AI Skill Report Card
Designing Tabletop Puzzles and Games
Quick Start11 / 15
Identify which of the 8 domains the request falls into, then apply the matching workflow below. Always clarify (or assume sensible defaults for): target difficulty, audience, theme/setting, and output format (printable, digital, verbal).
Default assumptions if unspecified:
- Difficulty: medium
- Audience: adult hobbyists
- Format: text/markdown, ready to print or run
Recommendation▾
Quick Start is more of a routing instruction than immediate actionable value—add a concrete mini-example (e.g., a tiny worked cipher or sudoku snippet) right at the top
Workflow15 / 15
1. Board Game Design
Progress:
- Define core loop (what does a player do each turn?)
- Choose win condition and game length (target: 20-60 min)
- Design 3-5 interacting mechanics (resource management, area control, drafting, etc.) — avoid mechanic bloat
- Draft component list (cards, tiles, tokens, board layout) with counts
- Write rulebook: setup → turn structure → scoring → edge cases
- Playtest mentally: trace 2-3 full turns, check for dominant strategies or dead ends
- Balance pass: adjust numbers so no single path strictly dominates
2. Chess Composition
Progress:
- Choose type: mate-in-N, study (win/draw), helpmate, selfmate
- Set theme (e.g., pin, discovered attack, underpromotion, zugzwang)
- Construct position backward from the key idea, keeping piece count minimal (economy)
- Verify solution is unique — check for cooks (alternate solutions) and duals
- Verify legality (position reachable from start, correct side to move)
- State solution with full line and key move explanation
3. Crosswords & Word Puzzles
Progress:
- Pick grid size and symmetry (standard: 15x15 rotational symmetry for American-style; freeform for cryptic/British)
- Build word list around theme, prioritizing long theme entries first
- Fill grid using theme entries as scaffolding, then fill remainder minimizing obscure words
- Write clues matching style (straight definition, cryptic wordplay, trivia)
- Number grid correctly (across/down numbering per standard convention)
- Provide answer key separately
4. D&D Campaign/Session Design
Progress:
- Define session goal (one-shot, arc episode, campaign start)
- Sketch world/region: 3-5 key locations, dominant factions, central conflict
- Create NPCs with: name, motivation, secret, voice/mannerism, stat block (if combat-relevant)
- Design quest with hook, 2-3 paths to resolution, and consequences for each
- Build random tables (encounters, loot, rumors) as d6/d20 lists for improvisation
- Balance encounters to party level using standard CR guidelines
5. Ciphers & Cryptographic Puzzles
Progress:
- Choose cipher family (substitution, transposition, polyalphabetic, custom symbol system) matched to difficulty
- Encode target message, double-check decodability without ambiguity
- Embed narrative/thematic flavor (fits escape room or story context)
- Provide staged hints (3 levels: subtle nudge → partial reveal → full method)
- Test solve path: confirm a fresh solver with given tools/clues can succeed in target time
6. Sudoku & Logic Matrices
Progress:
- Choose grid type (classic 9x9, variant: killer, diagonal, irregular regions)
- Generate full valid solution grid first
- Remove clues symmetrically while checking uniqueness after each removal (constraint propagation or backtracking solver check)
- Target clue count calibrated to difficulty (easy: 36-40, medium: 30-35, hard: 24-29, expert: <24 with advanced technique requirements)
- Verify single solution with a solver pass before finalizing
7. Quizzes & Trivia
Progress:
- Define theme and format (multiple choice, open, buzzer-round, picture round)
- Draft questions across difficulty tiers (easy/medium/hard/bonus)
- Verify factual accuracy with authoritative source per question
- Balance category spread (avoid clustering all hard questions in one topic)
- Write answer key with brief fact/explanation for host use
8. Genealogy & Family History
Progress:
- Collect raw data: names, dates, relationships, sources (certificates, records, interviews)
- Structure as standardized tree (GEDCOM-compatible format recommended)
- Resolve conflicts/gaps, flag uncertain data explicitly rather than guessing
- Generate visualization (pedigree chart, descendant chart, or fan chart) — describe layout if text-only
- Write narrative chronicle linking facts into readable family story, citing sources inline
Recommendation▾
Examples section shows only input/output descriptions rather than full concrete outputs (e.g., actual sudoku grid, actual FEN string)—include at least one fully rendered example
Examples14 / 20
Example 1 (Chess): Input: "Compose a mate-in-2 with a pin theme, white to move." Output: FEN position + solution: "1.Qe6! (threatens Qxe7#, pins knight on e7) ... any 2.Qxe7#" with explanation of why the pin prevents black's defense.
Example 2 (Sudoku): Input: "Generate a hard 9x9 sudoku." Output: Full 81-cell puzzle grid with 26 clues, confirmed unique solution, plus separate solved grid.
Example 3 (D&D): Input: "One-shot for 4 level-3 characters, haunted lighthouse theme." Output: Lighthouse map description, 3 NPCs (keeper's ghost, smuggler, investigator), encounter table (d6), central mystery with 2 resolution paths, loot table.
Recommendation▾
With 8 distinct domains, the skill is broad; consider whether this should be split into sub-skills or linked reference files to keep each domain's depth manageable
Best Practices
- Always verify puzzle solvability/uniqueness before delivering (cooked chess problems and ambiguous sudoku are the #1 complaint)
- Favor elegance/economy: fewer pieces, cleaner mechanics, tighter grids are more satisfying than cluttered ones
- Calibrate difficulty explicitly and state the calibration (e.g., "requires X-wing technique" for sudoku, "CR 3 encounter" for D&D)
- Separate puzzle/content from solution/answer key clearly
- For thematic content (ciphers, quizzes, RPG), tie flavor tightly to the stated setting rather than generic filler
Common Pitfalls
- Delivering a sudoku or logic puzzle without checking for multiple solutions
- Chess problems with "cooks" (unintended alternate solutions) — always check
- Overloading board games with mechanics that don't interact (mechanic salad)
- D&D quests with only one solution path — always offer branches
- Crossword fill with obscure/invalid words just to complete the grid
- Genealogy data presented as fact when actually inferred/uncertain — always flag confidence level