What happens if you make a crossword out of Reddit r/gaming
As a fan of dense New York Times-style crosswords, I challenged myself to create topic-specific puzzles. It turns out that generating crosswords and efficiently placing words is a non-trivial computational problem. I started the project, "Joystick Jargon" combining traditional crossword elements with gaming-related vocabulary. Here's the technical process behind it: 1. Data Source: Used a 3.8 Million Rows Reddit dataset from Hugging Face (https://huggingface.co/datasets/webis/tldr-17). 2. Data Filtering: Narrowed down to gaming-related subreddits (r/gaming,…
In plain words
Joystick Jargon is a crossword puzzle generator that creates gaming-themed puzzles using vocabulary extracted from Reddit's gaming communities. The tool processes Reddit data through machine learning techniques to identify relevant gaming keywords, then algorithmically generates traditional crossword grids populated with gaming terminology. It is designed for crossword enthusiasts who want puzzles focused on video game culture and gaming-related language rather than general topics.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
As a fan of dense New York Times-style crosswords, I challenged myself to create topic-specific puzzles. It turns out that generating crosswords and efficiently placing words is a non-trivial computational problem. I started the project, "Joystick Jargon" combining traditional crossword elements with gaming-related vocabulary. Here's the technical process behind it: 1. Data Source: Used a 3.8 Million Rows Reddit dataset from Hugging Face (https://huggingface.co/datasets/webis/tldr-17). 2. Data Filtering: Narrowed down to gaming-related subreddits (r/gaming, r/dota2, r/leagueoflegends). 3. Keyword Extraction: Employed ML techniques, specifically BERT-embeddings and cosine similarity, to extract keywords from the subreddits. 4. Data Preprocessing: Cleaned up data unsuitable for crossword puzzles. 5. Grid Generation: Implemented a heuristic crossword algorithm to create grids and place words efficiently. 6. Clue Generation: Utilized a Large Language Model to generate context-aware clues for the placed words. The resulting system creates crossword puzzles that blend traditional elements with gaming terminology, achieving about a 50-50 mix. This project is admittedly overengineered for its purpose, but it was an interesting exploration into natural language processing, optimization algorithms, and the intersection of traditional word games with modern gaming culture. A note on content: Since the data source is Reddit, some mature language may appear in the puzzles. Manual filtering was minimal to preserve authenticity. You can try the puzzles here: <https://capsloq.de/crosswords/joystick-jargon> I'm curious about the HN community's thoughts on this approach to puzzle generation? What other domains might benefit from similar computational techniques for content creation?
Does the same job
all alternatives →- IMI made an interactive math crossword puzzle with infinite levels2024 · scientific.place · ▲165
Hey there! I'm the brains behind the math crossword game on my site. This game is all about making math a little more fun – users just drag and drop numbers to fill in the blanks and move on to the next level if they get it right. Let me know if face any issues or have any suggestions! :)
- EIExperiments in AI-generation of crosswords2024 · abstractnonsense.com · ▲38
Hi HN, I've been experimenting on-and-off over the years trying to automatically generate crosswords [1]. Recently I've been feeling like my results are good enough that I want to share them and see what other people think. I'm not trying to claim that these could appear in, say, the NYT in their current state, but honestly the velocity of progress makes me feel like I will inevitably be able to automatically generate NYT-quality crosswords within just a year or so. A write-up is here: https://abstractnonsense.com/crosswords.html And you can play the crosswords here:…
- HAHuewords, a Word and Logic Puzzle2024 · huewords.snellman.net · ▲114
This is a game I wrote over the last month and a bit. The effort allocation was pretty different from what I've done in the past. The game design snapped together very quickly: I had the initial idea, played a couple of games on a spreadsheet to get a feel for the idea, and made one change based on those plays. After that everything felt just right through multiple rounds of playtesting. Likewise the puzzle generation is nowhere near as elaborate as in my previous game, fairly simple methods worked well and provided good variety. Instead I ended up spending silly amounts of time on curating…
- OAOmiword – A daily, sector-based word puzzle2025 · omiword.com · ▲56
Hi everybody. I occasionally make little browser-based games, and this is my latest attempt. It's not quite done, but it's quite playable (note: it does include audio): https://www.omiword.com/ This has been my occasional tinker target for ~5 years now, starting in the early days of Covid. The objective is to drag letter tiles within certain boundaries to spell four common American-English words. It hasn't got ads or anything, it's just supposed to be fun for its own sake. If people happen to like it, I might add an option for folks to make a small, one-time payment to unlock…
- IMI made a web game that makes practicing basic arithmetic fun2024 · worchle.com · ▲161
Hey, maker here. After launching a daily word search game, I randomly thought of this math game while driving. Finally got around to making it and I think it turned out pretty cool. It’s a math search game that’s meant to help you practice your quick addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. I’m hoping it’ll help people (even those like me who aren’t big on math) learn and increase their speeds. (There are also some settings you can enable to make the game harder) If you try it out, please let me know if you found it fun, if you have anything you’d like me to add, or if you…
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