I would not consider myself someone who is a fan of page based puzzles. I don’t fucking get sudoku and naturally my dyslexic ass can’t do a crossword for shit. This bundled with the fact that I read at the level of a middle school drop out is why I would have never believed I could become obsessed with a puzzle based book. Never would I have believed I could spend countless hours and occasionally DAYS staring at a single page trying to figure out just what the fuck is going on. Journal 29 has not only proved me wrong, but left me begging for more. 

The concept of the book is simple. You turn to a page and are presented with a puzzle and a QR code you can scan to submit your answers. Once you submit your answer to the site you are given a key which will most likely help you in future puzzles.

Sounds fucking boring right? WRONG. These puzzles are so damn creative and use elements that force you to think critically about not only what’s being presented on the page but also the world around you. As you would assume the puzzles get progressively harder, but not like “Oh shit now there are 2 words that are scrambled harder”. It’s more like “Let me rip this fucking book at the spine and burn my house down” harder. I mean just look at this puzzle below.

This shit had me stumped for damn near a week.*Spoiler* Do you just happen to know that a compact disc holds 74 minutes of music? Did you just happen to know if you still happen to have that old reliable copy of Limp Bizkit’s Chocolate Star Fish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water laying around and you place its center right on that little circle the word “Equilibrium” will be revealed to you?!?!?! Get the fuck out of here.

I brought this book to a brewery with friends and let me tell you I think we all studied the text on these pages more than anything any of us studied in any school. This book just has a way of captivating you and leaving desperate for more. Its damn near haunting and I love it. I can not recommend this book enough. I just recently (with the help of anyone around me I could lure in) actually finished the book. That feeling of accomplishment when finishing one of these puzzles is straight up mentally orgasmic. The success you feel when solving that final puzzle out shines any of the stress or frustration that was caused during the journey. 

This book is sick, and guess what THERES TWO OF THEM. The company behind Journal 29 has just released the second installment “Journal 29: Revelation”. Although I have not yet completed it, let me tell you I’m right back dick deep in this rabbit hole and loving every second of it. I can not recommend this enough. Stop what you are doing and buy the fuck out of Journal 29.