Welcome to Milwaukee!

Welcome to Milwaukee, referred to as Brew City or Cream City. You might think Cream City derives from the dairy farms in the area, but it actually has more to do with the cream-colored bricks that were used in buildings and houses in the late 1800s. You will often see Milwaukee abbreviated as MKE (the airport code) as well. The only jargon native to Milwaukee that you don't see in too many other places is that a water drinking fountain is often known as a "bubbler".

Hotel Information
Hotel Facilities
Hospitality Suite Room 1012
Hotel Stairs
Con Program & Mealtimes
The 179th Annual Convention
Meal Schedule
Travel In/Around Milwaukee
Arrival
Practical Stuff
Copy Shops
Pharmacy
Banks/Credit Unions
Shopping
Food and Drink
In the Hotel
Food Trucks
National Chains
Local Food and Drink
Escape Rooms
Sites of Interest
Monuments
Museums
Other Places

Hotel Information

Hotel Facilities

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.

Hospitality Suite Room 1012

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.

Hotel Stairs

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.

Con Program & Mealtimes

The complete official con program is available here.

The 179th Annual Convention

?????	Hidden Contest by Marmoset The hidden contest may be presented at any time. Find it. Solve it. Give Marmoset your answer. The solution will not be explained until Sunday morning, so multiple people may do it over the weekend.
Wed July 11th
6:00 PM	Eat, Meet and Greet [in the hotel]
Thu July 12th
8:00 PM	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.
Fri July 13th
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.
Sat July 14th
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.
Sun July 15th
10:30 AM	Awards for all the weekend contests

Meal Schedule

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

Travel In/Around Milwaukee

Arrival

Intercontinental Milwaukee

139 E Kilbourn Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202 map

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. web site

Milwaukee International Airport

5300 S Howell Ave, Milwaukee WI 53207 map

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

Parking at Hotel

139 E Kilbourn Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Parking connected to the hotel is $28/night

Buses from Airport to Hotel

https://www.ridemcts.com/

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.

Practical Stuff

Copy Shops

Action Digital Document Solutions

757 N Broadway #200, Milwaukee, WI 53202 map, 6 minute walk

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

FedEx Office Print & Ship Center

312 E Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 8 minute walk

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

Pharmacy

Walgreens

275 W E Wisconsin Ave #1108, Milwaukee WI 53203 map, 9 minute walk

closest to the hotel

Banks/Credit Unions

Chase Bank

111 E Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 7 minute walk

BMO Harris Bank

770 N Water St, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 4 minute walk

Associated Bank

815 N Water St., Milwaukee Wi 53202 map, connected to hotel

Enterprise Credit Union

765 N Broadway St., Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 6 minute walk

ATM only available during business hours

Shopping

The Shops of Grand Avenue

275 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee WI 53203 map, 8 minute walk

It's a mall.

Food and Drink

In the Hotel

Milwaukee Waterfront Deli

761 N Water St., Milwaukee WI 53202 map

Straight-forward sandwiches web site

Clear

In hotel, second level [https://goo.gl/maps/48bWWw51iDK2 map]]

Food Trucks

Across from the hotel 4 minute walk

If you walk out the front door of the hotel and look to your right down water street, you will see a number of food trucks.

National Chains

Starbucks

920 N Water St., Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 4 minute walk

Dunkin' Donuts

111 E Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 6 minute walk

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewer

740 N Plankinton Ave, Milwaukee WI 53203 map, 5 minute walk

web site

Subway

710 N Plankinton Ave, Milwaukee WI 53203 map, 5 minute walk

Local Food and Drink

Safe House

779 N Front St, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 3 minute walk

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. web site

AJ Bombers

1247 N Water St, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 8 minute walk

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. web site

Ian's Pizza

146 E Juneau Ave, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 7 minute walk

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

Milwaukee Brat House

1013 N Old World 3rd St., Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 6 minute walk

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

Evolution Gastro Pong

1023 N Old World 3rd St, Milwaukee, WI 53202 map, 6 minute walk

Typical American fare along with ping-pong tables web site

Milwaukee Waterfront Deli

761 N Water St., Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 6 minute walk

Straight-forward sandwiches web site

Comet Café

1947 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 9 minute drive

Home to the Thanksgiving In a Ball special web site

Koppa's Fulbeli Deli

1940 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 9 minute drive

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

Soup House Inc.

324 E Michigan St, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 10 minute walk

Damn fine soup and salad joint web site

Swingin' Door Exchange

219 E Michigan St., Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 9 minute walk

American fare. Straightforward options that please. web site

The Dogg Haus

755 N Water St, Milwaukee WI 53202 map, 4 minute walk

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

Escape Rooms

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.

Save Milwaukee

207 E Buffalo St #312, Milwaukee, WI 53202 map, 14 minute walk

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

web site

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.

Escape the Room Milwaukee

222 E Erie St, Milwaukee WI 53202 [https://goo.gl/maps/jmPC4zr6whN2 map], 16 minute walk

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

web site

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.