Puzzle Writing Resources

This is a list of resources specific to writing hunt puzzles and hunts. Puzzle Resources gives a list of general resources, while Puzzle Solving Resources gives resources tailored for solving puzzles; many of these resources are helpful when constructing puzzles as well. (for instance, if you want to find words that fit a certain pattern when filling out a grid)

Guides

 * GC Summit

Puzzle Writing

 * How to write a fun puzzle, by Jay Lorch
 * Introduction to Writing Good Puzzle Hunt Puzzles
 * Puzzlecraft, a paid resource but contains tips on creating many specific genres of puzzles.
 * How to Write a BANG Puzzle

Puzzle Hunt Event Hosting

 * Suggestions for Running a Puzzlehunt
 * BAPHL wiki
 * How to Host a BANG

Hunt Organization
For smaller hunts, a spreadsheet may be sufficient for tracking progress.
 * Puzzlord, an updated version of Puzzletron written in Django
 * Puzzletron, hunt organization software used by MIT Mystery Hunt writing teams from 2011

Puzzle Construction Tools

 * Qxw, for gridding
 * Extraction Finder, for checking whether a target answer can be extracted by indexing into a given list of strings

Hunt Website Frameworks

 * gph-site, used by Galactic Puzzle Hunt
 * hunter2
 * infinity, used by INTEGIRLS
 * puzzlehunt_server, used by Puzzlehunt CMU
 * silenda Fork of spoilr (written for MIT Mystery Hunt 2014 and passed down), used by MIT Mystery Hunt 2021
 * tph-site, used by Teammate Hunt
 * wizard, a tool created by weeklies.enigmatics.org for creating Discord-based unlock structures