Quite a while ago I got hooked on notpron for a short time. It’s a website that hosts a riddle-based game. It’s not a point-and-click kind of thing. Instead, you usually use what you can find out on the screen to come up with the next website, change the name before the .html and you get to the next page, and thus the next level. These things can get really hard and complicated (notpron calls itself “the hardest riddle available on the Internet”), so most of them have a Forum for people to ask questions, share hints, etc.

Yesterday a friend introduced me to weffriddles. Same kind of thing, but with a different flavor because it was designed by a different person. I first visited the website late yesterday afternoon and as of now I’m up to level 21. It can be addicting because you feel you’ve just about got the answer, so you’ll figure it out and then do “just one more level.” :-)
For most of these, it helps to keep another tab or window open to Google or Wikipedia or something, so you can look up information when you need it. Sometimes it’s a play on words or something built right into the page you’re looking at. Other times it requires specific information, so a search engine helps.

If you want to give any of these a try, BE PATIENT! The first few levels are semi-easy, so you can figure out how the game works and what it takes to succeed. Some people literally spend months trying to solve the entire puzzle. (Unless they don’t have a life, it’s usually a few minutes here, half an hour there; that kind of thing.) Remember, if you need help, visit the Forum. You may even want to keep THAT open in another tab or window also.

If nothing else, these riddle games will improve your critical thinking and problem solving skills. Plus, they’re FUN!

Enjoy!