motives, and opportunities. Will you be the one to succeed? ($14.95)
Exit: The Game: Dead Man on the Orient Express (Kosmos, escape room / solve the mystery game)
Exit: The Game products create an escape room experience by combining a deck of cards, a guidebook, a sliding decoder ring, an interactive phone app, and miscellaneous items to be used throughout the game. What sets Dead Man on the Orient Express above and beyond is that there’s a mystery to solve in the background, even as you tackle all the delightful escape room-style puzzles! ($14.99)
Gearjits Roller Coaster (Gearjits, marble puzzle)
Bring your puzzle skills to life as you assemble a working roller coaster from these wooden pieces. Assembling handcranks and gears to operate the machine along with the structure of the roller coaster itself makes this 3-D puzzle more exciting and satisfying than the average 3-D puzzle. ($39.95)
For Ages 13-14 and Up
Words Apart by Aimee Lucido, illustrated by Phillippa Corcutt and Rachael Corcutt (puzzle book)
Olive and Mattie are sisters, two years apart, but in the same grade. While Olive expresses herself with an impressive vocabulary and a love of wordplay, Mattie struggles with reading but finds comfort expressing herself through cartoons, sketches, and comic strips.
This wonderful coming-of-age story mixes poetry, prose, comics, and crosswords to tell a lovely story that everyone will find relatable. ($9.99)
[Click here to check out our review of Words Apart!]
The Game of Wolf (Gray Matters Games, party/group game)
In the dog-eat-dog world of trivia, is it better to go alone or with the pack? In The Game of Wolf, trivia and strategy meet as you try to answer questions and double your points! With fresh topics and loads of interesting questions, The Game of Wolf has become my go-to trivia game. ($23.48)
There’s Been a Murder (Pressman, party/group game)
Can you and your friends solve a murder? In this card game, every card can help you solve the crime (or hinder the investigation, if you’re the murderer). It’s amazing how Pressman boiled down all of the elements of a murder mystery into a card game this easy to learn, a game that you’ll happily play again and again. ($8.99)
Arcs (Leder Games, board game)
Each player represents a different alien civilization, trying to complete their established goals and rule the galaxy. Arcs is a fairly complex game, and it’s definitely one that takes some time to play. But the art is beautiful, the gameplay is nicely balanced, and there are tons of different choices to make. ($54)
The Light in the Mist (Allplay, solve the mystery game)
We’ve got puzzles in calendars, puzzle boxes, games, and playing cards, but how about a puzzle AND a story hidden in a tarot deck? The Light in the Mist walks you through the memories of a missing friend and creates a unique puzzle-solving experience! ($34)
Gloomand Gloomier (Atlas Games, card game)
Do you enjoy The Addams Family or the art of Edward Gorey? Then Gloommight be a strategy game worth checking out. In this tactical game with a sinister twist, you’re trying to make your Victorian family miserable for points and the lives of your opponents’ families better! Yup, misfortune equals good fortune for you! With gorgeous transparent cards you can lay over each other to track your scores, there’s no storytelling game out there quite like it.
Cluebox Escape Rooms in a Box (iDventure, brain teaser)
These multi-stage puzzle boxes are completely self-contained. You need to explore every inch of its surface to find clues and tools to unlock each stage of the puzzle box and reveal further challenges. Whether you delve into Davy Jones Locker ($49.99) or try to unravel the mystery of Schrodinger’s Cat ($44.99), you will definitely find your puzzly mettle tested by these devious devices!
Wavelength (Asmodee, party/group game)
Can you get your teammates to pick the exact spot on the dial you want… with a single word? That’s the challenge of Wavelength, a literal game of inches that shows where our opinions differ and where they align. A terrific party game you can learn in seconds! ($39.99)
Tavern Puzzles / Tucker-Jones House Inc. (brain teaser)
These hand-forged beauties are ready to challenge your dexterity and cleverness, as you accept the Tavern Puzzles challenge. Whether you’re trying to remove twice as many pieces in a Collaborative Effort or free the triangle from Tridiculous, you’re sure to put your skills to the test. ($29.95 each)
Codenames (Czech Games, card game)
It’s a race against time to locate all of your spies before your opponents. But in order to do so, you need to communicate information with a single word. Codenames will put your word association skills to work as you try to find secret agents disguised with code words, while avoiding innocent citizens and dangerous assassins along the way! ($19.94)
A puzzle box unlike anything you’ve ever seen, Lightboxcreates different patterns of shadow and light as you shift and arrange the various plastic plates that make up the box. As you twist and reset them, different electrical connections are made, and different plates light up. As gorgeous as it is challenging, Lightbox is a very eye-catching puzzle that always wows new solvers. ($85)
[Check out our full review of Lightbox by clicking here!]
For Ages 16 and Up
Alice is Missing (Hunters Entertainment, solve the mystery game)
Can you and your fellow players solve a mystery without ever saying a word? That’s the challenge offered by the uniquely atmospheric and haunting RPG mystery gameAlice Is Missing.
A game played entirely through text messaging, each player takes on the role of a character in the town of Silent Falls, trying to find out what happened to Alice Briarwood. We promise, you’ve never played anything like it. ($21.99)
For Ages 18 and Up
Fragments of Chaos: An Einstein Tile Challenge (Palmetto Puzzle Works, fill-the-frame puzzle)
Einstein’s influence is still felt today, as we have recently discovered the “Einstein monotile” (a tessellation without symmetry), and naturally, someone clever has turned the idea into a puzzle. Can you place these 23 irregularly-shaped pieces into the hexagonal grid? ($22.50)
Most puzzle books would probably fall in the Age 9-10 and Up range, but oftentimes, the cluing is geared toward an older audience, so to avoid confusion, I’ve bundled the majority of the puzzle books here.
Maybe you’re looking for a grab bag full of different puzzles, like their Winter Fun Holiday Pack ($27.95) or a Championship Puzzle Pack of 40 magazines ($33.95)! Or perhaps you’d prefer one kind of puzzle, with the ease of printing at home with Print N’ Solve Magazines and Puzzle Packets (starting at $4.75). Either way, the folks at Penny Dell Puzzles have got you covered.
And be sure to check out their deals on Facebook and Twitter throughout the holiday season. They’ve got bundles and discounts for days!
And while we’re on the topic of puzzle books, some of the best constructors (and many favorites of the blog) have released their own books for your perusal! And with New York Times,Los Angeles Times, and USA Today puzzles to their credit, you’re sure to find some quality puzzlers within these pages!
Many top constructors and organizations market their puzzles directly to solvers, so between email subscriptions and downloadable puzzle bundles, you’ve got plenty of quality choices!
Thank you to all of the constructors, designers, and companies taking part in this year’s holiday puzzly gift guide! So great to have so many of you back, and so marvelous to welcome so many new faces and new puzzles and games!
Welcome to the PuzzCulture 2025 Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide!
We’re excited to be bringing you our biggest gift guide ever! There are so many tremendously fun and puzzly products to share with you. We just might be your one-stop shop for all things puzzly!
We’re sure you’ll find the perfect gift for any puzzler on your list!
Maybe you’re looking for a grab bag full of different puzzles, like their Winter Fun Holiday Pack ($27.95) or a Championship Puzzle Pack of 40 magazines ($33.95)! Or perhaps you’d prefer one kind of puzzle, with the ease of printing at home with Print N’ Solve Magazines and Puzzle Packets (starting at $4.75). Either way, the folks at Penny Dell Puzzles have got you covered.
And be sure to check out their deals on Facebook and Twitter throughout the holiday season. They’ve got bundles and discounts for days!
And while we’re on the topic of puzzle books, some of the best constructors (and many favorites of the blog) have released their own books for your perusal! And with New York Times,Los Angeles Times, and USA Today puzzles to their credit, you’re sure to find some quality puzzlers within these pages!
Many top constructors and organizations market their puzzles directly to solvers, so between email subscriptions and downloadable puzzle bundles, you’ve got plenty of quality choices!
Fragments of Chaos: An Einstein Tile Challenge (Palmetto Puzzle Works)
Einstein’s influence is still felt today, as we have recently discovered the “Einstein monotile” (a tessellation without symmetry), and naturally, someone clever has turned the idea into a puzzle. Can you place these 23 irregularly-shaped pieces into the hexagonal grid? ($22.50)
Puzzometry
For a next-level jigsaw challenge, Puzzometry is tough to top. These beautiful pieces can be combined in seemingly endless combinations, and yet, there’s only one solution. Available in seven different styles — Puzzometry ($22.33), Puzzometry Jr. ($17.58), Puzzometry Squares ($22.33), Puzzometry Hex ($22.33), Puzzometry Steps ($22.33), Puzzometry Six ($22.33), and Puzzometry Jr. 2 ($17.58) — you’ve got distinct challenges appropriate for all different ages!
[Check out the full review of the original Puzzometry by clicking here!]
Brain Teasers
Cluebox Escape Rooms in a Box (iDventure)
These multi-stage puzzle boxes are completely self-contained. You need to explore every inch of its surface to find clues and tools to unlock each stage of the puzzle box and reveal further challenges. Whether you delve into Davy Jones Locker ($49.99) or try to unravel the mystery of Schrodinger’s Cat ($44.99), you will definitely find your puzzly mettle tested by these devious devices!
Tavern Puzzles / Tucker-Jones House Inc.
These hand-forged beauties are ready to challenge your dexterity and cleverness, as you accept the Tavern Puzzles challenge. Whether you’re trying to remove twice as many pieces in a Collaborative Effort or free the triangle from Tridiculous, you’re sure to put your skills to the test. ($29.95 each)
Athena (Project Genius)
Put your chess skills and tactics to the test with Athena. A puzzle requiring you to think several steps ahead in order to reunite a statue with its pedestal on a busy archaeological dig site, Athena has over 50 challenging patterns for you to solve! ($24.99)
A puzzle box unlike anything you’ve ever seen, Lightboxcreates different patterns of shadow and light as you shift and arrange the various plastic plates that make up the box. As you twist and reset them, different electrical connections are made, and different plates light up. As gorgeous as it is challenging, Lightbox is a very eye-catching puzzle that always wows new solvers. ($85)
[Check out our full review of Lightbox by clicking here!]
Egyptian Triglyph (Project Genius)
It’s hard enough to build a cube out of Tetris-style puzzle block shapes, but imagine trying to disassemble — and then reassemble one — INSIDE a 3-D triangular frame. Egyptian Triglyph bends your brain into new shapes and taxes your spatial awareness in very cool ways. A topnotch reinvention of a puzzly classic! ($19.99)
Some of the puzzliest games on the market today are being made by top-flight board game companies, and we’ve got some marvelous games that will appeal to puzzlers of all ages!
Leviathan Wilds (Moon Crab Games)
In this exciting strategy board/card game, you must climb one of seventeen leviathans and scramble all over it to heal it while avoiding its attacks. Be both action hero and environmentalist by scaling these beautiful beasts and trying to save them! ($74)
US Patent #1 (Crab Fragment Labs)
You’re all scientists that have invented time travel, but can you outfit your time machine and outrace your fellow inventors to the day the patent office opens and claim US Patent #1? This strategy game is an all-time favorite and it’s a perfect Print-and-Play joy for friends and family to try out! ($5)
Bring the insane real-life rivalry of paleontologists Cope and Marsh to life in The Great Dinosaur Rush! As you collect fossils and discover your own unique dinosaur, you must also steal bones, sabotage other scientists, and more! Show off your cunning and creativity in this game that proves historical truth is weirder than fiction! ($50)
Arcs (Leder Games)
Each player represents a different alien civilization, trying to complete their established goals and rule the galaxy. Arcs is a fairly complex game, and it’s definitely one that takes some time to play. But the art is beautiful, the gameplay is nicely balanced, and there are tons of different choices to make. ($54)
Godzilla: Tokyo Clash (Funko Games)
Choose one of these four iconic monsters and let loose your fury all over Tokyo in Godzilla: Tokyo Clash. This tactical monster-vs.-monster game allows you to smash buildings, vehicles, and your fellow monsters on a game board that’s different every time you play! Will you be King of the Monsters by the time Tokyo is in ruins? ($42.99)
[Check out our full review of Godzilla: Tokyo Clashhere!]
Tsuro: The Game of the Path (Calliope Games)
A path-laying game with tons of style and historical spirit, Tsurocasts up to eight players as flying dragons, and tasks you with laying out your path with special tiles. Try not to meet any other dragons or fly off the board! It’s a simple mechanic with plenty of replay value, and perfect for quick games with large groups. ($40)
Chessplus
The first thing you learn in chess is how the pieces move. But what if that could change? What if you could make new pieces that move in unexpected ways? How would that change the game? With Chessplus, you’ll find out, as you mix and match chess pieces in order to capture your opponent’s king. The possibilities really are endless! ($45)
A wonderful mix of Uno and Mexican Train Dominoes, Qwirkle is a tile-placing game where you try to maximize your points while minimizing the help you give to your opponents. With six bright colors and six different shapes to match up, Qwirkle is endless fun that’s so easy to jump into! ($22.99)
The chaos and ever-changing rules of Fluxx have taken many forms over the years, from anatomy and astronomy to Star Trek and Alice in Wonderland — and they’ve made their most accessible Fluxx games yet with Word Fluxx and Cat Fluxx. Build your words or delight in your feline friends as you try to win this classic quick-changing card game! ($20)
Get Lucky (Crab Fragment Labs)
In this quick-play card game, you must scheme against your fellow players to be the first to kill Doctor Lucky. But Doctor Lucky is called that for a reason, so it’s gonna take a few tries, even with upgraded weapons, motives, and opportunities. Will you be the one to succeed? ($14.95)
12 Days (Calliope Games)
A proper holiday-themed game for the holidays? You betcha. This wagering game, based on the 12 Daysof Christmas, has some of the most beautiful art in the entire card game genre. Plus the two ways to earn points — winning each day of Christmas with the lowest card in the pot vs. keeping as many of a certain value card as possible for the end of the game — offer tons of strategic opportunities in a simple card game. What a treat! ($20)
Gloomand Gloomier (Atlas Games)
Do you enjoy The Addams Family or the art of Edward Gorey? Then Gloommight be a strategy game worth checking out. In this tactical game with a sinister twist, you’re trying to make your Victorian family miserable for points and the lives of your opponents’ families better! Yup, misfortune equals good fortune for you! With gorgeous transparent cards you can lay over each other to track your scores, there’s no storytelling game out there quite like it.
Some card games go quickly, but FALLING only takes 90 seconds. You’re all falling, and you want to hit the ground last. This game is insanely fast, chaotic, and an absolute riot to play over and over. Give it a shot. Trust me, you’ve got the time. ($10.98)
Codenames (Czech Games)
It’s a race against time to locate all of your spies before your opponents. But in order to do so, you need to communicate information with a single word. Codenames will put your word association skills to work as you try to find secret agents disguised with code words, while avoiding innocent citizens and dangerous assassins along the way! ($19.94)
Tired of turn-based combat and strategy? Light Speed has you covered. In this real-time card game, you play your ships as quickly as you want until one player runs out of cards, and then you see what happens! With combat, mining, strategy, and speed, this card game is great fun. ($10.95)
Spaceteam (Timber and Bolt)
Can you repair your ship and get the engines up and running before a black hole ends your space adventure forever? That’s the name of the game in Spaceteam, a cooperative, communication-based game where you have to accomplish various tasks with your fellow players while sharing tools. It’s delightful chaos, heightened by the five-minute hourglass timer counting down your dwindling seconds before disaster strikes! A definite favorite around here. ($27.95)
Dice Games
Knot Dice Celtic Animals (Black Oak Games)
Can you twist, turn, and spin these dice to complete beautiful, elaborate patterns inspired by Celtic knots? That’s the name of the game with Knot Dice Celtic Animals, a dice game as challenging as it is gorgeous. With single-player and multi-player puzzles included, you’ll be tying yourself in knots for days! ($45, available in several colors)
And you can add new wrinkles and patterns to your solving with Knot Dice and Knot Dice Squared! ($40 and $45, respectively)
[Click here to check out our full review of Knot Dice and Knot Dice Squared!]
Math Dice (ThinkFun)
Can you out-think and out-math your opponents when it comes to addition, division, square roots, and more? That’s what awaits players with Math Dice, a deviously fun game of who can get closest to the target with only their math skills and cleverness! ($7.99)
One of the most beautiful strategy games on the market today, Sagrada is a singularly peaceful gaming experience. Compete with other players to build the most beautiful stained glass window, but with dice instead of glass! Unique and challenging, Sagrada is something else. ($40)
Tenzi
All of us have rolled dice in games before, but can you roll what you need as fast as possible? That’s the challenge of Tenzi, a game that pits up to four players against each other in tests of speed and dexterity. Can you roll ten 6’s before everyone else? ($18.95)
Marble Puzzles / Games
Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL (Ravensburger)
Simply the coolest marble run builder I’ve ever seen, the Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL offers hundreds of pieces and a terrific base to build upon. Create ramps, loops, and elaborate patterns with ease! And although there are smaller Gravitrax games to start with, the Gravitrax Starter-Set XXL is an absolute wonder! ($129.99)
Bring your puzzle skills to life as you assemble a working roller coaster from these wooden pieces. Assembling handcranks and gears to operate the machine along with the structure of the roller coaster itself makes this 3-D puzzle more exciting and satisfying than the average 3-D puzzle. ($39.95)
Escape Room / Solve the Mystery Games
Escape Room Advent Calendar (Insync Games)
This advent calendar has no numbers on the doors, and solving a daily puzzle is the only way to figure out which door to open! This clever, festive, chocolate-filled treat is a puzzly twist on a holiday classic! ($27)
Exit: The Game: Dead Man on the Orient Express (Kosmos)
Exit: The Game products create an escape room experience by combining a deck of cards, a guidebook, a sliding decoder ring, an interactive phone app, and miscellaneous items to be used throughout the game. What sets Dead Man on the Orient Express above and beyond is that there’s a mystery to solve in the background, even as you tackle all the delightful escape room-style puzzles! ($14.99)
Alice is Missing (Hunters Entertainment)
Can you and your fellow players solve a mystery without ever saying a word? That’s the challenge offered by the uniquely atmospheric and haunting RPG mystery gameAlice Is Missing.
A game played entirely through text messaging, each player takes on the role of a character in the town of Silent Falls, trying to find out what happened to Alice Briarwood. We promise, you’ve never played anything like it. ($21.99)
The Light in the Mist (Allplay)
We’ve got puzzles in calendars, puzzle boxes, games, and playing cards, but how about a puzzle AND a story hidden in a tarot deck? The Light in the Mist walks you through the memories of a missing friend and creates a unique puzzle-solving experience! ($34)
Enigmas Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards: Midnight edition (David Kwong/Dave Shukan)
A puzzle hunt lurking within a normal deck of cards? It sounds impossible, but when you’re dealing with puzzler and magician David Kwong, anything can happen with Enigmas! Can you unravel the mystery hiding amongst these playing cards? ($20)
Unlock!Games(Asmodee)
Unlock! games consist of entirely of a deck of cards and your app. The cards provide locations, challenges, helpful items, solutions, and warnings, all identified with numbered or lettered cards in the deck. There are numerous Unlock! escape games to try — covering everything from haunted houses to desert islands — and they’re offered in sets of three! ($39.99)
Party/Group Games
Flip 7 (Eric Olsen/USAopoly)
In this push-your-luck card game with the cards numbered one through twelve, the concept is simple: flip over your cards and don’t repeat a number. Problem is, there’s 1 one and 12 twelves, so you’re bound to repeat sometimes. Can you Flip 7 and score extra points? ($7.99)
The Game of Wolf (Gray Matters Games)
In the dog-eat-dog world of trivia, is it better to go alone or with the pack? In The Game of Wolf, trivia and strategy meet as you try to answer questions and double your points! With fresh topics and loads of interesting questions, The Game of Wolf has become my go-to trivia game. ($23.48)
That’s Not a Hat (Ravensburger)
A White Elephant gift exchange is always a fun time, especially watching the gifts getting traded all around. But, if they were still wrapped, could you remember every gift as it moved from person to person? That’s Not a Hat puts your memory to work, asking if you can recall each gift as it is hidden from view and passed around the table. It’s tougher, and more fun, than you think! ($9.99)
A trip to the beach in game form, Seaside is all about collecting tokens from the sea and building the biggest stack. This simple game offers surprising depth and strategy, and the tokens are beautiful and environmentally friendly. You could take this game anywhere and set up in seconds! ($31.99)
There’s Been a Murder (Pressman)
Can you and your friends solve a murder? In this card game, every card can help you solve the crime (or hinder the investigation, if you’re the murderer). It’s amazing how Pressman boiled down all of the elements of a murder mystery into a card game this easy to learn, a game that you’ll happily play again and again. ($8.99)
Coaster Games (The Dark Imp)
Coaster Games is a six-pack of games encompassing all sorts of gameplay styles. Counting, word building, deduction, strategy, resource management, and more, and they all fit in your pocket. Perfect for parties or quickplay fun between longer game sessions, you’re guaranteed to find something to enjoy here! (£6.99)
What’s better than a trivia game? A trivia game with bluffing! Can you convince your fellow players that your fake trivia answer is the correct one? Try your luck and your skill with Sounds Fishy! ($19.99)
Wavelength (Asmodee)
Can you get your teammates to pick the exact spot on the dial you want… with a single word? That’s the challenge of Wavelength, a literal game of inches that shows where our opinions differ and where they align. A terrific party game you can learn in seconds! ($39.99)
Cracker Games: The Imp Box (The Dark Imp)
Six unique family games in a reusable box that looks like a Christmas cracker? What an idea! Voting, collecting, observation, and trading are among the gameplay styles you’ll find in The Imp Box, and this neat little package packs a lot of variety into a small space! (£19.99)
Slapzi (Tenzi)
Slapzi will keep you on your toes. In this quick-reaction game, you’ve got to match your picture cards to the clue cards before your opponents. But with clues like “Not sold in a hardware store” or “Two of the same letter together,” this isn’t as easy as it appears! ($23.95)
[Click here to check out our full review of Slapzi!]
How about the chance to build your own game? Is that puzzle enough for you? Pinbox 3000 provides all the pieces you’ll need, plus valuable advice for brainstorming and creating your very own pinball game. It’s endlessly customizable, so you can make your Pinbox pinball game as simple or as complex as you like! ($49.95)
Thank you to all of the constructors, designers, and companies taking part in this year’s holiday puzzly gift guide! So great to have so many of you back, and so marvelous to welcome so many new faces and new puzzles and games!
Puzzles bring joy to so many of us. They’re an escape, a challenge, a satisfying little test of our wits, our dedication, our creativity, and our flexibility of thought.
In uncertain times, in times of trouble, people often turn to puzzles. Puzzles were a refuge for many during lockdown when COVID hung over our heads. And now, when so much seems uncertain, if not downright unstable, people will no doubt turn to puzzles again.
That’s not to say that puzzle solving is a mere flight of fancy, a desperate bit of escapism, a Hail Mary avoidance of difficult circumstances, hard questions, and treacherous times to come. Quite the opposite, in fact.
If you turn to puzzles now, you’ll see a road map that proves things can get better.
Because, like it or not, misogyny once dominated the world of puzzles. It was baked into crosswords from the very beginning.
Yes, Arthur Wynne created the template for crosswords. Simon & Schuster are credited with publishing the first crossword puzzle book, as well as all the bestselling puzzle books that followed, serving as the foundation that helped build their brand.
But it was women who made crosswords into something more.
Women like Richard Simon’s aunt Wixie. She insisted Simon look into publishing a limited release crossword book. (UPDATE: I originally wrote that none of the stories mentioned her name, but I later found some that included her nickname, Wixie. I later discovered her actual name is Hedwig Simon.)
Women like Margaret Farrar. While serving as “an unofficial editor of the crossword-puzzle section,” she prevented errors and helped establish some of the baselines that still stand in crosswords today.
Women like Ruth Hale. Ruth was the founding president of the Amateur Cross Word Puzzle League of America, an organization that set crossword standards like limiting black squares and symmetrical grids, building off of Farrar’s work.
Women like Nancy Schuster. Schuster (no relation to the aforementioned publisher) not only ran Dell Crosswords but was the first winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
Women like Helen Haven. In the 1920s, Haven was the organizer of the first competitive crossword-solving contest and served as the puzzle editor for The New York Herald-Tribune.
As pointed out by Anna Shechtman in her book The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle, between 1913 and the 1960s, most crosswords were created by women.
Puzzles were literally women’s work! With all the connotations that phrase invites.
The New York Times called the crossword “a primitive form of mental exercise” and female solvers were blamed for neglecting their families and wifely duties because of their “utterly futile finding of words the letters of which will fit into a prearranged pattern, more or less complex.”
Funny how their opinions changed just in time to profit on crosswords in the 1940s.
Much like the Beatles — who were dismissed as nothing more than a glorified boy band when thousands of women cheered at their shows, only for them to be recognized as a once-in-a-generation group of talents when men started paying attention — crosswords became “respectable” only when men took interest and took over.
The percentage of female constructors published in The New York Times went down during the Will Shortz era, as compared to the Will Weng and Eugene Maleska eras.
And like it or not, but “the average solver” concept — a problem I discussed years ago — is still using a white male yardstick for comparisons, to the detrimental of solving and constructing.
And I realized how lucky I was to NOT have that association. In fact, I don’t think I would be a puzzly guy without the women in my life.
My mother (the first female store manager in A&P history) still solves crosswords and jigsaw puzzles to this day, and encouraged my interest in puzzles in the first place. My oldest sister (a teacher) introduced me to wordplay. My older sister spent hours playing puzzle video games like Dr. Mario with me. My younger sister is not just a master jigsaw puzzle solver, but a fiend at trivia nights and escape rooms, forever challenging me to match her flow.
I was trained in crossword puzzle editing and construction by Penny Press’s crossword guru Eileen Saunders, and still lean on her creativity and wisdom every day (and marvel at her blistering speed and efficiency).
I was shepherded through the world of variety puzzles by Los Angeles Times crossword editor and puzzle badass Patti Varol. (Though it was probably more like dragging my deadweight body through molasses than “shepherding” if I’m being honest.)
And that’s not counting the undeniable and indispensable influence of Amy Roth (a shining light at Penny Press), Chris Begley, and so many other female voices that make Penny Press one of the best outlets for puzzles in the world.
I love puzzles because of those women. I have made a career in puzzles because of those women. I am better at puzzles because of those women.
The puzzle world is better because of women. It will continue to advance and innovate and thrive because of women.
How do I know this? Because women are doing incredible things in puzzles RIGHT NOW.
A small sampling of the women making puzzles better. Wyna Liu, Amanda Rafkin, Soleil Saint-Cyr, Tracy Bennett. Illustrations by Ben Kirchner.
Look at The New York Times. Tracy Bennett, Wyna Liu, and Christina Iverson are delivering great daily puzzles like Connections, Strands, and Mini Crosswords not just consistently, but brilliantly.
The aforementioned Patti Varol is absolutely crushing it at The Los Angeles Times crossword. With Katie Hale and Angela Kinsella Olsen on Patti’s team, every month since mid-April 2022 has had a minimum of 50% women constructors and often exceeds that, all while delivering topnotch puzzles.
The New Yorker, USA Today, The Slate Crossword? Liz Maynes-Aminzade, Amanda Rafkin, Quiara Vasquez. Brooke Husic runs PuzzMo (where Rachel Fabi constructed my favorite puzzle of the year!) and Amy Reynaldo co-edits Crosswords With Friends.
Rebecca Goldstein just won the Orca for constructor of the year. Smarter people than me have called Stella Zawistowski a crossword boss in every sense of the word. Ada Nicolle won the 2024 Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament.
The impact of projects like Women of Letters and The Inkubator weren’t just the tip of the iceberg, they were the tip of the spear. A spear aimed directly at the heart of outdated notions of who makes crosswords and who solves them, dismantling the idea of some mythical “average solver” that has never truly represented the crossword audience.
As constructors, editors, and solvers, women in the past shaped puzzles as we know them. And women in the present are redefining puzzles. Not just in terms of representation (both as grid answers and creators behind the scenes), but in terms of acknowledgment, respect, and appreciation.
As for women of the future? I, for one, can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.
(And thank you to several of the women mentioned above for making this post far, far better than it started.)
Please briefly pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
You may remember that when long-time blogger Glenn stepped down from posting at the beginning of this year, he assured you all that it was time “for a new voice to take over.” Obviously, his prediction came true, and it’s been fun these past few weeks, regaling you with discussions of Wordle, a biblical adventure, and tarot cards. Maybe you’ve wondered, however, exactly whose voice you’re hearing. I think it’s time we get to know each other. This week, I pull back the curtain and reveal your new Wizard of Blog.
The Wizard of Oz revealed his full name to be Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs, but I’m going to go easy on you; you can just call me Rae. Puzzle fans are often excited to learn my name, pointing out that RAE is a common crossword entry. When you come across clues such as [“Call Me Maybe” singer Carly ___ Jepsen], [“Wayne’s World” actress ___ Dawn Chong], [Rap duo ____ Sremmurd], or countless others, you’ll already know the answer.
In addition to handling social media here at PuzzleNation, I act as our Editorial Assistant and as an occasional writer of Daily POP clues. Previously, I worked for Dell Magazines, writing clues for a range of crossword titles in addition to assisting the editors of Dell’s mystery and science fiction publications. Although my own writing is strictly nonfiction and poetry—I’m currently an MFA candidate in both disciplines—I am emotionally committed to genre fiction, mystery and sci-fi especially. You can expect to see those two genres making appearances on the blog in the future!
Your blogger in his natural habitat.
Outside of work, I’m a Simpsons buff and general television nerd, a voraciously omnivorous reader, a fan of superhero and heist media, and a painter. Wordplay, problem-solving, and board games are a few of my favorite things (the classic Clue is my favorite of the latter). As you may have inferred from blog posts thus far, I do read tarot, and yes, I try to solve Wordle right on the dot of midnight, turning to Queerdle immediately after (the artificial stress of Absurdle is a sometimes snack).
So what else, exactly, do I plan to bring to this digital table? The future holds a broad spectrum of posts, examining poetry and literature, art and music, TV shows and movies, video games, board games, and the scientific and historical sides of puzzles and games. Human interest pieces are close to my heart too—the puzzle and gaming worlds are full of fascinating people doing creative, groundbreaking things, and I can’t wait to spend time connecting with some of those individuals and bringing their stories to your screens.
On that note: it’s your turn! I would love to hear more about who’s reading. And if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in seeing on the blog, don’t be afraid to ask the Wizard for what you want.
One thing the Wizard can offer you now is delightful deals on puzzles!
PuzzCulture 