Funding that Puzzle Addiction

Participating in puzzle hunts and Games isn't a cheap activity, even if saving 83 cents a day for the next six months will allow me to pay my share of the upcoming Game. Unfortunately, being a stay-at-home dad doesn't pay very well and being a single-career family in the Bay Area doesn't readily lend itself to disposable income.

So once again, I've been working on a new puzzle type (kind of in the same way that Battleship Sudoku is a new type of puzzle). The qualifying puzzle for Ghost Patrol was kind of similar but at the same time completely different. Regardless, it spurred me on yesterday to get the Javascript completed so that at least I have a working puzzle interface.

I sent out a link to some friends and family members so they could test it. One friend who gave it a try said he finally understood the puzzle (I had been sending out PDF versions for a few months) and that he enjoyed it. He then added, kinda jokingly, "So where is the timer? Where is the leaderboard?" Those are two things I want to add, along with a message board/forum. For now, though, I'm just concentrating on getting the Javascript to do what I want it to and the website to look at least halfway presentable.

I can hope that when it's ready, maybe it catches on a little and the money from advertising or other side benefits will keep me enjoying my addicition for quite some time.

A Wedding Acrostic and a Postponed Hunt

I've decided to indefinitely postpone the puzzle hunt I was working on for friends and family. Although I have the puzzles, developing them solo takes too much time away from my daughter, my wife, my friends, and a hunt for a way to earn some side income. When we did it last year, it was just two of us, and that was hard enough. This year, I figured that starting on puzzle design early would make up for working on it alone. Wrong! Anyway...

I'm writing an acrostic puzzle and just sent the 4th draft to the bride-to-be for approval (it's something to keep the guests occupied at the reception). This is my first time designing one, so obviously it's not perfect. I ended up with some nasty letters at the end along with somewhat laughable clues for them. I wonder just how many people will figure out what an "aged placed to experiment on wet dirt" (three words, nine letters) is or will forgive the solution to "I'm no longer addicted to Doublemint; I'm ___ ___" (two words, six letters). The bride-to-be, however, thought they were funny, but, more importantly, was especially pleased with all the clues that I worked in about them and the wedding party.

Always looking for a way to use my love of creating and solving puzzles in a profitible means (the whole "do what you love, the money will follow" concept), I thought that maybe creating various custom puzzles for weddings would be a fun idea. The first thing I thought was to check out "weddingpuzzles.com". To my surprise, a website came up dedicated to the idea of selling puzzles (crosswords and word searches mainly) for wedding receptions and other wedding-related activities. Plus, the packages they were offering were below what I had considered charging and much classier to boot (engraved cardstock with ribbons, for example).

I'm still considering it, especially since the site, as well as all its sister sites, is no longer taking orders ("buy our software instead and do it yourself!")... but I can't see operating on much of a profit margin: Their cheapest package is 3 copies (one framed) for $30 and assuming that my time is worth $25/hour, that means $5 for materials and only one hour of work on the puzzle itself. I guess the difference is that the customer is required to supply their own words, while I distilled a ton of details about the bride, groom, and wedding party into a usable puzzle.

My problem with this as a form of employment is that I cannot stand repetitive tasks. And sadly, I know this would become one fairly quickly.