(I know it’s Halloween season, but it’s never too early to look forward to holiday puzzly goodness for later in the year!)
If you’re a puzzle fan, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to puzzly events to explore. Crossword tournaments, treasure hunts, escape rooms, puzzles by mail, puzzles by email, puzzles on your phone.
But I guarantee you’ve never experienced anything like Club Drosselmeyer.
Imagine getting all gussied up in your best 1940s-era-appropriate garb and grabbing your tickets before heading out to a show in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
What kind of show, you ask? Well, a vaudeville-style variety show with live music, enchanting and exciting performances, and all sorts of mysteries and intrigue playing out before your eyes, all set during the heady days and nights of World War II.
And what if there was an elaborate puzzle hunt tying the entire event together?
There are performances set for December 5th, 6th, 7th AND December 12th, 13th, and 14th for a two-hour whirlwind of puzzly theatricality. As the organizers themselves say, “Prepare yourself for another season of magic and mayhem, romance and revelry, champagne and sugarplums.”
Although I’ve never gotten to attend a Club Drosselmeyer event in person, a few years ago I participated in their virtual Club Drosselmeyer Interactive Radio Broadcast of 1943, and it remains one of my all-time favorite puzzle experiences.
I enjoyed two hours of wonderful music while tracking a rogue flying toaster, unraveling a criminal conspiracy during an air raid, decoding secret messages, helping a starlet choose the right lipstick for her show, and even performing a magic trick!
Club Drosselmeyer is run by a small and incredibly dedicated group of writers, performers, puzzlers, and musicians who put their all into this event every single year, and I simply cannot sing their praises loud enough.
The goal? To share research, showcase games, and discuss the future of game studies through the lens of BIPOC experiences (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).
Here is a bullet point list of themes the conference was designed to explore:
Representation and Identity in Video Games
Digital & Analog Games as Cultural Artifact
Games By & About Black and Indigenous Communities
Decolonizing Game Development & Design
Integration of Indigenous & Black Knowledge Systems
Afrofuturism in Gaming
Cultural Preservation & Digital Heritage
Social Impact & Activism Through Games
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Playful Technologies
Both board games and video games were topics of discussion across the three-day event, with panels and presentations covering properties as varied as Yu-Gi-Oh!, collegiate Esports, The Last of Us, murder mystery games, Dragon Age, virtual reality, the cultural value of arcades, and more.
“I think one of the most important things to recognize about games is that they are kind of a cultural artifact. And being a cultural artifact, it’s important to ask questions about what these things mean in society, or what these things mean to the people who make them.”
“… One of the things I think is really interesting in game studies is we have the opportunity to think critically about the kinds of problems we’re solving and then also the kinds of solutions we’re offering. So a lot of what people talk about in, say, decolonizing games is about reinvestigating those two questions, what’s the real problem here? What’s the source of that problem? Similarly, how are we solving the problem?”
For years, I have discussed in this blog how the world of puzzles and games not only reflects our culture and choices, but why that’s important. But I can only examine those things through one particular lens, that of a white cishet male. There are blindspots I’m unaware of and experiences I simply don’t have, despite my best efforts.
That’s why it’s so important to have other voices included in the discussion, and events like this are crucial to the health of the games industry and our understanding of why we play games at all.
How the experiences of Black users suffer in virtual reality due to whiteness as a default in so many games.
How the roles of Black and Latinx characters in games like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals contribute to not just representation, but reinforce perceptions of particular ethnic groups only in violent situations, not those of support or providing nonviolent solutions.
How video games are being used to preserve Latinx culture and the artistic legacy of the Hmong.
I learned about topics like Quare Theory and Misogynoir (how racist and anti-Black depictions affect the public perception of Black women), explained through the medium of video games.
But the article I found myself returning to several times over the last few days was “Decolonizing Play: Exploring Frameworks for Game Design Free of Colonial Values.”
It was startling to realize just how many video games are foundationally built on the values of Colonialism, and how easy it would be to NOT reinforce those harmful cyclical patterns.
From the paper by Elaine Gomez: When the topic of colonization arises, many game developers often hesitate to get involved in meaningful and constructive design conversations around how to mitigate values that are heavily ingrained in game theory and player expectations.
Some of the conversations broached by these panels and papers are uncomfortable, but difficult conversations are worth having. Challenging the biases and preconceived notions that games are often built upon is worthwhile. (I’m hoping to reach out to some of the Conference’s participants for more details in the coming weeks to follow up on these enlightening discussions.)
In the meantime, I encourage everyone to read the proceedings from the event and take some time to really ponder the topics presented.
The world of puzzles and games is big enough for everyone, and only gets better when everyone feels included. The 2025 Conference on BIPOC Game Studies is proof of that.
Debuting on the weekend of June 28th and 29th, the WCCC is composed of two events: an individual online championship on the 28th (which is open to any and all competitors) and a World Cup-style offline team championship format on the 29th.
The individual championship involves two cryptic grids, each of which must be solved within 30 minutes. Click here to register!
But please be aware that you’re competing in IST — Indian Standard Time — so you’ll have to adjust your schedule accordingly to have a chance at the cash prize for the top three solvers!
The World Cup Final is being held in person in London on the 29th, and consists of two rounds. The first puzzle will whittle down the field of competitors to the four top contestants from four different countries, who will then compete onstage to solve the final puzzle.
Some of the World Cup competitors have been invited for their past puzzly achievements, but there is an offline preliminary for anyone seeking to try their hand (and can be in London on the day in question to compete).
This looks like my scribblings while solving a cryptic… minus the wedding ring, that is.
I’m definitely not the fastest cryptic crossword solver, so I’m not sure I’ll try my hand at this competition… this year. But if it returns next year, I might just shoot my shot.
Cryptic crossword solving involves many of the same skills as American-style crosswords, but there’s also the wordplay element that makes it quite a different experience for those unaccustomed to that puzzly style.
Will you be trying your hand at competitive cryptic crossword solving, fellow puzzlers? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you!
And the wonderful team at Frontera Fund are using puzzles to help raise awareness next Thursday, May 8th with their Puzzle Party event!
Cactus Valley Art in Harlingen, Texas, will be hosting the event.
There will be puzzles, community support, and discussions of the modern abortion access landscape and the challenges involved in ensuring that women and those assigned-female-at-birth have the support and resources they need.
This is a wonderful way to help get the word out. I hope that you’ll participate in the event, either by attending in person, by following through social media, or by donating to the cause!
I’d also like to take the opportunity to shout out These Puzzles Fund Abortion 5 . This year marks the fifth edition of the project, collecting 23 puzzles centered around social and reproductive justice themes, all for a minimum donation of $25.
Whether you support Frontera Fund or the five important charities involved in These Puzzles Fund Abortion, I thank you for your time, your donations, and your participation in helping protect and provide healthcare for others.
One government agency in England celebrates Christmas a little bit differently than most.
The GCHQ — or Government Communications Headquarters — provides security and intelligence services for the British government. Back when they were known as GC&CS — Government Code and Cypher School — they were responsible for funding Bletchley Park and its successes cracking the German “Enigma” code during World War II.
And now, they provide one of the coolest and puzzliest challenges of the year, designed for solvers aged eleven to eighteen to test their skills, hoping to inspire the next generation of puzzle solvers.
At GCHQ, we love creating puzzles and breaking codes. That’s why every year we create the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, a series of fiendish brainteasers and puzzles, designed by our very own team of codebreakers. It encourages children aged 11-18 to think laterally and work as a team, as well as showcasing some of the skills they might need to become a spy.
The puzzles are not designed to be solved alone, and each student will bring something different to the challenge. At GCHQ, we believe the right mix of minds enables us to solve seemingly impossible problems.
I’ve always been impressed with what festive puzzly efforts GCHQ brings each year, and I can’t wait to see what the 2024 edition has in store for solvers.
So, fellow puzzlers, do you accept this year’s Christmas Challenge? Let us know in the comments section below!
How many did you get? Have you seen any great punny costumes we missed? Let us know!
Trick or treating is over, but there’s no trick here. Treat yourself to some delightful deals on puzzles. You can find them on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!
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