The Crossword Puzzle Experience is designed to bring the love of puzzles to life in a walkthrough experience. It will bring the puzzling experience off the page and celebrate the aspects of the crossword experience that we love.
As they enter guest can can choose a pen or pencil, just like you do when you pick up the newspaper. A welcome video is played explaining the basic rules of crosswords and talking through what the guest can expect from their day.
The first room is the easiest, think a Monday puzzle or something you’d have done in your childhood. The room is full of bright primary colors. The guests choose a colored box to complete a crossword mini themed to the color of the box. The red mini crossword will have solutions like “stop sign” and “fire engine”. Puzzles can be played alone or in a group making it suitable for all types of groups. There are stations at varying heights and even a couple decorating the ceiling. When the guest completes the puzzle an animation appears that relates to the color for example; a purple puma prances through a lavender field when the guest complete the purple mini puzzle. Each color has multiple games so people can get a new one if they come to visit again encouraging return visits.
The second room is full of MIDI puzzles. They’re each set up to look like a vending machine. Press some of the buttons and then a printout of a puzzle comes out like a fortune from an old wizard machine on the boardwalk. Guests can sit on the Japanese style subway car in the middle of the room honoring so many people who do crosswords as they travel. Once finished, the puzzle is put back into a vending machine to check the answers. A ball will pop out with your numerical score on it.
The next room is a respite. It’s a library. There are interactive screens where the guests can watch interviews with puzzle masters, puzzle writers, and celebrities who are crossword lovers. There are also videos with tips and tricks to improve your crossword game. There is even a fun walkthrough of the history of crossword puzzles.
As the guests arrive to the next room the puzzles are getting tough. Here we find Friday/Saturday level puzzles and exploring the different shapes that crossword puzzles can come in outside of a simple set of squares within a square. There are diamond puzzles and stepped puzzles. The room is filled with odd shapes, including the furniture and walls to the point you can’t find a solid square shape in the entire room.
The last room, the hardest room, is also the coziest. It’s built to mimic the feeling of a pleasant Sunday afternoon in a large park. There is a coffee shop where the guests can grab a bite to eat. There are mounds of grass and blankets to spread out. Here guests are given a newspaper folded open to the crossword. Guests can linger and work on the Sunday crossword while drinking coffee or grabbing a bite and reflect on the puzzles they’ve done throughout the day. Because of the difficulty guests are encouraged to work in groups. Guests can complete their day purchasing crossword themed souvenirs and crossword books of all levels.
The experience celebrates how varied and alive this one type of puzzle can be. The crossword has captured many hearts and hopefully The Crossword Puzzle Experience will create many new lifelong crossword lovers.