Puzzle Writing Resources

This is a list of resources specific to writing hunt puzzles and running 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)

Answer Checker

 * Calling it in

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
 * Foggy Brume's Blogs on Puzzle Construction - Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

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 by Galactic Trendsetters
 * Puzzletron, hunt organization software used by MIT Mystery Hunt writing teams from 2011
 * Puzzup, a fork of Puzzlord, maintained by Palindrome

Hunt Website Frameworks

 * gph-site, used by Galactic Puzzle Hunt
 * hunter2
 * 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

Puzzle Construction Tools

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

Grid Logic Editors/Players

 * puzz.link
 * Penpa+

Wordlists
These word lists may be helpful for constructing word puzzles (such as crosswords), as well as defining what words are legal for interactive puzzles and games.

Scored wordlists

 * Peter Broda's Wordlist - Also includes unscored wordlists of entries found in particular crossword publishers (e.g. all NYT entries)
 * Spread the Word(list) - Also includes other links to wordlists in resources page.

Unscored wordlists

 * - Contains ENABLE, UKACD, and YAWL wordlists
 * SCOWL and friends - includes 12dicts, 3of6game