“Inelegant is a lot of random noise.”

For a long time, I thought that puzzle hunts weren’t for me. They seemed completely inaccessible, like something that only geniuses from MIT could solve, with the price of admission being a massive brain and a penchant for quantum computing.

Then, over the pandemic, I discovered The Pilcrow Bar. This was a free, online puzzle hunt commissioned by Michelin 3-star restaurant Alinea and designed as a collaboration between Sandy Weisz of The Mystery League, and Room Escape Artist Contributor Matthew Stein. I worked through the entire puzzle hunt, and at the end, I not only felt smarter, but I also gained a completely new appreciation for how elegant puzzles could be.

Sandy Weisz joins us on the podcast to talk about designing for elegance. As he explains, elegance in puzzles is when the puzzle “scaffolding” is woven into everything, from the theme, to the puzzle mechanic, to the illustrations, to the flavor text. He also tells us about some of the crazy puzzles he’s designed as part of his team-building business: architectural puzzles embedded into the walls and doors of F5 Networking’s 22-story office building in Seattle, a puzzle hunt on a private jet, and a giant ARG commissioned by Cards Against Humanity.

Sandy also made a game for this podcast (and I made one for him in the Patreon Bonus Show.) Sandy approaches puzzle design in a thoughtful, methodical way. His team building game Search For A Superhero will be featured at REA’s Escape Immerse Explore Time & Space 2025 Tour. This is a great opportunity to check out his work as well as play regional standout escape rooms at CU Adventures in Time & Space and 60 to Escape. 

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: Morty App, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:13 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 06:50 Creating the World’s First Virtual Escape Room for the Cards Against Humanity Puzzle Hunt Hanukkah Lol
• 11:19 Embedding Puzzles into the Wall of the F5 Building
• 12:53 Building a Puzzle on a Private Jet
• 17:50 The Last Defender Game (Golden Lock Award)
• 22:00  Sponsor Break: Morty App, Discover And Track Escape Rooms
• 24:16 The Idea of Elegance in Puzzles: Pilcrow Bar
• 28:12 Search For A Superhero Game
• 32:07 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
• 34:22 Creating Puzzles for the NPR Sunday Puzzle 
• 37:15 Sandy’s Game Show Segment
• 45:35 Core Skills Sandy Teaches in Transmedia
• 50:03 What Comes Next?
• 55:07 Bonus Story: Buried Treasure

Leave us a voicemail

Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• The Mystery League Website
• Signals Newsletter
• Hanukkah LOL
• Sandy Weisz article about creating Hanukkah LOL
• REA review of The Last Defender (Golden Lock Award)
• Pilcrow Bar Puzzle Hunt
• Pilcrow Bar Retrospective
• F5 Building
• NPR Sunday Puzzle

About Sandy Weisz

Instagram: @mysteryleague

Threads: @mysteryleague

Blue Sky: @pzlr.org

Sandy Weisz is the commissioner of The Mystery League. He writes and runs puzzle games for a living — he’s built custom hunts for Google, Alinea Restaurant, Field Notes, The Art Institute of Chicago, the musician Watsky, Cards Against Humanity, and others. The escape room he designed with The House Theatre of Chicago was named one of the top rooms in the country.

He teaches puzzle design at the University of Chicago. He is a member of the National Puzzlers League and is a frequent contributor to the NPR Sunday puzzle. He lives in Chicago with his wife, two teenage kids, and dog.

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