Puzzled Pint is a monthly, casual, social puzzle solving event. It is held on the second Tuesday of each month in 50+ cities around the world, with every location using the same puzzles. The global monthly attendance exceeds 3000. It follows the pattern of a conference-room style puzzle hunt, with teams receiving packets of 4-5 puzzles, usually with the answers feeding into a final
metapuzzle
A metapuzzle, also known as a meta-puzzle or meta, is a puzzle that uses the solutions to a set of puzzles to create or provide data for a final puzzle.
Overview
Game designer Cliff Johnson (game designer), Cliff Johnson defines a meta-puzzle a ...
. There is no prize.
Most cities rotate the location to a new bar every month. The Friday before each event, a location puzzle is posted to the website. Solving this puzzle will lead players to that month's “secret” location.
Puzzled Pint is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run event, with a goal of introducing new players to the world of
puzzlehunt
A puzzle hunt (sometimes рuzzlehunt) is an event where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles, many of which are tied together via metapuzzles. Puzzlehunt puzzles are usually not accompanied by direct instructions for how to solve them; ...
s. The emphasis is on the casual nature of the evening. The puzzles are not as advanced or numerous as day-long or weekend puzzle events, and hints are always free. An archive of all previous puzzles is on the website and available under a flexible
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
license so that they may be repurposed for other events and activities.
History
Puzzled Pint was started in July 2010 in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
; that city now sees a regular attendance of at least 100 players.
It expanded to include Seattle in October 2012, and additional cities have been added over the years, to 60 locations and 3113 players in August 2018.
From April 2020 the puzzles began to be posted online on event dates, due to the
Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. This continued until the end of 2022, when puzzles were posted online the day after each event.
Themes
Puzzled Pint has had a theme every month since its third event in September 2010. Themes have included "Dracula", "
Die Hard
''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart (writer), Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel ''Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel), Nothing Lasts Forever'' by Roderick ...
" and "Planning an Art Heist".
November 2012's event, themed around
webcomic
Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...
s, was the first Puzzled Pint to include a Bonus Puzzle that could optionally be solved.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Puzzled Pint
Puzzle hunts