There’s a lot going on in the intertwined worlds of puzzles and games, so let’s skip the intro and get to the good stuff!
Another Round of Jeopardy!: YouTube Edition Premieres October 22nd!
In addition to the flagship show we all know (and yell at our screens during), there is a YouTube-exclusive version of Celebrity Jeopardy! that focuses on celebs that are better known in the online space.
Back in March, the first episode debuted with musician and content creator Rebecca Black (of “Friday” infamy and many other actually GOOD songs), comedian and professional dungeon master Brennan Lee Mulligan, and drag queen icon and force of nature Monét X Change, all playing for charity.
A new edition comes out this week featuring comedian and performer Angela Giarratana of Team Starkid and SMOSH, content creator and Challenge Accepted host Michelle Khare, and content creator and Mythical Chef Josh Scherer.
I’m definitely curious to see how this new trio performs under the bright Jeopardy! lights.
Some Digital Freebies for Gloom Enthusiasts!
As anyone who read my Halloween Horror Game Countdown last year surely recalls, Gloom is one of my favorite spooky board games.
If you’re looking for a darkly fun game with shades of The Addams Family or Edward Gorey, then Gloom is the game for you.
In Gloom, each player is the head of a spooky family, and it’s your job to make them miserable in hilariously ghastly ways before they croak. And as you do so, you regale your fellow players with the ongoing tragic tale of their fates. The gameplay is accentuated by the beautiful clear playing cards, which allow you to stack different events and effects on your family characters and still be able to see what’s going on!
And the team at Atlas Games has put together some downloadable freebies for Gloom fans. There are desktop and mobile wallpaper images, a printable bookmark, a guide to throwing a Gloom-themed party, and the true highlight of the promotion, templates for making your own character cards.
If you’re a Gloom fan, check it out. And if you’re not a Gloom fan, what are you doing? Get on board. =)
A Rhyming Resource for Puzzlers, Writers, and Musicians!
Years ago, I wrote a post featuring some of my favorite resources for puzzlesmithery.
One of them was The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary.
And music theater bookwriter and lyricist Jeremy Desmon reached out to me regarding a free online equivalent to share.
It’s called RhymeHamster, and it’s an easily searchable archive of rhymes for all your lyrical or wordplay needs.
From the website:
Perfect rhymes are checked word by word and grouped by syllable count. Slant rhymes sit on their own adjustable dial, and there’s a Wildcard Rhymes tool for when you know the shape of the word you need but not the word.
I played around with it and was very impressed with the detailed, tiered results I received in my searches. This is definitely going into my helpful links, and I hope it proves useful to you as well!
Transparency in Publishing with Unch Crosswords!
A lot of companies promise transparency with their audiences, but few companies in ANY creator space have put their money where their mouth is like the team at Unch Crosswords.
If you’re not familiar with Unch Crosswords, they publish a quarterly cryptic crossword magazine featuring established names in the setter community. Their books are topnotch, loaded with great puzzles and deviously brilliant cluing.
It’s not just honesty in its purest form, but a valuable insight into what it takes to make a puzzle magazine in today’s climate.
I highly recommend checking it out, I learned so much.
And if you haven’t checked out Unch Crosswords, give them a try. The more outlets for puzzles in general and cryptics in particular, the better!
Two Puzzle Game Sites to Try Out!
One of the coolest things about running PuzzCulture is getting to learn about new puzzles and creators in the puzzle space. Several enterprising constructors have reached out to me recently, and I’m pleased to help spread the word about their puzzly endeavors.
The first is Murat Öncü’s deduction game Daily Skyline.
Each Daily Skyline puzzle is a 5×5 grid, and there are buildings (in a range from one storey to five storeys) in each row and column. The numbers on the outside of the grid tell you how many buildings you can see from that vantage point.
So this is more than a smaller Sudoku variant. It’s a deduction puzzle where you need to put yourself in each row and column and visualize the layout of the buildings to make the numbers make sense.
You can try a sample puzzle on the Daily Skyline website, and the Daily feature is available for iPhone. (The Android version is currently beta-testing!)
The perspective aspect of this puzzle game really appealed to me, hopefully you’ll enjoy as well!
My other recommendation for you today is Wordstick.
In Wordstick, you have a stack of rotating letter cubes, and you need arrange them so that words read downward on all four sides.
You can rotate each cube or the stack itself in order to see the whole puzzle, and although the letters are all provided for you, it feels a bit like Wordle on steroids.
With 5-letter, 7-letter, and an unlockable 9-letter version, Wordstick will put your vocabulary and deduction skills to the test.
Wordstick is playable daily through their website or for iPhone. (Though apparently an Android version is coming!)
Let’s close out today’s post with a bit of levity, shall we?
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency is a literary playground where open letters, comedic asides, and intrusive thoughts find their way to the viewing public.
(For instance, check out “It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers” by Colin Nissan to get a sense of their comedic energy.)
Well, writer Tyler Gooch put the world of crosswords in his sights with a recent piece, entitled “Crossword Clues Where It’s Clear the Puzzle’s Creator Got Themselves into a Jam Letter-wise.”
Tongue is planted firmly in cheek here, but there’s definitely a hint of truth in there too.
Did I miss any puzzly news or fun board game stories from the last few weeks? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
