61 Days of Thinky Dailies

I've written about being skeptical of Daily Gaming. There are too many "procedural generated" games that round down to similar experiences over and over trapped in a vortex of daily streaks to keep unwitting victims attached.

"We make games so people can socialize" - someone in a LinkedIn company meeting, probably.

Thinky Dailies, the daily gaming experience created by thinkygames.com is nothing like that. I started in December, shortly after Thanksgiving. Someone compared the games to Professor Layton style games and I very nearly stopped the experiment right there. I am not an enjoyer of the Layton puzzles. They are too hard, the clues are vague, and they made me feel stupid.

Thinky Dailies have not made me feel that way, ever. My experience with them has been nothing short of joyous, challenging me, giving me space to sit with things, not reminding me about streaks and having delightful art.

The Sudoku, Nurikabe and other math style games are what drew me in, and the variation kept me coming back for more. It was nice to show up and not know what to expect.

On day three I encountered my first visual puzzle and my first impulse was to let it slide and skip it. Historically speaking visual puzzles are my least favorite and make me feel the most stupid. But the initial quiz to get the access code was a visual puzzle, and I did that, so I gave it a shot.

It took me a while, but I sat with it, and eventually I figured it out. And from there on out, I was pretty much hooked. I left each new puzzle feeling less like I had blunged my brain through the right series of cues and clues to solve an obvious problem, but with a real satisfaction that I had accomplished something.

It reminds me a lot of Coach Bennett's running podcast. The general attitude is that you can do things to have fun and improve simultaneously; you don't have to punish yourself to grow, and you can celebrate your successes continuously.

Thinky Dailies are a great celebration of and addition to the puzzle community.