Scott Blomquist

If you’re a fan of “transport puzzles” like Sokoban or Atomix, or possibly even some of the robot puzzles in Sierra’s classic Dr. Brain series, you might love one of my recent online discoveries: RoboZZle. (You may be prompted to install Silverlight in order to play, but it’s safe, easy, and well worth the download.)

Solving the puzzles is sorta like programming a computer, so those of you with a mathematical or computer science bent will be more likely to enjoy it, but the programming environment is so simple (only “go forward”, “turn right 90 degrees”, “turn left 90 degrees”, and “only do this if the robot’s on a ____ colored square”).

So check it out, and let me know if you find any particular favorite puzzles. I had fun with one called “Tetris”, and I haven’t solved it yet, but I like the idea behind “Reflection”. (Both of those two are by the same author.)

Tyler Hinman was crowned champion for the fifth straight year at the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament held this past weekend in Brooklyn, NY. He narrowly eked out a victory over fellow National Puzzlers’ League members Trip Payne and Francis Heaney in a dramatic final match.

A couple weekends ago, Jennifer and I went to Denver for the annual convention of the National Puzzlers’ League. I ended up enjoying it overall, but I got off to a difficult start mentally.

In retrospect, my mental journey through the extended weekend o’ puzzles & games has taught me a lot about managing mental energy, including some things about how to invest it and being able to assess the opportunity cost of such investments.

Let’s start with a quick peek at my mental state throughout the weekend. Looking forward to the convention, I was incredibly excited. After all, solving puzzles is one of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world. Memories of how much fun I had had at conventions past mixed with the anticipation of decompressing over the course of my first consecutive vacation days in a very long time.

I got to the convention and started off tense. I spent some time hanging out with my Seattle-area puzzle-friends, and said hello to a few others, but I was having trouble mustering the energy to bring myself to spend time chatting with or even to greet many of my acquaintances from prior conventions. The fact that no one seemed to be worth talking to began to make me wonder why I was even at the convention in the first place.

Later, when activities such as games and puzzles began, I discovered how woefully out of practice I was at that sort of thing. I was reminded that, like almost anything else, current practice is required to be at your best at any activity–physical, mental, or otherwise. My relative decline in ability over what I remembered added an additional layer of sadness and disappointment to my already depressed mood–I had lost my puzzle-solving mojo.

Eventually, despite that I stuck to interacting with my most favorite fellow puzzlers, I got a little more warmed up to the people around. And over the weekend as I did a few puzzles, my brain got back in the groove, as well. By the time we got back home, Jennifer and I had co-solved a particularly brilliant and satisfying cryptic crossword constructed by Mark Gottlieb (he gets bonus points for involving colored pencils), and I was once again convinced that puzzles were fun.

So what did living that story teach me about managing mental energy? Or maybe even before that, what do I mean by “mental energy” in the first place? It’s extremely hard to define, but you all know what it is. It’s that unquantifiable stubstance that gets spent when you’re doing something “taxing” or “draining” or “annoying”, and that you gain when you’re doing something “fun” or “energizing” or “recharging”.

The biggest thing my convention experience taught me about managing mental energy is that, like that well-known business aphorism about money, “you have to spend mental energy to make mental energy”. I had been spending nearly all of my time and mental energy throughout the preceding 20 months on Vidoop. And while that was fun and exciting, my other mental “areas of investment” were becoming atrophied through neglect.

I realized that it’s actually very important for me to spend some time on the non-work pursuits that are most important to me, because not doing them actually makes them less fun. And there being diminished funness to my most significant hobbies makes it harder to keep my mental batteries fully charged and functioning at peak efficiency.

I have begun spending more time on puzzle-related things since the convention, and I’m really glad I have.

The June 1 issue of the New York Times included the 11th installment of their twice-annual Op-ed Puzzle. Sort of a miniature paper-based puzzle hunt, you first solve several themed puzzles, and then roll all of their answers together in one final metapuzzle.

The series is produced by the trio of former Games Magazine editors who make up puzzle construction company “Puzzability“, Amy Goldstein, Mike Shenk and Robert Leighton.

Talk about it in the forums at: http://www.puzzlehunters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=16

Hey, all, I’ve been meaning to start down the road toward building up a community of all you puzzle people out there, whether you call your puzzle addiction Puzzle Hunt, Mystery Hunt, Treasure Hunt, Games Magazine, or The Game, I’ve set up exactly the site for you: http://www.puzzlehunters.com.

Please check it out and give me the frankest feedback you can on what’s missing. I also admit that I’m not 100% sure how to quickly get to critical mass, and, once I’m there, how to sustain it. Your thoughts on that also appreciated.