THPR2060: The Great Escape!
Puzzle Solving and Design as Recreation, Competition and a Key to Unlocking Creativity
Instructor: Mark Halpin
Description
| Puzzles have been part of every culture since antiquity. We've all heard of the Riddle of the Sphinx and the Gordian Knot. Indeed, Alexander the Great's solution to the latter -- not untying the complex knot but hacking it apart with his sword -- is the earliest example of what we now call "lateral thinking". In this course, participants will explore the theory and techniques behind the creation and solving of puzzles at a high level. Word puzzles, logic puzzles, escape rooms, and puzzles that defy categorization will be explored, solved, and created by students. While engaging with puzzles is typically seen as a recreational pursuit -- and the course activities will certainly be fun! -- we will also discuss the relationship of puzzles to lateral thinking, creativity, mental flexibility, and problem-solving, especially as tools for developing those skills. My career as a scenic designer for theaters and theme parks has given me a solid background in the area of experiential design -- the art of creating group experiences that engage, inform, and entertain participants. Puzzle writing is another form of experiential design, and the mastery of this has applications in many spheres of communication. Through my own experience as a puzzle author, I am personal friends with many of the luminaries in the field of puzzle design. Seminars will include conversations, workshops, and critiques of students' projects with many of these luminaries, covering a range of topics as described in my preliminary syllabus. Students' activities will include solving many kinds of puzzles, as well as creating their own. The course experience will culminate with students visiting local escape rooms, as well as designing their own (in subsequent years, this might be developed into a Study Tour component, as escape rooms in cities such as Athens, Amsterdam, and Montreal are incredibly complex and immersive, often being multi-hour events involving interaction with live performers). |
This class expects to invite NY Times Crossword Editor Will Shortz as a guest speaker. The article below is a recent discussion with the editor that appeared in the New York Times.
Learning Objectives
Solving puzzles, either individually or as a group, develops keen skills in lateral thinking and problem-solving. Some key skills in puzzle-solving include:
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