Works & References

The works this part’s articles discuss and the texts they cite. The print edition carries the credited works and the references; the web edition adds the wider research consulted.

Works discussed

• Animal Well. Billy Basso (Bigmode), 2024.
• Avon. Jon Thackray and Jonathan Partington, 1982.
• Baba Is You. Arvi Teikari (Hempuli), 2019.
• The Beast. Jordan Weisman, Elan Lee and Sean Stewart (Microsoft / Warner Bros.), 2001.
• Blue Prince. Dogubomb (Raw Fury), 2025.
• Cain’s Jawbone. Edward Powys Mathers (as Torquemada), 1934.
• Cicada 3301. Anonymous, 2012.
• DASH & the Galactic Puzzle Hunt. Various organisers, 2009.
• The Edifice. Lucian P. Smith, 1997.
• Exit: The Game. Inka and Markus Brand (Kosmos), 2016.
• The Thrill of the Chase (the Fenn treasure). Forrest Fenn, 2010.
• Her Story. Sam Barlow, 2015.
• Hunt A Killer. Ryan Hogan and Derrick Smith, 2016.
• I Love Bees. 42 Entertainment, 2004.
• Infidel. Michael Berlyn and Patricia Fogleman (Infocom), 1983.
• The Jejune Institute. Jeff Hull (Nonchalance), 2008.
• Jubensha. A script-driven venue form, China, c. 2016.
• La-Mulana. Nigoro (GR3 Project), 2005.
• Masquerade. Kit Williams, 1979.
• Maze: Solve the World’s Most Challenging Puzzle. Christopher Manson, 1985.
• Megagames / Watch the Skies. Jim Wallman, first run London 2013.
• The MIT Mystery Hunt. Founded by Brad Schaefer, 1981.
• Outer Wilds. Mobius Digital (Annapurna Interactive), 2019.
• Portal. Valve, 2007.
• Rashomon. Akira Kurosawa, 1950.
• The Secret. Byron Preiss (Bantam Books), 1982.
• Super Mario Bros. Nintendo, 1985.
• Tunic. Andrew Shouldice (Finji), 2022.
• Unlock!. Space Cowboys, 2017.
• The Witness. Jonathan Blow (Thekla), 2016.

References

• Alexander, Justin. “The Three Clue Rule.” The Alexandrian, 8 May 2008. https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule
• Alexander, Justin. “Node-Based Scenario Design, Part 1.” The Alexandrian, 27 May 2010. https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/7949/roleplaying-games/node-based-scenario-design-part-1-the-plotted-approach
• Anthropy, Anna. “Level Design Lessons: To the right, hold on tight.” https://w.itch.io/level-design-lessons
• Bowden, Edward M., and Mark Jung-Beeman. “Aha! Insight experience correlates with solution activation in the right hemisphere.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 10(3), 2003, 730 to 737. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03196539
• Brown, Mark. “What Makes a Good Puzzle?” Game Maker’s Toolkit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjC6fa_YBg
• Chen, Evan. “Puzzlehunting” guides. https://web.evanchen.cc/puzzlehunt.html
• Christie, Agatha. Detective-fiction technique (the red herring kept in focus while the real clue sits in plain view); named in passing.
• Doelle, Mark, and Souvik Mukerji. “Computing Models of Escape Rooms” (the Object Graph Model). Analog Game Studies, December 2020. https://analoggamestudies.org/2020/12/computing-models-of-escape-rooms/
• Elumir, Errol. “13 Rules for Escape Room Puzzle Design.” The Codex. https://thecodex.ca/13-rules-for-escape-room-puzzle-design/
• Elumir, Errol. “How Escape Rooms Do Difficulty Wrong: The Player Loop.” The Codex. https://thecodex.ca/how-escape-rooms-do-difficulty-wrong-the-player-loop/
• Hon, Adrian. “Here’s What Makes Jubensha Different.” mssv.net, 26 March 2025. https://mssv.net/2025/03/26/heres-what-makes-jubensha-different/
• Irpan, Alex. “Writing MIT Mystery Hunt 2023.” 21 April 2023. https://www.alexirpan.com/2023/04/21/mh-2023.html
• Jung-Beeman, Mark, Edward M. Bowden, et al. “Neural Activity When People Solve Verbal Problems with Insight.” PLOS Biology 2(4), 2004, e97. https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020097
• Knox, Ronald. “The Detective Story Decalogue,” introduction to The Best English Detective Stories of 1928, 1929. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Knox
• Köhler, Wolfgang. The Mentality of Apes. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1925 (orig. 1917).
• Mathers, Edward Powys (“Torquemada”) and the cryptic-setter tradition, including Afrit (Alistair Ferguson Ritchie), on two-route fair cluing in cryptic crosswords.
• Nelson, Graham. The Inform Designer’s Manual, 4th edition, section 50, “The design of puzzles.” http://inform-fiction.org/manual/html/s50.html
• Ni, Brian (“betaveros”). “Introduction to Puzzlehunts.” Bounded-Error Log. https://blog.vero.site/post/puzzlehunts
• Nicholson, Scott. “Peeking Behind the Locked Door: A Survey of Escape Room Facilities.” White Paper, 2015. https://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf
• Sayers, Dorothy L. Author of the Detection Club initiation oath (1930).
• Spira, David. “Hints and Hinting Systems [Room Design].” Room Escape Artist, 2 October 2016. https://roomescapeartist.com/2016/10/02/hints-and-hinting-systems-room-design/
• Strange Bird Immersive. “Bottlenecks: Designing for Focus Mid-Experience” and “Hard Mode” (intentional bottlenecks; the in-world character as hint). https://strangebirdimmersive.com/
• Van Dine, S. S. (Willard Huntington Wright). “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.” The American Magazine, September 1928. http://gaslight-lit.s3-website.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/gaslight/vandine.htm
• Wilson, Dan. “Introduction to Writing Good Puzzle Hunt Puzzles.” MIT. http://web.mit.edu/dwilson/www/puzzles/puzzlewriting.html

Research basis

Consulted while writing; not cited in the text.

• Selinker, Mike, and Thomas Snyder. Puzzlecraft: The Ultimate Guide to the Construction of Every Kind of Puzzle. Lone Shark Games, 2012.
• Singh, Simon. The Code Book. Fourth Estate, 1999.
• Kounios, John, and Mark Beeman. “The Aha! Moment: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 18(4), 2009, 210 to 216.
• Kounios, John, and Mark Beeman. The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain. Random House, 2015.
• Knoblich, G., S. Ohlsson, H. Haider and D. Rhenius. “Constraint Relaxation and Chunk Decomposition in Insight Problem Solving.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: LMC 25(6), 1999.
• Ohlsson, S. “Information-processing explanations of insight and related phenomena.” In Advances in the Psychology of Thinking, Harvester-Wheatsheaf, 1992.
• Anthropy, Anna. Rise of the Videogame Zinesters. Seven Stories Press, 2012.
• McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken. Penguin Press, 2011.
• Hong et al. “The Collaborative Sensemaking Play of Jubensha Games.” Games: Research and Practice, ACM, 2025. DOI 10.1145/3721121.
• Annison, Becky. “How to Write a Megagame Part 5: Briefings.” BeckyBecky Blogs.
• Freeform Games. “Writing a Murder” and “How to Write an Extra Character.” https://www.freeformgames.com/
• Twist n Turn Studios. “The Jubensha Structure Explained.” https://www.twistnturnstudios.ca/blog/jubensha-structure-and-free-jubensha
• “DASH: Frequently Asked Questions.” DASH. https://playdash.org/faq.php
• Room Escape Artist. “DASH 12 [Puzzle Hunt Review],” 14 December 2025.
• Constructed Adventures. “Structures for Building a Puzzle Adventure” and “What’s the Meta with Meta Puzzles?” https://www.constructedadventures.com/
• Indigoextra. “Treasure Hunt Clues and Ideas.” https://www.indigoextra.com/blog/treasure-hunt-clues-and-ideas
• Watson Adventures. https://www.watsonadventures.com/
• Geocaching.com and GAGB. “Hiding a Multi-Cache,” “Geocache Hiding Guidelines,” “Solving Geocaching Puzzles.”
• Boxentriq. “Cipher Identifier and Analyzer.” https://www.boxentriq.com/code-breaking/cipher-identifier
• Lock Paper Scissors. “63 DIY Escape Room Puzzle Ideas” and “13 Escape Room Cipher Ideas.” https://lockpaperscissors.co/
• FrightProps and FrightIdeas. “EscapeKeeper” controller and operating manual. https://www.frightprops.com/escapekeeper.html
• “Glossary of Puzzle Hunt Terms,” “Metapuzzle” and “Indexing.” Puzzles Wiki. https://www.puzzles.wiki/
• PlayTours, Eventzee and Let’s Roam scavenger-hunt operational guides (weather backup, GPS behaviour, wheelchair routing).
• Pyrogram and n8n documentation (Telegram scheduled delivery; Discord/Telegram integration nodes).