Memo to me: Don’t miss any more Beyond Books Campaign meetings.
Back in December I missed one and later found myself shanghaied
into a
”
P.R.
”
position of getting media publicity for the campaign’s Silicon
Valley Puzzle Day event.
Memo to me: Don’t miss any more Beyond Books Campaign meetings.
Back in December I missed one and later found myself shanghaied into a “P.R.” position of getting media publicity for the campaign’s Silicon Valley Puzzle Day event. The other organizers had “volunteered” me to fill the role of contacting Bay Area newspapers, radio and TV stations to pitch articles about our exciting and fun-filled event taking place on Feb. 24. That’s why this column will now blatantly encourage all readers obsessed with crossword puzzles and Sudoku to come to Morgan Hill’s Sobrato High School that Saturday and check out Silicon Valley Puzzle Day.
“So, Marty,” you’re hopefully asking right now if I’m doing my P.R. job correctly, “what exactly is Silicon Valley Puzzle Day?”
An excellent question, you super smart South Valley newspaper reader, you. Silicon Valley Puzzle Day is an eight-hour extravaganza for people who love word and number games. It’s a unique opportunity for them get together for some exciting competition and friendly socializing. It’s also a fundraiser created by the Friends of the Morgan Hill Library to raise cash for its Beyond Books Campaign, which will purchase art and equipment for the community’s new community library opening this summer.
“Please, tell me more,” you say? Gladly….The inaugural Silicon Valley Puzzle Day will be a first of its kind for the west coast. If you’re into crossword puzzles and/or the numbers strategy game Sudoku that’s such a hot craze now, you’ll definitely want to partake of this brain-building event.
“How exactly did the Silicon Valley Puzzle Day, the first of its kind on the west coast, get started?” you certainly must be wondering.
Another scintillating query! Last year the members of the Beyond Books Campaign sat at a table and brain-stormed ways to raise money to buy art and equipment for Morgan Hill’s new library. Someone suggested a poker tournament. I suggested a “swimsuit calendar” featuring lovely librarian ladies, a proposal promptly shot down by several women.
Finally, group member Emily Shem-Tov suggested creating a competition for puzzle people. A special contest for word and number buffs seemed a natural connection with the library which, as I understand it, is a place filled with books containing words and numbers.
At first, I was a bit skeptical. An event celebrating puzzles? Who would come? But then I learned there are more than 50 million people in the United States who regularly do crossword puzzles. And the growing sensation for Sudoku might also easily rank in the millions of Americans.
Silicon Valley seemed like a natural place for puzzles. After all, what are computers that make our home so internationally famous? They’re just machines that quickly figure out number puzzles programmed into them as software.
Also eroding some of my initial skepticism, Shem-Tov told us of a hit film called “WordPlay” that showed in theaters in 2006. The documentary highlighted the frenzied competition among contestants of the annual American Crossword Tournament in Stamford, Conn. The crosswords contest was started by New York Times crosswords editor Will Shortz.
In describing Shortz, Shem-Tov’s voice sounded as if she were talking about a Hollywood hunk. Apparently, he’s the only person in the world who holds a college degree in Enigmatology, the study of puzzles. He also owns the world’s largest library of puzzle-oriented items – it contains about 20,000 puzzle books and magazines, some dating back to 1545. Shortz also founded in 1992 the World Puzzle Championship – the Olympics for puzzlers – and serves as a director of the United States Puzzle Team.
“He’s the puzzle god,” Shem-Tov said with a look of awe.
Well, as I said earlier, I missed the Beyond Books Campaign meeting and thus found myself pitching Puzzle Day to the public. Doing my duty, I quickly discovered many more cruciverbalists (crossword puzzle players) and Sudoku fans lived here in the South Valley than I ever imagined. People told me they are huge crossword fans or their kids are into Sudoku. A whole sub-culture of puzzle zealots existed here. And many of them felt thrilled they could attend a social event dedicated to their favorite pastime.
Perplexed by this prominent popularity of puzzles, I phoned Will Shortz “the puzzle god” to chat with him about this phenomena. The key to understanding puzzles, I learned from him, is that the human mind seems to be hard-wired to search for solutions to problems that bewilder it.
“As human beings,” Shortz told me, “we like to solve mysteries, and a crossword puzzle and Sudoku are little mysteries. We take pleasure in completing these ‘mysteries,’ which in real life we’re not usually able to do.
With a human-made puzzle, we see the process through from start to finish. When you fill in that last square, it’s a very satisfying feeling.”
So that’s the solution to this puzzle about puzzles. Human beings just naturally find it a pleasure to solve a mystery.
Shortz and I chatted more about the benefits of puzzles. Apparently, figuring out crosswords and Sudoku builds your brain cells in a workout just like training with weights at the gym builds your body. Doing puzzles develops your memory, creativity, I.Q., analysis ability, humor, and pattern recognition skills. Puzzles also helps combat mental deterioration such as Alzheimer. They also help relieve boredom and stress.
“When you go the gym, you usually work out on a Stairmaster or rowing machine,” Shortz told me. “What’s great about puzzles is that it’s like a complete workout on every machine – an all around mental workout.”
So if you’re into for some fun crosswords and Sudoku “workouts,” come join us at the Silicon Valley Puzzle Day event.
Even if you never do puzzles but you’re curious about the benefits you can get from them, you’re warmly welcomed to attend because we’ll have free workshops taught by friendly experts who can explain strategy and offer helpful hints.
Come to Silicon Valley Puzzle Day and you’ll quickly find the answer to the popularity of puzzles.
