Enigmida
By Matthew Stein
Enigmida is an Oakland, CA-based puzzle design studio. We create puzzle hunts, escape rooms, and ARGs that guide participants to connect through play and to find wonder in the mundane through aha-driven discovery.
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Enigmida: A tarot puzzletale & other wondrous recs
Greetings, puzzlers!I've recently played some truly stellar new puzzle games which I'd be negligent not to share with you all.Two of these are tabletop puzzle games available on Kickstarter for just a few days longer. The Light in the Mist is a tarot puzzleta…
Enigmida / TANGRAM vol. 2 🔺
"Puzzles! Puzzles! Puzzles!"I sometimes feel like a town crier, shouting profuse puzzle proclamations to any willing passerby.A few days ago, I took this puzzle profundity over to the No Proscenium podcast, where I shared my perspective on what's new and hot …
Enigmida: A special RECON-undrum
I have a fun puzzle collab to share with you all today: I designed a phoenix-themed word puzzle for Kominers's Conundrums, a weekly puzzle column in Bloomberg. I had a blast writing it, and I hope you enjoy solving it! And if you mention the puzzle answer at …
Enigmida: 2 weeks to the Reality Escape Convention!
The second annual Reality Escape Convention (RECON) will be running online in exactly 2 weeks, August 22-23. If you like puzzles, storytelling, immersive games, or escape rooms, this is the event for you, with an incredible lineup of talks, exhibitors, games,…
Enigmida - 100 Escape Room Reviews
An escake is "a celebratory delicacy used to mark the completion of a milestone escape room, traditionally cake." While I've played well over 100 escape rooms, I recently had my 🍰 for a new milestone: I've reviewed 100 online escape rooms for Room Escape Arti…
Enigmida / A Few of My Favorite Games... (Part 2)
Hey folks, it's been a while! Since my last newsletter (over a month ago - yikes!) I've been busy with a plethora of other writing, including some articles and interviews which I'm excited to share in coming weeks.This issue is a continuation of the remote e…
Enigmida: A Few of My Favorite Games... (Part 1)
In addition to being a puzzle designer, I'm also an avid escape room player. Over the past year, I've played 120+ remote escape rooms, 80+ of which I've reviewed for Room Escape Artist's Hivemind. You can find my full archive of reviews here.I get asked quite…
Enigmida - Passover, Radical Amazement, and Livestreams
Woohoo, we just passed 300 newsletter subscribers! A warm thank you to everyone who has followed along the past 2 months, and if you're just joining, welcome! I'm Matthew, and Enigmida is my puzzle design studio / wonder workshop.In this weekly(ish) newslette…
Enigmida / Happy π Day!
Happy π Day! This holiday, founded in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium, is filled with whimsical mathematical learning and, of course, eating pie. Every year, I especially look forward to a new Vihart video.Now just 2 weeks before Passover, I'm delight…
Enigmida: Escape the Plagues is launched! 🐸 🚀
Escape the Plagues is officially available for order! We've updated our website, escapetheplagues.com, with loads of information about the game and pretty pictures–check it out!Now is also the time when I'd love your help with getting the word out. Our team h…
Enigmida: One Week Until Escape the Plagues!!!
Next Monday, Escape the Plagues will be released to the world!You may be wondering: so what exactly is this "Escape the Plagues" thing? Who is it for and how does one play? Well, I have some answers for you! The game takes the form of an 18-page PDF, with ori…
Enigmida / Your Favorite Social Justice Books?
Happy Monday! For those of you new to the Enigmida newsletter, welcome to Puzzle-land, where wonder abounds and anything could be a puzzle (but in this particular issue, the only puzzle is the image clearly marked as a puzzle below.) The countdown toward the …
Enigmida: Meet the Characters!
Happy Pay-A-Compliment Day! Yes, that's a "real" holiday that was started in 1995 to remind us to give "genuine and soulful compliments." Wonder takes many forms, and I encourage you to take a moment today to say something nice to someone who inspires you - a…
Enigmida - Why Puzzles?
Welcome back to Enigmida-land! This week, I'll be sharing some of my design goals for the puzzles in Escape the Plagues, the social justice Passover puzzle game I'm launching on March 1.Make sure to read to the end for the Puzzle of the Week! 🧺
Enigmida: Escape the Plagues and more!
Welcome to issue #2 of my Enigmida newsletter! I'm so honored that over 100 of you have already joined me in this little corner of the internet.As I settle into a weekly cadence for this newsletter, I'd love to hear what you think! If you have comments or sug…
Enigmida: A Cryptic Welcome
Just over a year ago, I left my full-time job as a software engineer to more seriously pursue my lifelong passion: puzzles. In the time since, I've had the privilege of crafting puzzle experiences for thousands of individuals in a broad range of settings, alo…