Mystery Puzzle History: The Progenitor Age: The Amateur Detective Puzzle!

Mystery Puzzle Games, as discussed in the post, What is a Mystery Puzzle Game?, contain three primary components:  Mystery, Puzzles, and a Game element.   In the early 1900s, detective and crime fiction were extremely popular (as it has been in much of history), so the combination of the detective and puzzles for someone to solve were a natural progression.

One example in the newspapers in the early 1900s, "The Amateur Detective Puzzle," was a step towards this hobby with a visual puzzle for kids to solve with prompts explaining the setup and clews (as they were called).  These are fairly simple and straightforward for adults, but provide a fun example of detective-themed puzzles for kids to start them down the puzzle path!  Plus, they offered bonus incentive prizes to keep the kids engaged and to send in their answers!  Below is the earliest example we have uncovered and another early example.  It is unknown how many of these were created, but our research has so far uncovered only a handful. 



CLIPPED FROM New-York Tribune New York, New York 26 May 1907, Sun • Page 49

The both are from the New York Tribune in 1907 (see footnotes).  

The newspapers provided many other puzzles and comics for children to enjoy, but this genre of puzzle is another progenitor of the Mystery Puzzle Game hobby...it has a story, puzzles, and is a game, so it fits our definition.




Footnotes:

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