”The connection between the solver and the setter is really important.”

If you’re a daily puzzle lover, your morning might start something like mine: pouring a cup of coffee and jumpstarting the brain with my favorite snack-sized games. Chief among those are the snappy games at LinkedIn, such as Queens, Zip, Tango, and Patches. The man behind this collection of puzzles powering LinkedIn’s Games section is Thomas Snyder.

Thomas Snyder is a three-time World Sudoku Champion, co-author of the foundational puzzle design book Puzzlecraft, and Principal Puzzle Master at LinkedIn Games. A Harvard trained chemist, Thomas is a scientist at heart. He has a methodical approach to puzzle solving and puzzle crafting that makes for satisfying logic puzzles. However, there’s also a lot of artistry to the puzzles Thomas designs.

Throughout the conversation, he emphasizes that each puzzle put out by LinkedIn is handcrafted. There is a playfulness and inventiveness to the layout and solve path. There’s a dance between the puzzle creator and the solver. Thomas posts videos on LinkedIn of his solve path for the games, and he talks to us about the conversation that sparks. In fact, the whole reason behind the puzzle offerings at LinkedIn was to create opportunities for users to connect socially and bond over the games.

I especially appreciated talking about puzzles that empathize with the solver and how to create approachable puzzles that can still delight expert players. LinkedIn just launched their newest game Wend, which is Thomas’s take on a word search puzzle. We also played a game I wrote, which Thomas solved embarrassingly (for me) quickly, but we had fun, which is the whole point.

If you enjoy zippy puzzle games, check out the LinkedIn Collection, and for even more fun games-on-the-go, listen to PG’s Playhouse.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG’s Playhouse, and Buzzshot. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:00 Sponsor Break: RECON – The Reality Escape Convention
• 03:39 Sudoku Boom and Training
• 06:17 Puzzlecraft Backstory
• 12:11 LinkedIn Games Origin
• 14:11 Why LinkedIn Built Games
• 16:36 From Consultant to Puzzle Master
• 19:42 Science Mindset and Problem Solving
• 23:54 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 26:25 Standing Out in Crowded Puzzle Space
• 28:55 Approachable Design and Difficulty
• 30:44 Global Audience and Language
• 34:07 Engagement and Fairness Debates
• 36:22 Logic Games vs Word Games
• 41:27 Who Plays and When
• 42:55 New LinkedIn Game Announcement
• 46:31 Difficulty and Onboarding
• 49:35 The Most Popular LinkedIn Game
• 52:34 Handcrafted Puzzle Design
• 55:14 The Lightning Round
• 58:34 Leaderboards and Stats
• 01:00:18 Peih-Gee’s Game: Common Grounds
• 01:05:04 What’s Next
• 01:08:15 Credits
• 01:09:05 Sudoku in the Bedroom?

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Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• LinkedIn Games
• Thomas Snyder Website
• Thomas Snyder YouTube
• REA Daily Puzzle Game Recommendations Guide

About Thomas Snyder

Solver: A puzzle solver since childhood, Thomas got pulled more deeply into puzzles as an adult in 2005 by the Sudoku boom. He got the nickname “Dr. Sudoku” by earning both his PhD in Chemistry (something for a different bio?) and the first of three World Sudoku Championships in 2007. He is also a 9-time US Puzzle Champion and 1-time World Puzzle Champion.

Author: Thomas specializes in hand-crafting artistic logic puzzles and sudoku. He has authored or co-authored over a dozen books including “Puzzlecraft: How to Make Every Kind of Puzzle” with Mike Selinker, and contributed puzzles to places like WIRED, GAMES Magazine, and the New York Times.

Editor: In 2012, Thomas founded Grandmaster Puzzles to bring together many of the world’s best puzzles and puzzlemakers in one place. This core team also took on more audacious projects, like organizing the 2023 World Sudoku and Puzzle Championships in Toronto. In 2025, Thomas became a member of the board of the World Puzzle Federation.

Puzzlemaster: In May 2024, LinkedIn launched their games platform and Thomas’s name came up when they were searching for puzzlemakers for the game Queens. Thomas and his team have provided puzzles to LinkedIn since day 1, and went on to help develop the games Tango, Zip, and Patches. In October of last year, Thomas moved from freelancer to a unique role as Principal Puzzlemaster, now overseeing all eight* LinkedIn Games enjoyed daily by millions.

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