[Image courtesy of Kiplinger.]

2019 is rapidly coming to a close, and as I look back on another eventful year in the world of puzzles and games, I’m incredibly proud of the contributions both PuzzleNation Blog and PuzzleNation made to the puzzle community as a whole.

Over the last year, we explored board games and card games, strategy games and trivia games, dice games and tile games, do-it-yourself puzzlers and pen-and-paper classics. We met game designers, constructors, artists, YouTubers, and creative types of all kinds.

We unraveled math puzzles and diabolical brain teasers. We untangled metal puzzles, wove together puzzle rings, locked our messages securely with letterlocking, and unlocked the puzzly secrets behind carnival games. We pondered optical illusions, Internet memes, and more, even questioning our place in the world of puzzles as AI and solving robots continued to rise in capability.

We delved into puzzle history and mythology with posts about the labyrinth builder Daedalus, the decades-old puzzle book Cain’s Jawbone, the still-unsolved (and possibly fake) Beale Ciphers, and what might be the oldest puzzle in the world, the Ostomachion. We brought to light valuable examples of puzzles in art, comic strips, animation, music, television, film, and popular culture.

We spread the word about numerous worthwhile Kickstarters and Indiegogo campaigns, watching as the puzzle/game renaissance continued to amaze and surprise us with innovative new ways to play and solve. We shared worthy causes like Queer Crosswords and The Inkubator, as well as amazing projects like new escape rooms, puzzle experiences like The Enigmatist, online puzzle quests, long-running unsolved treasure hunts, and even baffling ideas, like a role-playing game created by fast-food chain Wendy’s.

We celebrated International TableTop Day (despite the confusion over when to celebrate), hosted our yearly Tabletop Tournament, offered up puzzly suggestions for Valentine’s Day, attended the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and dove deep into an ever-expanding litany of puzzle events like the Indie 500, BosWords, and Lollapuzzoola.

We cheered as LGBTQ-friendly language made its way into Scrabble, marveled as The Maze of Games was finally conquered, raced around the world chasing the Iron Throne in a Game of Thrones scavenger hunt, enjoyed two new crossword-themed murder mysteries (and anxiously await the third), and watched with wonder at the strange phenomenon that was James Holzhauer dominating Jeopardy! like never before.

We found puzzly ways to celebrate everything from Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to the sad losses of the Opportunity Rover and crossword icon Rip Torn, and we were grateful to share so many remarkable puzzly landmark moments with you.

It’s been both a pleasure and a privilege to explore the world of puzzles and games with you, my fellow puzzle lovers and PuzzleNationers. We marked seven years of PuzzleNation Blog this year, I’ve written over 1100 blog posts, and I’m more excited to write for you now than I was when I started.

And honestly, that’s just the blog. PuzzleNation’s good fortune, hard work, and accomplishments in 2019 went well beyond that.

As the year began, we were already heavily into the launch for Wordventures: The Vampire Pirate, our unique, story-driven puzzling experience. It was a terrific experiment, a learning experience, and another sign of how PuzzleNation was continuing to grow and evolve, both in our puzzle development and in our creativity.

In August, we launched our newest puzzly endeavor — Daily POP Word Search — offering a brilliant word-looping companion to Daily POP Crosswords. The responsive grid, the various themes, and the flavorful, current content represents our commitment to keeping puzzles fun, fresh, and engaging.

Every month, we delivered quality content for both the Penny Dell Crosswords App and Daily POP Crosswords. Whether it was monthly deluxe sets and holiday bundles for PDCW or the world-class topical puzzles by some of the industry’s best constructors for Daily POP, hundreds of topnotch crosswords wended their way to our loyal and enthusiastic solvers.

But whether we’re talking about crosswords, Sudoku, Wordventures, or word searches, I’m proud to say that every single puzzle represents our high standards of quality puzzle content crafted for solvers and PuzzleNationers.

[Plus there’s still our Deal of the Day every day through the end of the year!]

And your response has been fantastic! Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search are thriving, the blog has over 2400 followers, and with our audience on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms continuing to grow, the enthusiasm of the PuzzleNation readership is both humbling and very encouraging.

2019 was our most ambitious, most exciting, and most creatively fulfilling year to date, and the coming year promises to be even brighter.

Thank you for your support, your interest, and your feedback, PuzzleNationers. The new year looms large, and we look forward to seeing you in 2020!

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