Hello, puzzle friendos! We have some exciting news for you. The tl;dr is that shipping is complete, The 12 Days of Cryptics has ended, and the Chums is launching today! We go into each of those things in detail below.
Fulfillment is complete
All copies of The Hunting of the Shark, Mindspaces, and the rest of our puzzle projects shipped to backers in December.
If you're in the U.S. and ordered physical copies of our books, you should already have received the items pledged for. Those all went out in the second and third weeks of December. So, if you haven't received your copies, you should let us know ASAP.
As for Canada, all copies got across the border on December 11, and then... well, then it got tricky. For three weeks, the books got stuck somewhere in Mississauga, Ontario. We're not sure why. We asked lots of questions but didn't get any satisfying answers. But a few days after Christmas, we received word that the packages were moving out of Mississauga. They all are either delivered or in transit across Canada. If you haven't gotten yours, check the tracking number you were emailed directly by QuarterMaster Logistics. If a week or more passes and you don't have it, let us know.
We're really sorry about this. International shipping has been a bit more challenging than usual lately. We don't know if our Canadian shipments got caught up in a tariff fight, or it was a stuck-in-the-snow situation, or there's some sort of "Mississauga Triangle" that's gone unreported on Atlas Obscura. Regardless, your package should either be at your door now or on its way shortly.
It's January, which means we are officially beginning the launch of Chums, the puzzle subscription you signed up for when you purchased any version of The Hunting of the Shark. If you did not purchase the book, you will still be able to sign up directly on the site.
Chums is where we will share new puzzle content each month, including puzzlehunts, paper puzzles, puzzle book outtakes, and more. You will receive a monthly notification when new content is available, and your personal dashboard will show everything you have access to. Subscribers of the Shark of the Year level will also receive discounts on puzzle releases, early samplers, and other perks. Think of it as a puzzle focused version of Patreon.
Since everyone who pledged for Chums on this BackerKit campaign has the same subscription, we are organizing access by calendar year. If you have one, your Shark of the Year subscription runs from January through December 2026, and you will be able to see all content released so far, no matter when you log in. New subscribers will follow the same model. If someone joins in March, they will still receive the January and February content. We also offer a Shark Bites tier for those who want a smaller amount of free content.
Starting today we are doing a staggered rollout of the Chums site. This approach lets us monitor performance and address issues as they appear so that the experience is smooth for everyone. Over the next week or so, you will receive an email with instructions for creating your account, so keep an eye on your inbox. If everything stays on track, we expect Chums to be fully rolled out by January 15.
If you purchased an additional subscription to Chums, you will receive multiple emails with your invite information.
Chums is still evolving, and we will continue making improvements. If you have feedback, we would love to hear it.
January's upload is the Gen Con Monster Hunt. If you've got a copy of The Hunting of the Shark, you can see that the Gen Con Time Warp is our first Gen Con puzzle event, and then the next one is Around the World in 80 Puzzles. That was the first hunt called the Gen Con Puzzle Hunt. But in between was 2004's Monster Hunt, a very special hunt because it focuses on all the variations of one puzzle type: the matchmaker.
A matchmaker is a puzzle where you match each item on the left side of a puzzle to an item on the right side. When you find a match, draw a line between the pair. In the middle of the puzzle are letters your line may cross. The crossed letters spell an answer.
The Monster Hunt contains 28 matchmaker puzzles, plus a heavily revised metapuzzle. (The original involved walking the Gen Con 2004 exhibit hall, which, unless you have a time machine, you're not doing this year.)
We hope you enjoy the Monster Hunt and all that Chums brings you throughout the year!
The 12 Days of Cryptics is available as a one-stop download
If you're one of the many people on this campaign who pledged for a subscription to our holiday bonanza The 12 Days of Cryptics, you should have received our tiny little Christmas miracle in your email. Now that it's done, we've added it to your downloads on BackerKit!
If you didn't sign up, you still can! Just put a few chocolate coins down here and you'll get all of The 12 Days of Cryptics and the Con Cryptic Bonus Pack. From the feedback we're getting, people seemed to really like this fresh new set of cryptic puzzles. If you like that kind of thing, maybe you will be too!
So, go check your Chums account and enjoy the holiday puzzlement. We'll be back soon with another update on how all of this is going. And here's a Happy New Year from all of us at Shark HQ to you and yours!
