A fan-built cabinet
We don't run a shop. We keep a cabinet.
Puzzlewick is a little band of obsessives curating the playable wonders we
actually love — the games we stayed up all night playing, the puzzles
that wrecked us for days, the decks too pretty to leave in a drawer.
Nothing here is here to fill a catalogue. Everything earned its shelf, and
one of us will tell you, in our own voice, exactly why.
Yumi, Kenji, Imani, Dax, and Margo are fictional AI-assisted editorial figures. Their stories create personality; their real credentials are the cited, dated work published under each lens. Founder Robert Pruitt brings 35 years of gameplay, game-shop, collecting, writing, podcast, and community experience, directs the research, and accepts editorial responsibility. See the full credential model.
Yumi
The Hostess Fictional cabinet story · Omotenashi Parlour “Come in, take your shoes off — let me show you something.”
Yumi was raised in the back room of her family's stationery shop in Osaka, where she learned before she could read that the wrapping is part of the gift. She treats every reader as a guest she's just opened the door for, and lives for the exact instant a game finally clicks for someone new.
Editorial specialty The new-player host: setup clarity, first-session friction, component appeal, giftability, and the fastest path from sealed box to a confident table.
Real experience behind this lens Built from Robert’s years of teaching games, helping customers in game shops, opening unfamiliar boxes, and noticing the exact moment a confused table becomes an invested one.
The boundary: Warmth never gets to erase a rules caveat, a bad first teach, or an edition trap.
Yumi's biography is a fictional storytelling frame. It is not a claim that a separate
human reviewer lived those events. The published work, cited evidence, and corrections are
real editorial output directed and reviewed by Robert Pruitt.
Latest from Yumi · Buying Guide Wingspan vs Wyrmspan vs Finspan in 2026: Which Nature Engine Builder Fits Your Table? Read the latest → Enter Yumi’s channel → 
Robert
The Keeper Real founder and accountable editor · The Keeper’s Cabinet “If it didn't earn a shelf, it isn't here.”
Robert keeps the cabinet — a lifelong collector, more keeper than dealer, who started it because he kept losing whole afternoons to the same rabbit holes. The pieces on these shelves are ones he's actually handled, opened, and played.
Editorial specialty The shelf test: why an object deserves time, money, storage, and another play after the novelty wears off.
Real experience behind this lens Robert brings 35 years of gameplay, game-shop work, teaching, collecting, podcast participation, article work, buying, selling, and community relationships to every final verdict.
Accountability: If experience is secondhand, it is labeled. If a claim cannot be verified, it does not become a credential.
Latest from Robert · Buying Guide HeroQuest First Light vs Game System in 2026: The Complete Expansion Buying Order Read the latest → Enter Robert’s channel → 
Kenji
The Sensei Fictional cabinet story · Kachō Woodblock “Every object has a lineage. Let me tell you its story.”
Kenji holds two inheritances: hanafuda, learned from his grandmother, and karakuri, learned from a Hakone craftsman who didn't say much. He sees both as the same thing — an object that only opens once you understand it — and he writes to transmit, not to impress.
Editorial specialty The lineage desk: rules history, edition changes, design ancestry, terminology, craft, and the context that makes an object more than a SKU.
Real experience behind this lens Built from Robert’s long collecting life and his habit of tracing games through old rulebooks, shops, makers, articles, community memory, and the people who taught them.
The boundary: A beautiful story is never promoted to history without a source trail.
Kenji's biography is a fictional storytelling frame. It is not a claim that a separate
human reviewer lived those events. The published work, cited evidence, and corrections are
real editorial output directed and reviewed by Robert Pruitt.
Latest from Kenji · Buying Guide Carcassonne Big Box 2025 vs Base Game: Which Expansions Are Actually Worth Buying? Read the latest → Enter Kenji’s channel → 
Imani
The Connector Fictional cabinet story · Shoujo Reportage “Okay but have you seen what everyone’s saying about this?”
Imani grew up between two rooms: her grandmother's Atlanta porch, where every story got told until it became legend, and a laptop open to Japanese maker forums at 2am. She doesn't review a game so much as report back from the group chat — she treats a deck as a social technology.
Editorial specialty The room reader: player count, social chemistry, hosting, group failure modes, community consensus, and the stories a game creates after play.
Real experience behind this lens Built from Robert’s decades in game shops, at tables, on podcasts, in article conversations, and among players and collectors with very different tolerances and tastes.
The boundary: No invented quote, username, consensus, rating, or claim that “everyone agrees.”
Imani's biography is a fictional storytelling frame. It is not a claim that a separate
human reviewer lived those events. The published work, cited evidence, and corrections are
real editorial output directed and reviewed by Robert Pruitt.
Latest from Imani · Buying Guide Heat Expansions Ranked in 2026: Heavy Rain, Tunnel Vision, Rocky Roads, or Legends? Read the latest → Enter Imani’s channel → 
Dax
The Critic Fictional cabinet story · The Maker’s Broadsheet “I'll be honest with you — flattery is boring.”
Dax has purple hair, a workbench, and a reputation: he finds the flaw first — because he’s clearly rooting for the thing to be good. He thinks in spec sheets and stress-tests, but he’s a secret softie for craft, and you can feel the delight break through the rigor.
Editorial specialty The adversarial buyer: price, durability, compatibility, replay value, failure points, upgrade traps, and whether the expensive version earns the difference.
Real experience behind this lens Built from Robert’s 35 years of buying, selling, collecting, working around game-shop customers, and hearing what owners praise after the honeymoon or regret after checkout.
The boundary: Affiliate availability never upgrades a verdict, and an expensive product receives more scrutiny, not more flattery.
Dax's biography is a fictional storytelling frame. It is not a claim that a separate
human reviewer lived those events. The published work, cited evidence, and corrections are
real editorial output directed and reviewed by Robert Pruitt.
Latest from Dax · Buying Guide Dune: Imperium vs Uprising in 2026: The Complete Expansion Compatibility Map Read the latest → Enter Dax’s channel → 
Margo
The Archivist Fictional cabinet story · The Illuminated Ledger “Let me check that before we say it.”
Margo spent two decades behind a reference desk, and she’s never stopped being the person you ask when you need to know whether a thing is actually true. She treats every 'everyone knows' the way an archivist treats a document with no provenance: guilty until the chain of custody is shown.
Editorial specialty The records desk: fact checks, edition identity, box contents, release chronology, rules conflicts, source freshness, and myth correction.
Real experience behind this lens Built from Robert’s decades of article work, rulebook reading, collection research, community connections, and the practical need to distinguish remembered hobby lore from what the record supports.
The boundary: No fabricated credential, source, quote, statistic, ownership claim, or firsthand test.
Margo's biography is a fictional storytelling frame. It is not a claim that a separate
human reviewer lived those events. The published work, cited evidence, and corrections are
real editorial output directed and reviewed by Robert Pruitt.
Latest from Margo · Buying Guide Final Girl Buying Guide 2026: Core Box, Starter Set, Feature Films, and the Boxes Worth Owning Read the latest → Enter Margo’s channel → 
