Puzzle hunts are, on some level, all about secrets: keeping them, discovering them, or revealing them at the proper moment. But how many secrets is too many? And when is it appropriate to reveal some of them?
[ Download mp3 – 27 MB ]
00:58 – “secretive”
02:42 – secrets during an event
14:35 – secrets during playtesting
27:25 – upcoming events: GC Summit, DASH 5, WarTron: Boston, The Famine Game, and more!
29:09 – The End
Tell us we’re wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.
Music: instrumentals from “Code Monkey” and “Re: Your Brains” by Jonathan Coulton
[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]
About Author
Just sitting here thinking about how that Memento guy would be the perfect playtester as long as you kept him away from the tattoo parlors.
You do realize that it's now arguably your fault if some puzzler goes out, gets a code sheet tattooed on his/her body… and then realizes there's a typo in the semaphore. 🙂
Anyone who knows me knows I've always got something to say. Being involved in the game taught me how to restrain myself, and tp understand the utility of secrets. curating a playtest is a real struggle for me! Precipitating the ah-ha moment to calibrate the clue's details during a playtest is an art well worth mastering. It dramatically improves the return on investment of the playtest – and you have to remember that play testing time is precious and should be optimized.
Tru dat, bro.