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Invented by Japanese graphics editor Non Ishida in 1987, Nonograms are addictively elegant visual logic puzzles and IMO the perfect bedtime wind-down activity. They’re kind of like a cross between Sudoku and a paint-by-number. I do them every night on my Nintendo Switch via a game called “Pic-a-Pix Deluxe,” but nonograms.org is also a good entry point. Start small and work your way up— you can even print them out or hand-copy them onto grid paper if you want to go really trad.
Mar 27, 2023
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My personal favorite kind of number and squares puzzle! I never got into Sudoku because I'm an idiot, but I love the rush of solving a puzzle. I find that they're great for more visual thinkers. The general gist is that you fill in squares and you slowly reveal a cute pixellated image. I play Picross on my Switch and 2DS, but they're also referred to as nonograms elsewhere.
Rules from puzzle-nonograms.com
You have a grid of squares, which must be either filled in black or marked with X. Beside each row of the grid are listed the lengths of the runs of black squares on that row. Above each column are listed the lengths of the runs of black squares in that column. Your aim is to find all black squares.
Apr 2, 2024
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recently I've because obsessed with the nyt games, especially the tiles and the sudokus!! I love sudokus so much now that I have three separate apps for them. Doing puzzles makes my brain go quiet
Mar 3, 2025
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I love my little NYTimes games ritual (start with easy Sudoku, then medium Sudoku, Connections, Crossword, hard Sudoku, Tiles, and finally Spelling Bee if I feel really locked in). Still, the brain health benefits and fun of these puzzles feel diminished when I realize this is HOURS of unnecessary screen time.
I switched my daily puzzle ritual from online to a paperback, and I have never been happier. I feel so zen doing my sudoku outside like a fucking monk.
Mar 3, 2024
Top Recs from @4l3x1
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A very special app, kind of like Co-Star but with personality tests instead of astrology. The last personality test you’ll ever have to take! I’m very much a skeptic and usually highly resistant to downloading new apps, but Dimensional’s stylish approach to psychometrics is deeply satisfying, and I’m always stimulated by their insights. Using this has actually improved my understanding of myself and others— it’s more fun with friends!
Mar 27, 2023
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The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger is a fantastic book which makes a compelling argument for the revival of home economics (or “family and consumer sciences” as it was later called in a flop rebranding attempt). I now feel very passionate about improving home life through art and science, and thus improving society. I had a lot of fun taking these archived home economics high school exams from the 1950s and 60s, which really give you a sense of how the field encompassed so many areas of expertise: fashion and interior design, medicine, child psychology, chemistry, etiquette, and more. From identifying period furniture styles to caring for a bedridden person, the test questions are a good measure for general well-roundedness and can be an entertaining group activity for a dinner party or pregame.
Mar 27, 2023
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A dietary program I invented to get me through inexplicable phases during which I lose my appetite. Instead of not eating (BAD), I will eat:This is designed to be the gustatory equivalent of a sensory deprivation chamber. Eventually you’ll begin to crave all kinds of complex and rich foods, duck and octopus and mushrooms and horseradish and finally having them will be like going from black and white to Technicolor. Going through this process always makes me so grateful for the insane variety of foods we have available to us in our modern world, like it actually makes me want to cry just thinking about how we live in the yummiest time in human history. Works best if you prepare all the white noise elements in advance and just kind of graze mindlessly between them like a cow in a pasture.
Mar 27, 2023