A strange little side quest
Guess the Emoji may feel immediate, but the ideas around puzzles have been evolving for a very long time. The first crossword puzzle book appeared in 1924 in a cautious initial printing of 3,600 copies, complete with a free pencil. The timeline takes another interesting turn: Spacewar! appeared on MIT's PDP-1 in 1962 and became one of the earliest influential computer games shared among programmers. It is a good reminder that simple game mechanics can carry a surprising amount of history.
