The PuzzCulture Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide launches next Tuesday — it would have launched this week, but sadly I’ve been ill AND took a tumble down the stairs, good times.
But, to be fair to all the puzzlers and board game fans in the audience, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a huge, first-time-ever collaboration between a plethora of companies to offer great deals before the holidays.
Running from November 18th to December 1st, you can grab bundles of games as well as brand-new games, miniatures, stuffed animals, enamel pins, roleplaying games, and more!
Seeing this kind of collaboration is so cool, especially after a year where tariffs wreaked absolute havoc with the puzzle and game industry. Hopefully people will enjoy discounts and these companies will do well. It would be fantastic to see the Backerkit Holiday Market return next year.
But how about a little more festive cheer before I go today?
Our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles have put out a free puzzle packet this week in celebration of National Game & Puzzle Week!
I didn’t know it was National Game & Puzzle Week. To be honest, EVERY week around here is Game & Puzzle Week. Who decides these things anyway?
It’s a great mix of art puzzles, deduction puzzles like Logic and Sudoku, plus some of my favorite Penny Press offerings, like What’s Left? and Stretch Letters.
Happy puzzling, playing, shopping, and gaming, everyone!
Godzilla has been a cultural icon for seventy years.
Across dozens of films, in a film market with hundreds of behemoths, leviathans, and titans to watch, Godzilla is still the King of the Monsters. Godzilla has battled humanity, aliens, robotic duplicates, and other kaiju, bringing joy and wonder to millions of moviegoers. Godzilla has evolved from personifying the specter of nuclear annihilation to representing the spirit of a proud nation against threats like pollution, environmental catastrophe, and war.
The cultural influence of Godzilla cannot be overstated. So you shouldn’t be surprised to see that it extends into the world of puzzles and games as well.
Now, sure, Godzilla isn’t popping up in crosswords on the reg. Xwordinfo tells us that Osaka has been clued a half-dozen times in relation to Godzilla (and Tokyo nearly as many times).
Godzilla has appeared in New York Times crossword grids four times (including one where they cross paths with King Kong). In comparison, fellow Kaiju Mothra has appeared in New York Times crosswords five times.
But The New York Times isn’t the only publication worth discussing here. No, to truly appreciate the puzzly legacy of Godzilla, we have to discuss G-Fan magazine.
The art for this cover (and a half-dozen others) was done by my marvelous friend Matt Harris!
G-Fan is the premiere magazine for all things kaiju, especially Godzilla, and it was flipping through an old copy of the magazine that inspired this post. (It’s amazing what you unearth when you’re packing up your whole life to move.)
Among interviews, movie reviews, and wonderfully nerdy deep dives into various monster-centric topics, I stumbled across not only a Godzilla-shaped maze (pictured at the start of this post), but a crisscross all about my favorite skyscraper-sized monster.
So, naturally once I started, I kept digging, delving into the G-Fan archives and reaching out to JD Lees, the man behind not only G-Fan, but the annual G-CON / G-FEST convention!
He was kind enough to take some time out to discuss the puzzles periodically appearing in the pages of G-Fan.
What inspired you to start putting puzzles into G-Fan?
When I was a teacher, I would often include puzzles in the worksheets I created for students. I figured it was a way to increase engagement that was a bit fun and different for the kids. I found I enjoyed making them, so when I was creating G-FAN Junior, puzzles seemed a natural thing to include to break up the articles, add variety, and fill space!
Do you have a favorite puzzle (either in terms of topic or overall execution) from over the years?
I have a lot of fun creating the puzzles where a monster’s name is hidden in an unrelated sentence. I first saw this done with the names of the U.S. states and their capitals. I think it was in a puzzle book I used in my Grade 10 math class.
There’s a Godzilla Monopoly game. Is your affection for Godzilla potent enough to make you endure a game of Monopoly through to the end?
Ha ha! I look back and marvel at those long-ago times when my friends and I used to enjoy playing Monopoly. Maybe I’m just getting old. (Actually, no maybe about it!) However, I did buy the Godzilla version of Monopoly for the Gaming Room at G-FEST, and it was used. The second year someone stole all the kaiju tokens, so I replaced them with generic monster figures. Overall, G-fans are very honest, but thousands attend the convention, so I guess there will be a few bad apples.
Although he’s currently taking a break from G-Fan, JD did say he expects to construct more puzzles in the future (though they might not be so kaiju-focused.)
Speaking of the Godzilla edition of Monopoly, that brings me to the other half of today’s post: the legacy of Godzilla in board games.
The many ways Godzilla has been translated to board games. Clockwise from upper left: Godzilla Electronic Wargame (1984), Godzilla: Monsters Attack! (2008), Godzilla pen and paper game (1988), Godzilla: Kaiju World Wars (2011), Godzilla Game (1978), Super Godzilla Tempest (1990), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2020), Godzilla: Kaiju on the Earth LEGENDS (2022).
There are literally DOZENS of board games inspired by Godzilla and the many kaiju that followed in those monstrous footsteps.
Alongside the aforementioned official Monopoly version, there’s an official Godzilla Jenga, a Godzilla version of The Incredible Hulk Smash (one of several dismal tie-ins promoting the atrocious Fox 1998 Godzilla film), as well as expansions for Cthulhu: Death May Die and an upcoming reimagining of the game Battle Masters called Battle Monsters.
Godzilla-inspired board games date all the way back to 1963, when the imaginatively titled Godzilla Game was released. It was actually the first Godzilla toy produced in the US and only the second Godzilla toy ever made.
In 1978, another Godzilla Game was released, followed by a Mothra vs. Godzilla game in 1982. There have been strategy games (like a pen-and-paper game in Swiss gaming zine AHA in 1988), dice games like Godzilla VS Kong from 2022, and loads of, quite frankly, fairly disappointing board games.
This trend has only reversed in the last fifteen years or so with releases like my all-time favorite Godzilla game, Godzilla: Tokyo Clash from 2020.
There’s also a curious pattern of Godzilla card games with names that go unnecessarily hard, but I respect the manic energy they bring to game shelves. These names include Godzilla: Stomp! (2011), the delightfully named Godzilla Boom (2012), and Godzilla Total War (2019).
Confusingly, there seem to be both a board game AND a card game called Godzilla Rampage, and they both have supplements adding other monster/monster-fighting icons like Ultraman, Gamera, and Daimajin to the mix.
From cutesy to vicious, from the pages of fanzines to coffee tables across the world, Godzilla has moved far past the silver screen and become part of the cultural language. People who have never seen a Godzilla film — yes, they exist, and we pity them — still know the name.
Bridezillas the world over owe their monstrous reputations to our beloved atomic-breathed kaiju. We know dozens of other monsters because of Godzilla. Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah… heck, even King Kong rides those enormous coattails from time to time.
And it’s fun to remember that even the world of puzzles and games is not immune to the mighty roar or the deep, deep shadow of the King of the Monsters.
Thank you to JD Lees, Matt Harris, and several chums from the Board Game Geek forums for helping me with this post. Be sure to check out the G-Fan website for all things Godzilla, and enjoy this not-at-all-exhaustive list of G-Fan issues with some of JD’s puzzles:
Issue #110, Fall 2015
Issue #109, Summer 2015
Issue #108, Jan/Feb 2015
Issue #97, Fall 2011
Issue #49, Jan/Feb 2001
Issue #42, Nov/Dec 1999
Issue #39, May/June 1999
Issue #37, Jan/Feb 1999
Issue #36, Nov/Dec 1998
Issue #33, May/June 1998
Issue #32, March/April 1998
Do you have a favorite Godzilla film, Godzilla game, or Godzilla pop culture moment, fellow puzzlers? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!
This year’s contenders for the National Toy Hall of Fame Class of 2025 have been whittled down to 12 finalists, and the competition is fierce.
You’ve got classic toys from across the decades (Furby, spirograph, Star Wars lightsaber, Tickle Me Elmo), representatives from more physical activities (scooter, cornhole), board games (Battleship, Catan, Connect Four, and Trivial Pursuit), and even materials kids play with (slime, snow).
The idea of “play” is represented in so many different ways across these 12 finalists, and it really encompasses just how vast and varied play is, how much imagination and expression and creativity are reflected in all sorts of different childhood experiences.
Personally, I’m rooting for the lightsaber, Trivial Pursuit, and snow to make the cut. I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was 2. Trivial Pursuit was the first trivia game I can remember playing (even if it was an edition intended for players way older than I was at the time). And snow is so fundamental to winter play — sledding, snowmen, snowball fights, DAYS OFF FROM SCHOOL TO PLAY — that it’s surprising it hasn’t already been inducted.
(Though I suspect Catan, Connect Four, and Tickle Me Elmo will make the cut instead of some of my faves.)
Yes, while the final determinations are made by the National Toy Hall of Fame’s National Selection Advisory Committee — ooh, so formal! — the three toys that receive the most public votes will be submitted for consideration alongside the top three submissions from the Selection Committee.
Which of these twelve contenders would you like to see join such playtime luminaries as Lite-Brite, My Little Pony, the stick, the Atari 2600, and the Rubik’s Cube? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
And while you’re at it, tell me what toys you think should be in the National Toy Hall of Fame!
One of my favorite go-to trivia games is Overlaps. Basically, the answer to the trivia question is a combination of two titles. You can use movies, celebrity names, anything really.
And I thought I’d share one of my Overlaps games with you today, fellow puzzler.
Here’s an example to get you started:
A hardworking midwestern mom is mistaken for an 11 year old orphan girl and goes to Avonlea.
And the answer is: Roseanne of Green Gables
Can you unravel these descriptions that overlap a TV show title and a book title?
Let’s find out!
A look at the day-to-day work lives of Thought Police working for Big Apple Brother.
A love quadrangle and an amateur play performance cross paths with a popular shape-named game show involving getting a partner to say the right word.
A talking horse says one thing and means his mother in this curious tale of trying to avoid fate.
Firemen, police, and EMTs in Los Angeles find themselves in a mental institution under the thumb of a tyrannical nurse.
Time and relative dimensions in space are bent by a curious visitor to a disfunctional middle-aged couple’s home after a university faculty party.
456 players compete for a grand prize as the political climate of Westeros changes forever.
With a sword and chakram in hand, a former marauder shares her story of balancing life in high school and her new royal duties.
Wacky hijinks ensue as a man shares the story of courting a famous author of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
A high schooler with grand ambitions and a habit of stopping time to talk to the camera endures struggles with mental health after her aspiring post-college writing career fails to materialize.
Piloting giant mechanical battle suits to battle angels, the Pevensie children liberate a magical land from the White Witch.
A programming startup company deals with funding issues and a dependence on drugs to navigate turbulent personal and professional relationships in New York City after World War II.
A video diary to a newborn baby from her older sibling serves as the golden ticket to a peculiar candymaker’s legacy.
The misadventures of a young man and his scuffling siblings in a fictional Midlands town in the 1800s as issues of women’s rights, marriage, and political reform are explored.
Two secret service agents seek dangerous magical artifacts while listening to audio tapes recorded by a young woman who committed suicide.
Travel to a curious locale where dreams can come true, particularly for the one woman who lives there, waiting for her people to return for her.
A sharp-tongued and satirical look at the news is presented by a two-inch boy who looks just like a mouse.
How many did you unravel? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.
You’ve heard of Logic Art, but let me ask you, fellow puzzler… have you heard of Word Seek Art?
Please allow me to introduce you to the world of LexaPics.
LexaPics are the creation of Vasiliki Papadopoulou, who designs specially curated word seek grids and sorted word lists to create works of art when solved!
The grid is divided into different cells, and you get a word list for each cell, with different parts of the word list organized by color.
And as you find your words, the work of art slowly emerges line by line.
As you can see, Vasiliki has created grids inspired by Vermeer and Magritte, as well as grids inspired by iconic celebrities like Marilyn Monroe.
Lexa comes from Greek word Lexis λέξη (since i am from Greece) that means word and Pics as pictures, but also a playful nod to “pixels” — the building blocks of modern digital art.
Not only does he have a Kickstarter campaign for LexaPics launching soon, but he’s actually created an Instructables page for anyone who would like to make their own LexaPic!
I love seeing the creative ways people put new spins on classic puzzles, and this is both beautiful and so cleverly accessible.
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 