Variety or Similarity: The Typology and Frequency of Occurrence of Certain Kinds of Puzzles Present in Puzzle-Based Gamebooks

This paper presents a research project oriented on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of puzzles present in the modern-day (published after 2015) puzzle-oriented gamebooks (i.e., Journal 29 ) and book escape rooms (i.e., Cypher Files ). The research presented included two stages. The qualitative stage aimed to apply the concepts from the fields of ludology and interaction design to interpret the play experience in selected gamebooks. This part resulted in research notes describing the interaction process with each puzzle in analyzed gamebooks. The result of the analysis of those notes is the proposition of the typology of riddles and puzzles present in those books and a general reflection on the puzzle-solving process structure. In the second part of the project, we intended to apply the typology to address research questions of a quantitative nature related to puzzle uniqueness, dissemination of particular puzzle types, and similarity of design practice between authors.