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Mathy Thinky Puzzly Problem Solving: Today's Most Important Skill

  • Speaker: Nick Chen, PlayMath.org

Puzzle games aren’t just entertainment. They’re training for the most essential human ability: novel problem solving. Every great puzzle teaches players to face unfamiliar systems, notice patterns, test hypotheses, and adapt when the world changes. These are exactly the skills that define intelligence itself. This talk connects insights from indie “thinky” game design with research from learning science and the work of the PlayMath.org.

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This talk was presented at ThinkyCon 2025, a developer conference about all aspects of the creation of thinky games.

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