Tag Archives: lgbtq

Queer Games Bundle: Undoing the Curse

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For the second year in a row, queer indie game developers and gamers alike are celebrating Pride Month with the Queer Games Bundle. Until the end of June, interested parties can download almost 600 games and game-adjacent zines for $60, with a cheaper option available to those for whom that cost is prohibitive. Described as “an initiative to collaboratively support as many queer indie/micro/art devs and makers as possible,” the bundle is a project of swampbabes, a small New York organization of game artists. Swampbabes, as a collective, is “interested in sharing experimental, non-commercial, renegade games-related art and projects and providing a platform for diverse voices and bodies outside the structures of already established hierarchies.” 

“kate sees your future,” by game creator Bagenzo

The bundle certainly provides a platform for diverse voices. There is a massive amount of content in the bundle, so much so that the selection might be intimidating. Let me provide some starting points. For those intrigued by last week’s blog post, there are two volumes of a zine chockablock with Twine tips and tricks, called “The Twine Grimoire.” Wordle fanatics might be entertained by “Herdle,” which casts Wordle’s distinct collections of squares as farm animals in need of herding. Did my post about stealing back your time via poetry resonate with you? You might find joy in “Time Bandit,” a game for Windows and MacOS that forces the player to slow down.

If tabletop roleplaying is your preferred gaming mode, never fear—included TTRPG guides range from the adorable and arguably self-explanatory “Rodents With Guitars” to the cyberpunk “Escape from Neo-Millenia.”  I was pleasantly surprised by the number of bundle entries incorporating tarot, like the solo journaling game “My One True Wish,” the browser-based “kate sees your future,” digital tarot deck, “Slimegirl Tarot,” and “A Note in Time,” a TTRPG about writing a letter to your younger self.

“people are labyrinths” by game creator Vian Nguyen

The puzzle-minded among you are likely to enjoy the game RESYNC, available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux (the bundle can be filtered according to the operating systems compatible with each game). RESYNC challenges you to work with robots as allies, solving puzzles to “uncover the true purpose of the mysterious outpost” on which your character has crash-landed. Then there’s the browser-based “people are labyrinths,” a collection of mazes studded with wistful dialogue boxes meditating on topics such as loss, the complex inner workings of other people, and an unwanted job.

Swampbabes states on their website that they hope the community their work fosters “begins to undo the curse inherited from mainstream video game culture.” They leave up to the imagination what exactly that curse is, but if you too feel that mainstream video game culture is cursed, and want to do something about it, purchasing the Queer Games Bundle is a win-win situation: hours of fun for you, and financial support for queer game developers. As of this writing, over a thousand gamers have purchased the bundle, raising almost $66,000 that will be split among the creators at Pride Month’s end.  

You can find delightful deals on puzzles on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

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Love Poems and Games: Twined Together

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For most gamers, Zork is the classic example of a choose-your-own-adventure, text-based gaming experience. Although Oregon Trail is relatively adorned in images, italso fits the bill. When I think of this genre of game, my mind goes down a slightly different path. Instead, I first think of the Zork parody Thy Dungeonman, hosted on Flash cartoon site Homestar Runner. Then, I think of the queer indie games made in the early 2010s on Twine.

Open-source, hypertext-based storytelling tool Twine was invented by web developer Chris Klimas thirteen years ago. At the time, Klimas had no way of knowing what a hit the program would be in the indie gaming community, but was inspired by the creativity of its users to keep improving its functionality. On November 3, 2009, he wrote about finding a love poem that Dan Waber was scripting in Twine, and said, as a way of explaining “Why I’m Doing This,” “what I’m doing helps people do real things, to make poetry even. There aren’t that many developers out there making things that people make poetry with. I feel lucky.”

Black Mirror imports the choose-your-own-adventure format to viewers’ TV screens

Perhaps Twine’s greatest brush with mainstream fame occurred when the creative team behind Black Mirror used it to storyboard the interactive episode “Bandersnatch.” Mostly, however, Twine has occupied a countercultural space in the world of storytelling. As Adi Robertson wrote in last year’s “Text Adventures: How Twine Remade Gaming,” “Twine’s simplicity felt liberating. It imbued games with the DIY spirit of homemade zines, many of them weirder, sharper, and queerer than their mainstream counterparts.”

In 2013, The Guardian‘s gaming blog shared a post entitled, “Anna Anthropy and the Twine Revolution.” Anna Anthropy isn’t the only game designer highlighted in the article as a revolutionary in the world of gaming; merritt k and Porpentine Charity Heartscape are also mentioned as crucial figures who made the most of Twine’s capacities. Heartscape’s Twine works include Howling Dogs, an award-winning claustrophobic simulation of a prison cell, and k’s include (ASMR) Vin Diesel DMing a Game of D&D Just For You, which is exactly what it sounds like. As we ring in LGBTQ pride month, the Anna Anthropy Twine game that I’d like to look at closer is called Queers in Love at the End of the World.

Queers in Love at the End of the World lasts exactly ten seconds, time kept by a countdown in the corner of the screen. The game begins with the white text on a black screen, “In the end, like you always said, it’s just the two of you together. You have ten seconds, but there’s so much you want to do: kiss her, hold her, take her hand, tell her.” Each of the bolded words is clickable, leading to more options for how exactly you might want to spend these last moments. No matter what, when the countdown reaches zero, the game ends the same way: “Everything is wiped away” (more lyrical than The Oregon Trail’s “You have died of dysentery”). Clicking through to the afterword provides one last piece of context, the scrawled words, “WHEN WE HAVE EACH OTHER WE HAVE EVERYTHING.”

A year after dubbing Anna Anthropy a leader of the Twine Revolution, The Guardian published games critic Cara Ellison’s “A Verse About Queers in the Love at the End of the World.” The subheading, “Twine developer Anna Anthropy turns game mechanics into poetry,” calls back to Klimas’ early inspiration: love poetry. Ellison’s verse refers to the ten-second timer as “tyrannical,” in agreement with Adi Robertson’s claim that Twine games “can compromise [the] sense of control” that a reader would normally have over the pacing of a choose-your-own-adventure-story. Ellison writes: “I want to treat those Twine rooms like Carrie’s prom night and gut them / I want to call that timer’s parents and say DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT HAS DONE TO ME,” pouring frustration onto the page. This is a desperate, angry love poem to a simultaneously brief and expansive interactive love poem.

My earlier post about translating poetry encouraged you to approach poems as games, with a willingness to engage in creative, productive failures. The queer Twine revolution of the last decade shows that it is also possible to treat games as poems. Any game built from language has the capacity to be movingly lyrical and verbally innovative (even a game of Dungeons & Dragons DMed by Vin Diesel). The first Twine Revolution may have passed, but Twine is still an available tool. Why not take it for a spin and map out a poem-game of your own? The second Twine Revolution might begin right on your laptop.

You can find delightful deals on puzzles on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

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5 Questions for Author and Crucinova Editor Lisa Bunker

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Welcome to 5 Questions, our recurring interview series where we reach out to puzzle constructors, game designers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and puzzle enthusiasts from all walks of life!

It’s all about exploring the vast and intriguing puzzle community by talking to those who make puzzles and those who enjoy them! (Click here to check out previous editions of 5 Questions!)

And we’re excited to welcome Lisa Bunker as our latest 5 Questions interviewee!

Lisa Bunker is a lifelong puzzle fan and a constructor whose work has appeared in Games Magazine, The New York Times, and Simon & Schuster publications. Of course, this is in addition to her work as an author, an activist, and a representative for the state of New Hampshire.

But now having returned to the world of puzzles, Lisa is probably best known these days as the creator and editor of Crucinova, one of the most ambitious and innovative puzzle outlets on the rise in the puzzleworld today. (You might have seen them included in the Boswords puzzle packet, on r/crossword, or on Twitter!)

Lisa was gracious enough to take some time out to talk to us, so without further ado, let’s get to the interview!

5 Questions for Lisa Bunker

1. How did you get started with puzzles? Where did the idea for Crucinova originate?

Since infancy I’ve been fascinated by words, numbers, and the beautiful patterns that can be made with them. My childhood collection, still with me, was mechanical puzzles. My earliest memory of crosswords in particular is of becoming aware that my parents were interested in them, and then trying to make one for my father. I think this would have been when I was about eight.

It was a free-form vocabulary-style puzzle, and I recall my young brain delighting in discovering how you could cross two words at a shared letter, and then add more words and build something. By high school I had a hand-drawn grid in the back of a notebook that I would work on when I was bored in class, so by then I was figuring out how interlocking fill worked. I erased some squares so many times that I wore holes in the paper.

Crucinova arose out of several factors. One was my frustration at being unable to place unconventional puzzle ideas with any of the mainstream outlets. Also, on the solving side, my wife and I started doing the New York Times puzzle every day, and while we enjoyed it and still do, they did all seem to fall within narrow conventions with regard to themes, grid design, and cluing – the same conventions I remembered from twenty years ago.

I’ve always been interested in reinventing things, so I started thinking, surely there are other constructors with creative ideas they’re having trouble placing, and surely there are other solvers who would enjoy exciting new solving experiences. And when I found out that there was now a platform available that empowered anyone to offer online solving – PuzzleMe, from AmuseLabs – the last piece fell into place.

2. You have recently returned to constructing after a hiatus. How has the puzzle world changed over time? As you start to interact with the puzzle community at large again, what have you learned along the way?

I hesitate to set myself up as an expert on the Crossworld of yore, but obviously the Internet has changed everything. Back in 2006, the last time I was active nationally, most puzzles were still printed in daily publications rather than posted online, and submissions to the Times were still by snail mail. If there was online community around solving, I was not aware of it.

Now we have not only online solving from all the major outlets (including new ones like the Atlantic and the New Yorker), but also several indie subscription services and dozens of free personal constructor blogs, a thriving solver’s blog scene, indie tournaments, and abundant spaces on social media platforms for both constructors and fans to gather and share their enthusiasm. There are even Twitch TV channels where you can watch live solving, which I love. As an editor I find it so valuable to be able to witness someone solving a grid I edited.

What I’ve learned along the way is that the denizens of the Crossworld are truly lovely humans, generous, smart, funny, and kind. I’ve learned that there is a wonderful tribe to which I didn’t even know I belonged. What a delightful discovery!

3. Over the last few years, there has been a push for greater representation in crosswords for women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. And there has been some movement forward, particularly for women in constructing and in editorial positions. How do we keep this momentum going? What are some useful things that allies can do to assist?

One way, obviously, to keep the momentum going is by supporting and celebrating diverse creators. As a Rainbow Human myself (I identify as trans, non-binary, and queer), I took inspiration from The Inkubator‘s mission to feature the work of female-identified constructors and to include more diverse content in fill and clues.

I’m also impressed with Sid Sivakumar’s new Juggernaut puzzles, which specifically foreground South Asian culture and content, and by the Queer Qrosswords project, which has sought to raise money for LGBTQ+ causes. I think there’s a ton of room for more culture-specific work like this, created by people from the cultures in question.

Another thing we can all do to help is to continue to encourage more new diverse folk to get involved in constructing. I would estimate that three quarters of submissions to Crucinova still come from straight white men. All submissions are welcome…but what can we do to empower everyone else? How do we continue to deconstruct unspoken assumptions about who is and isn’t allowed to do this work? It’s an endless project in which we are all involved.

[The diabolical grid from Michael Buerke’s Quadripoint puzzle,
one of the free sample puzzles on the Crucinova website.]

4. What’s next for Lisa Bunker? What’s next for Crucinova?

Crosswords are actually not my main gig. I’m a writer first and foremost. At the moment I have two books out on submission, one a Young Adult fantasy with gender-revolutionary elements, the other a pointed political novel for adults about what we all went through together in the year 2020.

I also have an exciting new collaboration in the works about which I’m not yet at liberty to say anything specific, and I have ideas for three or four more books in the pipeline. So, my plan for the foreseeable future is to just keep writing, while also keeping Crucinova humming along, turning out an excellent puzzle each week.

As for Crucinova, it is still in its early stages, so for now the plan is to keep trying to grow the business. I’ve committed to paying my constructors, so I need a certain number of subscribers to break even, and so far we are some hundreds of memberships away from that goal.

Long term, if we manage to become self-sustaining, I can imagine putting out books of Crucinova grids, and possibly some special projects – spearheading the effort to get a crossword emoji, for example. Crucinova is a business, and I think it’s crucial for businesses to find a way to give back, so as soon as we have any profits to share, I’ll be wanting to find a way to share them.

5. What’s one piece of advice you would offer fellow solvers, aspiring constructors/setters, and puzzle enthusiasts?

To solvers I would say, please consider paying for your puzzles. I know that many excellent constructors are offering their work for free, which is their right and which benefits us all, but at the same time, constructing is an art, and I think artists should be paid for their work.

My advice to constructors comes from what I’ve learned transitioning from constructor to editor. When you’re making puzzles, you are free to imagine all kinds of wild and amazing things. Coolness of concept can become an end in itself, and I totally get that. But when you are selecting and editing puzzles, you have to think about giving solvers a satisfying puzzle experience. I get so many submissions to which my response has to be, I’m amazed by what you’ve made here, but I can’t see how to turn it into something fun and fair for my subscribers. So the advice is, think of the solver.

To puzzle enthusiasts everywhere, of whatever stripe, I would simply say, I feel you. I share your geeky joy. Let’s keep doing what we love, and keep lifting each other up.

A huge thank you to Lisa for her time. You can follow her on Twitter for updates on all of her various projects, and be sure to check out Crucinova for some very cool, experimental, and outside-the-box puzzles. Whatever she and the Crucinova constructors cook up next, you know it’s going to be great.

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5 Questions with Wrestling Commentator (and Crossword Constructor) Dave Bradshaw!

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Welcome to 5 Questions, our recurring interview series where we reach out to puzzle constructors, game designers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and puzzle enthusiasts from all walks of life!

It’s all about exploring the vast and intriguing puzzle community by talking to those who make puzzles and those who enjoy them! (Click here to check out previous editions of 5 Questions!)

And we’re excited to welcome Dave Bradshaw as our latest 5 Questions interviewee!

dave bradshaw 1

To many wrestling fans in the UK and around the world — myself included — Dave Bradshaw is the voice of British wrestling. A prolific commentator who has represented companies like New Generation Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling, Wrestle Carnival, and more, Dave calls the in-ring action, keeps the audience informed about the performers and their storylines, and serves as the welcoming committee for new viewers.

In addition to his commentary work, he contributes to outlets like WrestleTalk Magazine, where he recently penned a wonderful piece about the history of LGBTQIA+ performers and representation in wrestling. In an incredibly personal moment, Dave came out in the article, joining an increasingly vocal and influential community of performers in the wrestling business championing LGBTQIA+ representation and mental health awareness.

On a much less impactful but still interesting note, he also started creating wrestling-themed British-style crosswords on Sporcle last year, and as part of a new series of interviews with relatively new constructors and puzzlers, I asked if Dave would take part in 5 Questions.

Dave was gracious enough to take some time out to talk to us, so without further ado, let’s get to the interview!

5 Questions for Dave Bradshaw

1. When and how did your interest in puzzles start?

I’ve always liked puzzles, but to be honest last year they were a bit of a lifesaver. Like so many people I’ve had rough patches with my mental health during the pandemic – for me the worst part was six weeks last summer for some reason, but I became a bit addicted to doing quizzes on Sporcle and it was a welcome distraction in some difficult times.

Also, I learned where every country is on a map of Europe, so that’s cool!

2. What inspired you to start making wrestling trivia crosswords?

One of the things I got into over the summer was crosswords, which for some reason I’d never really liked before, and I noticed that there weren’t many on Sporcle on the subject of pro wrestling, which is what I know the most about. So, having done loads of other people’s puzzles, I decided to try my hand at making my own and see if anyone would be interested.

I literally thought I would get maybe 5 people play the first one, but it was quickly over 500, so I decided to keep going and ended up doing them for 10 weeks in a row, with another series of them planned for later this year, all being well!

dave bradshaw 2

[Dave Bradshaw, alongside James R. Kennedy, presenting
ReLoaded for WCPW. Image courtesy of Defiant Wrestling.]

3. With ten puzzles under your belt now, what did you learn along the way? Are you finding it easier to make them, or does each still present its own challenge?

First I had to learn how to actually use the interface on the website, but that was pretty user-friendly, otherwise I probably would have given up! After the first one or two I started using a technique where I would decide on 4 or 5 long words that I wanted as answers in the grid and slot them in, then try to plot out which of the remaining squares I wanted to contain letters and which I wanted blacked out.

Also, I soon invested in the latest WWE Encyclopedia to give me more inspiration for answers! A few other things helped too – I found a website called http://crosswordsolver.org where I could find words that would fit in whatever gaps I still had – that was kind of essential.

Oh, and I learned that when you narrow your topic, e.g. by doing a crossword on a specific wrestling event rather than just on wrestling in general, it makes it much much harder to create!

4. What’s next for Dave Bradshaw?

As much as I like doing puzzles – and I plan to do more – my first love is being a pro wrestling commentator, and I am desperate for us to get to a point where people are able to congregate indoors again, so that the UK and European wrestling scene can restart!

I’m also doing some written journalism nowadays for WrestleTalk Magazine, including an article in the latest issue where I discuss the history of LGBTQ+ representation in our sport and talk for the first time about my own experiences as a gay man who is both a fan and someone who works in the industry.

I’m keen to be more open and visible with that part of my life, in case my story is useful for others, and the same is true about mental health – I’d like to be helpful to others who have had difficulties with that kind of thing. So hopefully I should be pretty busy, once we finally get out of lockdown!

[In this recent interview with WrestleTalk’s Luke Owen,
Dave discusses his article, coming out, and more!]

5. What’s one piece of advice you would offer fellow solvers, aspiring constructors/setters, and puzzle enthusiasts?

Just try it! I literally got started because I was bored one afternoon, and the next 10 weeks of it were way more fun than I ever anticipated. You’ll also find that you get better at making them as you go, and hopefully you start to develop a bit of a following of people who like to do your quizzes each week, which can be really motivating if people are saying nice things and giving your work high ratings.

A huge thank you to Dave for his time. You can follow him on Twitter for all of his wrestling and social outreach endeavors. Be sure to check out his wrestling trivia puzzles on Sporcle, and please take time out to read his incredible piece on LGBTQIA+ representation in wrestling in WrestleTalk Magazine. I cannot wait to see what he does next.

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It’s Well Past Time to Speak Up.

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Hey folks, I know you come to this blog for puzzles and games content, so I’m going to kick off with that. But please keep reading, because there are bigger things to discuss. Thanks.

dover protest

[A couple of protesters dance their way through the streets of downtown Dover on June 4. Image courtesy of Andre Lamar, Dover Post.]

There is a lot of discussion in the United States right now about discrimination and systemic prejudice. The puzzles and games industry is not immune to this sort of criticism.

Thankfully, just as puzzle and game companies have not been immune to accusations of discrimination, they’re also not outside the scope of grassroots efforts to reform them.

Wizards of the Coast is being confronted about racist imagery and ideas in the Magic: The Gathering card game and their offices. Systemic racism and sexism in the offices of Cards Against Humanity is being called out. People of color took a stand against GAMA’s silence regarding Black Lives Matter, triggering a mass walkout of presenters and panelists, as well as Origins Online being cancelled in the wake of the scandal.

People are speaking up, and that is a very good thing.

There are so many ways to show your support, so many charities and good causes you can donate to.

The folks at DM’s Guild and DriveThruRPG have put together game bundles in support of Black Lives Matter, the National Police Accountability Project, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, all while spotlighting the work of black creators.

BLM-charity-banner_DTRPG

The real message is… no matter what you do or how you live your life, you simply cannot turn a blind eye to all this.

This blog post started out with the simple idea of sharing these worthwhile causes and talking about the puzzle/game groups that have spoken up.

But to do that without acknowledging the realities of WHY they’re speaking up is irresponsible and cowardly.

America Protests West Hollywood

[LGBTQ community members join Black Lives Matter protesters holding signs and chanting slogans on an intersection in West Hollywood, California on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. Image courtesy of AP Photo/Richard Vogel.]

It’s a tumultuous time in world history, particularly in the United States.

As the COVID-19 crisis still looms large over the entire planet, hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of people have taken to the streets in support of people of color and in protest against police brutality, corruption, and systemic racism.

The spark started by the death of George Floyd caught fire, and has ignited powder keg after powder keg, each one filled with years’ worth of names of previous victims, ranging from Philando Castile to Breonna Taylor to Tony McDade. Energized pushes for accountability and reform are gaining traction, and new support systems are emerging to combat the entrenched prejudices in law enforcement and government. All of it centers around three words, a simple truth that hasn’t been treated as either simple or true: Black Lives Matter.

These discussions and protests have also sparked further outrage regarding the treatment of women by police, whether it’s outright violence against women or perceived systemic unwillingness or disinterest to investigate charges of sexual assault. Women’s reproductive autonomy and freedom to make informed choices have been under assault for years, but since the current president took office, those indignities have magnified.

At the same time, the battle for equal rights and representation of LGBTQIA+ individuals rages on. June is Pride Month, and as rainbow flags begin to permeate corporate advertising, the LGBTQ population in general (and nonbinary and trans people in particular) continue to face open harassment and dismissal. Influential public figures like J.K. Rowling challenge the very validity of their existence, marginalizing individuals simply for being brave enough to be themselves.

CHSBLMJune82020-28

[From the Seattle protests on Capital Hill. Image courtesy of Capital Hill Seattle Blog.]

I have endeavored to keep this blog apolitical, ignoring as best I can the news stories of the day to focus on puzzles and games. It’s meant to be an escape for the most part, though I have in the past commented on cultural insensitivity in crosswords, pushed for greater diversity among constructors, and tried to be an ally by spreading the word about projects like Queer Qrosswords, Women of Letters, and The Inkubator.

But silence is consent, a glaring example of the privilege to “stay out of it,” a privilege many people don’t have the luxury of.

And I don’t consent to this.

I could make some insipid metaphor about how crosswords don’t work without both black and white squares, or that the joy of solving puzzles is for everyone.

But I’d rather just say it like this: Black lives matter. Women’s lives matter. LGBTQIA+ people matter.

Whether they’re family, friends, coworkers, or strangers, they matter. They have a right to be themselves, to be heard, to be treated as equals, to walk without fear, to enjoy the same privileges and creature comforts everyone else does.

People are out there right now, donating their time, money, and energy to fix problems that have been ignored for way too long. Some of them are putting their lives in danger by doing so.

There are many ways to help. But the very first place to start is to declare yourself an ally. Speak up, loudly and often.

Support LGBTQIA+ people.
Believe women.
Black lives matter.

But I want to do more than just declare my support. I want to educate myself. I want to help educate others. I want to reach out in a puzzly way that helps build this community.

So today I’m posting the first in an ongoing series of puzzles on important social topics. I do this in the hopes that people will not only enjoy the puzzles, but learn from them and engage with subjects they may be unfamiliar with.

June 19th is fast approaching, and it marks an important milestone in Black history. It marks the date in 1865 that enslaved men and women in Texas were finally informed that they were free.

Yes, more than two years after Lincoln first issued his executive order, Major General Gordon Granger and a group of Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, to finally share this important news.

You can read more about June 19th here, and hopefully the puzzle below serves as some small incentive to keep learning.

pn pt puzzle 1-2 image

[Click this link to download a PDF of this puzzle.]

If you have suggestions for more topics for me to cover in future puzzles, please let me know. If you’re a person of color and you’d like to share a puzzle of your own, or to collaborate with me on a puzzle, please let me know.

If you’re a member of the LGBTQ community, and you have ideas, please let me know. If you’re a trans person, or a non-binary individual, and you feel underrepresented in puzzles, please let me know.

I would like this to become something bigger, but hopefully, this is at the very least a start.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for standing up, speaking up, and fighting the good fight.

Support LGBTQIA+ people.
Believe women.
Black lives matter.

Alan Turing Will Be on the New £50 Note Soon!

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turing3_sculpture-photo2

When it comes to influential puzzlers, it’s hard to top the impact mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing had on the world.

Admittedly, there are numerous names — too numerous to mention, really — associated with the ENIGMA project and Bletchley Park’s codebreaking efforts in general that deserve recognition. World War II was shortened by YEARS by the work of the folks at Bletchley Park, and Alan Turing was a pivotal figure in the war effort.

And he has been selected as the face of the new £50 note for British currency.

turingnote

[Image courtesy of the BBC.]

The Bank of England received over 227,000 suggestions of British scientists to appear on the new version of the note, and Turing was selected from the shortlist of 12 official nominees, a list that included Rosalind Franklin, James Clerk Maxwell, Dorothy Hodgkin, Mary Anning, Paul Dirac, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and Stephen Hawking, as well as pairs like Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage and William and Caroline Herschel.

Naturally the Queen will still appear on the front of the note, and Turing on the reverse side, replacing former note design figures as James Watt, Matthew Boulton, and Christopher Wren.

But the elevation of Alan Turing isn’t just a victory for a historical figure or a puzzling icon, it’s one for the LGBTQ+ community as well. Because of his sexuality, Turing was forced out of his work at the GCHQ — Britain’s governmental codebreaking operation — and driven to suicide by government persecution and abuse.

After a campaign led by numerous British luminaries like Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, and Peter Tachell, an apology was issued by then prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009. A posthumous pardon by the Queen in 2013 followed.

These acts don’t undo the crimes of the past. But they are a symbolic promise for the future that anyone like Turing — no matter their historical importance, social status, or personal choices — will not endure the same horrors that he did.

Nearly 70 years after he and his colleagues helped bring an end to World War II, Turing will continue to inspire and impact the world as a face on the £50 note. That’s something to celebrate.

For more details on this announcement, please check out this article from Pink News. For more information on Turing’s work and Bletchley Park in general, you can check out a previous PN Blog post here. And for the American equivalent of Bletchley Park — Arlington Hall — you can click here.

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