A community for games you love to solve

Welcome, puzzlers and problem solvers! We're a community of thinky fans who want to share amazing games with as many people as possible.

What's a thinky game?

Thinky games are those you love to solve — all about careful reasoning, rather than fast reflexes or dexterity. If you find yourself thinking through a problem and then, when the insights finally dawn on you, exclaiming “aha!”, you’re probably playing a thinky game.

We believe thinky games are for everyone. If you enjoy relaxing with a crossword, figuring out whodunit before the TV detective does, or wrapping your head around an intriguing riddle, we think you'll love these games. Logic games, detective games, mystery games, strategy games, math games, adventure games — there are so many wonderful thinky games to discover!

What do we do?

We publish news and reviews[thinkygames.com] about thinky games, and we curate a huge database[thinkygames.com] where you can find thinky essentials as well as more niche releases.

We send out a biweekly newsletter[thinkygames.com] to help you catch up with the latest thinky happenings. It includes a free web game recommendation to play and discuss — like a little thinky book club!

We also host the Thinky Awards[thinkygames.com] to shine a spotlight on the very best thinky games of the year.

Our curator page & our socials

You can follow our curator page to get recommendations right from the comfort of your Steam account. :)

And of course you can follow us on socials[linktr.ee] or come chat with our community on Discord![thinkygames.com]

(We also recommend checking out the Puzzle Lovers group and Anokturnus's curator page on Steam, they're a great bunch!)

VIEW ALL

POPULAR DISCUSSIONS

VIEW ALL (3)

RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

ThinkyCon 2025

2 November - Thinky Games | 0 Comments

ThinkyCon is back!

ThinkyCon is back in just one week![thinkygames.com] From November 5-7 we have three days filled with presentations from game developers, publishers and other industry veterans covering a huge range of topics about how and why thinky games get made. This is our second (completely free) annual digital-video-conference event and we couldn't be more excited.

[previewyoutube="g1mhl2UlzuQ;full"][/previewyoutube]

Check our schedule and join us on YouTube

The ThinkyCon homepage[thinkygames.com] has all the info you need, including the full schedule of who's talking at what times and what their topics are, links to both our Discord[thinkygames.com] and our YouTube where you'll be able to watch the talks live, as well as a link to the itch.io page for our ThinkyCon game jam[itch.io] running immediately after the event(!) more on that down below...

From Wednesday to Friday next week, starting at 8:00am PT/11:00am EST/3pm GMT on the 5th, we'll have rolling presentations happening all day long. Of course the good news is that everything gets uploaded to YouTube in the end, so you'll be able to pick and choose whatever talks interest you if you miss any during ThinkyCon. (All of last year's talks are available to watch[thinkygames.com], many of them very in-depth and interesting, and they'll give you a good idea of what to expect from the event.)

Meet our speakers

This time around we've got well-known developers from the scene like Patrick Traynor of Parabox[thinkygames.com] fame, Adam Saltsman from Finji[thinkygames.com], and Corey Martin who made Bonfire Peaks[thinkygames.com]. There are talks about making hand-painted games and designing for emotions, a presentation from someone working on games for a major newspaper, and Thinky Games' own Luis is doing some kind of rant about Nicolas Cage?? Wonder how he slipped through our selection process...

Introducing the ThinkyCon Jam

The big accompanying event to our online conference is the ThinkyCon Jam[itch.io]! After the three days of talks have concluded, some researchers from the University of Utah are interested to find out what learnings aspiring game developers take away from the event.

They're partnering with us to run a game jam specifically themed around ThinkyCon 2025: you have a little over a week to take your time making something thinky inspired by one of the talks from the conference this year. The great part about being connected to official University research is that, as long as you agree to be part of the study, you're eligible to receive a $40USD gift card voucher just for joining the jam and making a qualifying game.

This is a relaxed kind of jam, as we prefer them to be, and there won't be any winners or prizes. It's all about getting the community together and having a reason to get inspired and try making something.

Even if you've never made a game before, if one of the presentations this year sparks your imagination, there are great free options[www.puzzlescript.net] for game development that work well for making small thinky games. Check out the jam page[itch.io] for details and join our discord[thinkygames.com]: there are lots of knowledgeable and friendly people there always willing to answer questions.

Join us on Nov 5-7!

We're seriously excited about all the ThinkyCon happenings this year[thinkygames.com], and we hope you'll tune in and enjoy everything we've got planned. See you there!

[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44830649/baa48d9eb107e5f365d5bdac282e743ce4123a8d.png"][/img]

Announcing our first ever Thinky Direct showcase

25 May - Thinky Games | 0 Comments

We've got an exciting announcement:

On May 29th, tune in at 10am PDT, 1pm EDT, 7pm CEST, 6pm BST to one of our biggest events yet: the inaugural Thinky Direct, packed with exclusive trailers, reveals and world premieres from some of the biggest talents in the world of thinky games.

Visit the Thinky Direct page on ThinkyGames.com for all the info and to watch the event on May 29th![thinkygames.com]

Here's the teaser we've cut together showing off some of what you can expect to see:

[previewyoutube=cIDaA1R_ONA;full][/previewyoutube]

There will be release dates revealed, new announcements, and never-before-seen trailers to feast your eyes on. Some very exciting studio and developer names have joined the list to participate in our first ever Direct, and we couldn't be more excited to share everything they've been working on. Akupara Games, Draknek & Friends and Wholesome Games are some of the big names confirmed to be part of the presentation, and you may have recognized some other upcoming titles in the trailer...

The Thinky Direct serves as a big kick-off to the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase[www.cerebralpuzzleshowcase.com], a huge annual Steam event celebrating the world of puzzle games we love with big sales and lots of new releases, running from May 29th to June 5th.

Make sure to stick around after the Direct for an exclusive livestream where we'll be previewing some of the featured games. It's all happening at ThinkyGames.com, May 29th at 10am PDT, 1pm EDT, 7pm CEST, 6pm BST[thinkygames.com]. See you there!