Playing since: January 2025
Total solves: 121 (#1)
First solves: 2 (koizroi's puzzles and x x)
1. Which description do you think best fits games like wyfio? Online riddle, webpuzzle, enigma or something else?
Probably "online riddle".
2. Do you remember the very first online riddle that you played? If so, do you have any memories that you’d like to share.
Ouverture facile - a flash-based online puzzle game that was published in French and English. It was the first such game I'd ever seen, and I thought (and continue to think) it was so elegant. I learned a lot about various ciphers thanks to that game.
3. What is your all time favourite online riddle, and why?
Again, Ouverture facile. I mourned its loss when flash was discontinued and the site was left to rot and disappear, but it seems that a dedicated few have taken to recreating the site using not-flash - an endeavour I whole-heartedly endorse.
4. Is there a riddle, no longer available, that you’d like to see resurrected?
Now that Ouverture facile is in the process of being raised from the dead? No, I don't think so. I never knew about clever waste of time when it was around, though, so I don't miss it. But maybe that's what I would like to see resurrected, if only because it would be a nice, new (to us) something-to-do.
5. What riddle had the hardest level that you’ve managed to beat, and how long did it take?
We flew through Notpron and E.B.O.N.Y, so I don't think it was anything there. Of course, beefbot got to Notpron after the infamous level nu, so we never dealt with that. I think maybe Ouverture facile's French lyceum photo round, in that I had to step away from that game for a year before solving it.
6. What stands out as being different or unique about wyfio compared to other riddles?
I'll ride the "style" train. I do also think that there's a bit more value in trying to get into wyfio's frame of mind than in other sites. Several times throughout the solving process, we ended up poring through "ramblings" trying to get into the heads of the puzzle constructors. (And it was helpful!)
7. Of the thousands of riddles out there, which, if any, do you think are most similar to wyfio?
Maybe E.B.O.N.Y? Which seems unlikely, perhaps, because E.B.O.N.Y features a sort-of-linear kinda-storyline, and the overall look is very different, but as far as the puzzles themselves go, maybe some similarities? Overall, though, I'd say that wyfio is its own critter.
8. Do you have any particular favourite wyfio puzzles or puzzle types?
The beefbot top-three are probably "insanity is", "x x", and "million dollar graveyard" - all clever and fun. "rhopalocera" and "look up" were both pleasantly satisfying, and the diatom puzzles were all quite pretty. The entirety of the luminescence attractor was a delight.
9. What advice would you have to other players to make as much progress on wyfio as they possibly can?
For most of the puzzles, don't overthink it. And keep track of your work and answers, particularly as some skills, mechanisms, and procedures you pick up in one puzzle may come in handy elsewhere.
10. Do you have any projects of your own that you would like to promote?