Last week I touched on the subject of puzzle communities, specifically how strong and active the community seems to be on the West coast, especially in the Bay area and Seattle. I consider this blog to be a resource/amusement for anyone who loves puzzles, mysteries, and adventure, but I’d love to help connect the people in my area who share those interests and build our community.
My first step towards this goal is the creation of this Facebook group: East Coast Puzzlers. I’d like to invite anyone who wants to be more informed and connected to puzzle/mystery/adventure events and fans on the East coast to join. I’m also considering making regional admins, so contact me if you’re interested in being the admin for your area.
The coolest part of the group so far is the Upcoming Events doc where I’m keeping a list of all the puzzle hunts and events coming up all along the East coast. So far I have 16 events listed through the rest of 2012 (though a good amount of them are CitySolve Urban Races), hopefully with more to come. If you know of any events missing from the list, please let me know!
As more people join the group, I’d love for it to be a place for people to make casual meet-ups in their city. A great example of this type of meetup is Puzzled Pint in Portland (that link might give you security warnings, but it’s safe!). The group meets once a month, and a puzzle released before the meet-up reveals which bar they will be meeting at. Players are encouraged to work as teams, and leaderboards keep track of each team’s ranking, but there is no winning or losing. Just some casual puzzle-solving with friends!
If any of you on the East coast think this kind of casual meet-up might be a fun thing to organize in your area, or if you’re running a larger puzzle hunt or event, I encourage you to use the East Coast Puzzlers group as a promotional tool. Use the group wall to help organize/advertise, and message me with the details and I can make a group event.
We’re new to the Richmond area, so we don’t really know anyone here outside of Nick’s work. Organizing a casual puzzle get-together might be a great way to meet new people in the area! I don’t really drink, but I love desserts. Maybe I could start a monthly “Puzzled Parfait” in Richmond? =)
Join East Coast Puzzlers today!