Meet Eric The Puzzler

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eric The Puzzler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eric below.

Hi Eric, appreciate you sitting with us today. Maybe we can start with a topic that we care deeply about because it’s something we’ve found really sets folks apart and can make all the difference in whether someone reaches their goals. Self discipline seems to have an outsized impact on how someone’s life plays out and so we’d love to hear about how you developed yours?

For most of my childhood, I was very introverted and very alone. Our society values extraversion, so we’ve been taught that those qualities are bad, but I didn’t and still don’t see it that way. I think many of my strengths, including self-discipline, are derived from such a childhood. When you’re on your own for a lot of the time, I think you internalize that if you want to accomplish something, you’re the only one who’s going to make it happen.

I was alone by circumstance: I’m an only child, and my neighborhood had almost no other kids. So I had to entertain myself, figure things out on my own, and explore on my own. And I was introverted by nature, which led me to pursue solitary activities: drawing, ceramics, piano, photography. The only sports I ever enjoyed were ones that could be played one-on-one, like badminton, tennis, and disc golf—because I didn’t like having to be on a team.

I didn’t realize it until much later, but this combination of factors built a huge amount of self-reliance. In fact, it may have built up too much—I often prefer to take care of things myself even when delegating or asking for assistance would be more efficient or effective! So I have to think carefully about that sometimes.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I design unique puzzle experiences. It can be challenging to describe my projects, because they often defy categorization, but the best broad description I’ve come up with so far is “escape rooms built into the real world.”

So for example, you can go to my website right now and book my mural-themed escape game in South Philly, which uses location-specific puzzles to guide you to (and teach you about) seven public murals. If you want something a little more immersive, you can book my spy-themed escape game in the Bella Vista neighborhood, which sends you on a spy mission complete with codes, dead drops, and surveillance. And these aren’t automated or run through an app—I hide real objects that participants have to encounter and interact with. I think the term “bespoke” is overused, but it’s pretty apt here. There are not many people making experiences that feel like outdoor escape rooms.

Why is this special? Well, my puzzles are entertaining in a new way for most people, but I also see them as a tool for exploring the world. You’re not getting locked in a dark room with my projects—you’re in the real world, engaging with real locations and objects, and you never know what’s part of the experience and what’s not! For some of my projects, like my popular Keys To Philly series on social media, or The Philly Treasure Hunt, you’re competing against anyone and everyone, so it becomes a bit of an open-world adventure. I got so many messages after the treasure hunt that were like “we didn’t find the treasure, but your puzzles got us to go explore somewhere we’d never been before, so thank you for that!” When anything could be a clue, you really start to look at the world in a new way.

Projects I’m currently working on include an escape room dinner party, a puzzle experience built into a working artist’s studio, and a multi-brewery treasure hunt. In the more distant future, I plan to create an architecture-themed puzzle event, a history-themed escape game, and more treasure hunts. I’m always open to public and private commissions, and there are also ways to sponsor my projects.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

How about one of each?

My most valuable quality is being detail-oriented. You cannot design puzzles without an attention to detail, because the tiniest mistake (whether it’s a typo or an error in judgement) can ruin a puzzle. Everything needs to function perfectly, because the players often don’t even know what game they’re playing, so to speak. As the designer of the puzzle experience, you have to account for absolutely everything.

My most valuable skill is communication. I started my career in creative services: graphic design, photography, and writing. With my puzzle projects, especially in how challenging their uniqueness is to describe, these communication skills have served me immeasurably, and I use all of them on a nearly daily basis to create, explain, and promote my puzzles.

My most valuable area of knowledge is street art. Over the last seven years, I’ve built many relationships inside Philly’s street art community, and that personal interest is what led to my first puzzle project! To date, I’ve hired or partnered with nearly 40 Philly street artists on puzzle projects, and I can trace almost everything I’ve created back to that connection. Street artists are the original modifiers of public space, and their work provides a lot of grist for my puzzles. If you paint something on a wall, it suddenly transforms into somewhere interesting that might be worth including in a puzzle.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

If I ever write a book, the title will be something like “How To Say Yes.” I think too many people have been taught to suppress their interests in order to pursue expertise in something else, and that just makes me sad. Having many interests and skills definitely helps me develop novel puzzle ideas, but beyond that, I simply believe that life is far more enriching if you say yes to anything and everything that interests you. Thus, I can say without exaggeration that I am a puzzle designer, graphic designer, photographer, journalist, writer, geologist, potter, coin collector, birder, pianist, career coach, camp counselor, tour guide, and board gamer. Multiple people have told me I’m the most interesting person they know, and I say that not to brag, but to encourage you, too, to become the most interesting person your friends know. The world is a magical place, and there’s no reason to fight your natural curiosities.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

The photo credit for the photo where I’m wearing a hat that says “Iceland” and pointing at something on the table should be Tina Dillon Photography.

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