First and foremost, thank you to the volunteers that playtested our puzzles and made the game better for all of our guests. And thank you to those that played or helped others with solves, regardless if you interacted with the website.

When we spoke of getting married and our wedding, there was always an escape room component involved. However, it was until later in the planning phase did it develop into what it was. During our evening walks, the idea, later called the game, grew and shifted to what it was. We realized that we couldn’t do a traditional escape room and expect our guests or our planner to reset after play. We needed a way for many players at once and settled on a model similar to Undercooked from Omescape.

So when did we start? Although we got engaged in December 2024, we didn’t settle on our date until January 2026 (when we booked our venue). With that said, the planning and design of the game wasn’t until way later. As some may recall, the save the date was a normal unpuzzly piece of paper. We didn’t really dig into the puzzle part until July, when we developed our wedding invitations. From July to September, we created 26 puzzles and a website to host the game. We discovered, as I am sure the guests did as well, that there are many playable services in a wedding.

Now for the puzzle breakdown.

The Newspaper contained the introduction to the game, hints to puzzle threads, and one code found by completing the word search.

Once cocktail hour hit, guests were able to log into the game for the first time and read the rules which led to a sneaky code. Something that surprised us was that only four people read all the rules even though you got a point for reading each rule.

Placed around the cocktail space was various signage that were different puzzle components. There was the crossword and the sweepstakes connected with the welcome sign. There was also a secret drink menu that was, of course, on the actual drink menu found at the bar. Finding the secret drink menu led to a code and also the name of the drink. Ordering the drink at the bar led to a special cup and code. The space also had the card box which displayed at specific intervals codewords and instructions to go to a specific person. Following these instructions led to a token which could have been used at one of the cocktail tables and later in the dining room space.

Also around the cocktail space were cocktail tables with specific puzzles. There were the Cat Boxes which accepted tokens, Emoji Math and English Class, Wooden Puzzle Boxes, Viewfinders, Stamp and Ink, and Draft Vows. At the draft vows, you would also find how to read the secret drink menu.

As cocktail hour concluded, guests were ushered into the dining space which had a brand new set of challenges. At each place setting there was the word association puzzle, a token, a menu, and a fortune cookie. The word association puzzle was actually one large chain reaction that could have resulted in a total of 100 points if fully completed. However, no guest completed it and the highest number achieved was 67. Each table also had a trivia question.

Around the dining space, there was an acorn machine taking tokens and dispensing wooden puzzles with a code. There was also a sticker machine with codes on two of the three stickers.

At the desert table, there was signage indicating that it was closed and a key was needed to open the cabinet with the special scissors. This allowed the cake to be cut with the knife that had a code.

As dinner was ongoing, guests could step away to the photo booth and find another puzzle in their printed photo.

There were also a few hidden codes around the venue (not under tables) that were mentioned in the success messages of other code entries and the newspaper. There were the Cake Toppers, Guestbook, Special Seats, and Embroidered Jacket.

Last but not least, the Secret Button was not a button in the venue but a button on the website that appeared when the code “Secret Button” was entered. This led to a mini-game that led to a quick six minute competition between two tables and 35 points were awarded to Dobeus. The secret button was inspired by the “Give Alex a high-five” task on Taskmaster series 13 episode 5. In retrospect, we should have had a 3rd higher goal so that more people could have participated in it.

Overall, there were 273 possible points. There were 69 possible points in the cocktail space and 69 possible points in the dinner space (not including the 100 points from word chain puzzle). With 29 players engaging with the website, there were 2,284 code submissions and 2,004 points earned. Congratulations again to Dobeus, Aspen, and iyq11thw!

We are going to Japan for our Honeymoon!

Japan received 1059 votes. Vietnam had 282, Greece had 272, and last was Italy with 51.