This person has my soul.

Update: This broke my DB fundraising record by over $1000! $8,999.10 raised for Child's Play Chariry. Thank you to all the fangsters who donated for the giveaway! <3

I took 45 of the pins to the party and gave out 32 of them. So many people were excited to solve and interested to talk about stuff like competitive puzzling.

I also got some awesome trinkets from the other attendees, and won a small lantern for finishing the scavenger hunt. Best Halloween ever!

But it really took off and everyone had a great time! I got to make a bunch of new friends and flex my hint-giving muscles. My favorite part was pulling one of the feathered pencils off my jacket shoulder and saying "Ow! You'll need this."

(Not pictured, the 10-year-old who solved super fast.)

I was honestly afraid that this was a silly idea to bring to a party, so I brought along my carnivorous plant for emotional support.

Everyone who solved would get the real trinket, a 3D printed Puzzle Coven membership pin.

There were two different versions of the puzzle, a one star easy version and a three star midrange version. In the end I feel like they were both very close in difficulty.

@mjandersen.bsky.social and my coworkers at Maker Nexus helpfully playtested for me. <3

To earn my trinket, you would have to solve an original puzzle I designed. I got the idea after seeing a cool way to bind maps at the American Bookbinders Museum. You would need to fold the puzzle in different ways to solve it.

ROFLMAO

I have a metal laser cutter....

I have a 3D printer...