Starting Thursday evening, we will have access to the Grand Salon (main room), Salon A, and Salon D/E. D/E is the bigger of the two side rooms. We will have two tables outside the Grand Salon for puzzle handouts and other similar things.

The hospitality suite is on the 10th floor and will open at Noon on Thursday. There will be a variety of snacks and beverages. Note that puzzles go outside the Grand Salon this year, not in the hospitality suite.

Stair B, right near the Grand Salon can be used to navigate between the 2nd floor and higher floors. You cannot get to the first floor. Stair C also works.

6:00 PM
Eat, Meet and Greet [in the hotel]

8:00PM
Welcome! An evening of puzzles and games:


Krewe by Two by Joey and Kryptogram
Can you cut the Krewe in half? Find out with this weird trick.

Three of Kind by Bluff
Identify the common bond — and predict the final clue.

Four-Letter Follies by WXYZ
Work with a partner to create four-letter answers with as many unique letters as possible.

And the Nominations Are … by Marcus Asparagus
An over-the-weekend creative challenge.

Double Decoder by Fraz
New Interpretation by Mr E
Old Milwaukee by Tortoise and Ucaiomhu
Over-the-weekend cryptics for pairs solving.
Solutions are due by 8:15PM Saturday.

8:00 PM
Another evening of puzzles and games:


Points of Order by Jangler and Noam
See how well you rank in this trivia challenge,

Dropdown by Arcs
A game of categories where you can use all the letters you want, so long as you use them a lot.

Swap Quiz by Rubrick
These trivia triplets would be, well, trivial, if they hadn’t swapped words among themselves.

10:00 AM
Business meeting


2:15 PM
An afternoon of pencil-and-paper competitions:


Time Test by Willz
Seven wordplay challenges. 30 minutes. Go!

Meshing Around by Manx
A new twist on alternades that will have you going in different directions.

The French Connection [flat-solving competition] compiled by Saxifrage
In which each flat has been written in the form of a classical dizain, lai or kyrielle.

5:30 PM
Convention photo (dressing up is welcome)
Meet in the lobby.

6:45 PM
The Golden Sphinx Awards presented by Teki [during dessert]
Recognizing outstanding achievement in contributions to The Enigma in 2017.

8:15 PM
Charm School [extravaganza] by Donimo, Firetruck, Pacho, Scarab, Spoon and
Finishing school is a tricky challenge, but you’ve got the glamour to do it.

10:30 AM
Awards for all the weekend contests

Friday Dinner: 6:00-7:30 PM
Saturday Breakfast: 8:00-9:45 AM
Saturday Lunch: Noon-1:45 PM
Saturday Dinner: 6:00-7:30 PM
Sunday Breakfast: 8:00-10:00 AM

This is the hotel for Con. The hotel is home to the Kil@Wat bar/restaurant on the main level and the Clear restaurant on the second level.

The hotel is 15 minutes away from the airport (~$28 for a taxi, $20 for a Lyft)

Parking connected to the hotel is $28/night

To get to the hotel from the airport, get on the Green line and take it North to Water & Wells #630, which is one block from the hotel. This is about a 25 minute ride (here is a map showing the route). Cost is $2.25 cash or pre-install the Ride MCTS app for cashless riding at $2. The somewhat inaccurate Green line schedule is here. Buses run about every 15 minutes at peak times to about every 25 minutes off peak.

Open 24 hours (price was quoted at 5¢/page).

Hours: 7:30 AM - 9:00 PM M-F

closest to the hotel

ATM only available during business hours

It's a mall.

It looks like Kilowatt, but this is actually short for Kilbourne at Water, the two streets connected to the hotel.

One of Milwaukee's best known hangouts. A spy-themed restaurant where you'll be asked for a password to get in, but will still be able to "earn" your way in if you don't know it.

My pick for best burgers in Milwaukee. They deliver peanutes to your table via model bomber plane. This place is not recommended if you have peanut allergies. Featured on Man V Food.

Great pizza close to the hotel. They have an amazing Mac-n-Cheese pizza and great vegetarian pizzas as well.

The best place near the hotel to get a brat (though certainly not the only place).

Typical American fare along with ping-pong tables

Straight-forward sandwiches

Home to the Thanksgiving In a Ball special

Old-fashioned deli/store with free Atari 2600 machine to play in the middle of the store

Damn fine soup and salad joint

American fare. Straightforward options that please.

Hot dog joint with lots and lots of choices, including a great vegetarian build-your-own dog

There are two Escape Rooms in walking distance from the hotel, about two blocks from each other. There are six more locations in a 10 mile radius from the hotel.

Two Rooms (The Device and The Tailgate). These rooms are original, one of a kind rooms. Rumor has it that the Tailgate is a bit harder than the Device. Reservations are for the whole room and prices are reasonable if you go a couple people short of the room maximum, as puzzlers are known to do. 4.5 stars on Yelp, 4.8 on Google

Note: They have opened up extra slots for both rooms earlier in the day on Thursday and Friday for us. If you want a time they are not showing, call and ask and they may be able to make it available.

Four rooms (The Dig, The Agency, Apartment, The Rec Room). This is a chain with good rooms. The Apartment and The Dig are duplicates of the rooms with the same name at Escape the Room Boston (they're good rooms but you won't want to do them twice). 4 stars on Yelp, 4.8 on Google

Note: They have opened up extra slots for The Agency and The Rec Room earlier in the day on Thursday and Friday for us. They are offering an NPL discount if you reserve a whole room. Pay for 8 (normally 10) for The Agency; pay for 6 (normally 8) for The Rec Room. Call Michael (Manager) at 1-414-899-3360 to reserve a room. You'll pay when you arrive but make sure to call if you have to cancel. Do not book online if you want the whole room — they are unable to make refunds once booked. If you want one of the other two rooms at a time slot that is not shown, ask and they may be able to make it available.

This location may show up on web searches (and their web site still has room info), but it has closed.

You can get a tour for less than $10 with free beer (or soda) samples at the end

It's not the largest public market in the US, but still offers a great deal of local fare and food

Oldest bowling lane in America. Features a top-rated tavern featured in Esquire