Credits
Jigsaw Puzzle artwork
Jigsaw Puzzle uses 26 original AI-generated nature-and-animal illustrations made for Brain Brunch. The interlocking piece shapes are drawn by project code. No stock photographs or licensed picture packs are used for that game.
Word lists
Word Ladder, Word Builder, Hidden Five, Cipher Cross and Letter Orbit use word lists derived from SCOWL (Spell Checker Oriented Word Lists) by Kevin Atkinson, used under the license below. We removed offensive words and chose puzzle words from the most common lists.
The collective work is Copyright 2000-2016 by Kevin Atkinson as well
as any of the copyrights mentioned below:
Copyright 2000-2016 by Kevin Atkinson
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell these word
lists, the associated scripts, the output created from the scripts,
and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and
that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
supporting documentation. Kevin Atkinson makes no representations
about the suitability of this array for any purpose. It is provided
"as is" without express or implied warranty.
Alan Beale <biljir@pobox.com> also deserves special credit as he has,
in addition to providing the 12Dicts package and being a major
contributor to the ENABLE word list, given me an incredible amount of
feedback and created a number of special lists (those found in the
Supplement) in order to help improve the overall quality of SCOWL.
The 10 level includes the 1000 most common English words (according to
the Moby (TM) Words II [MWords] package), a subset of the 1000 most
common words on the Internet (again, according to Moby Words II), and
frequently class 16 from Brian Kelk's "UK English Wordlist
with Frequency Classification".
The MWords package was explicitly placed in the public domain:
The Moby lexicon project is complete and has
been place into the public domain. Use, sell,
rework, excerpt and use in any way on any platform.
Placing this material on internal or public servers is
also encouraged. The compiler is not aware of any
export restrictions so freely distribute world-wide.
You can verify the public domain status by contacting
Grady Ward
3449 Martha Ct.
Arcata, CA 95521-4884
grady@netcom.com
grady@northcoast.com
The "UK English Wordlist With Frequency Classification" is also in the
Public Domain:
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2000 20:27:21 +0100
From: Brian Kelk <Brian.Kelk@cl.cam.ac.uk>
> I was wondering what the copyright status of your "UK English
> Wordlist With Frequency Classification" word list as it seems to
> be lacking any copyright notice.
There were many many sources in total, but any text marked
"copyright" was avoided. Locally-written documentation was one
source. An earlier version of the list resided in a filespace called
PUBLIC on the University mainframe, because it was considered public
domain.
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 19:31:34 +0100
> So are you saying your word list is also in the public domain?
That is the intention.
The 20 level includes frequency classes 7-15 from Brian's word list.
The 35 level includes frequency classes 2-6 and words appearing in at
least 11 of 12 dictionaries as indicated in the 12Dicts package. All
words from the 12Dicts package have had likely inflections added via
my inflection database.
The 12Dicts package and Supplement is in the Public Domain.
The WordNet database, which was used in the creation of the
Inflections database, is under the following copyright:
This software and database is being provided to you, the LICENSEE,
by Princeton University under the following license. By obtaining,
using and/or copying this software and database, you agree that you
have read, understood, and will comply with these terms and
conditions.:
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
database and its documentation for any purpose and without fee or
royalty is hereby granted, provided that you agree to comply with
the following copyright notice and statements, including the
disclaimer, and that the same appear on ALL copies of the software,
database and documentation, including modifications that you make
for internal use or for distribution.
WordNet 1.6 Copyright 1997 by Princeton University. All rights
reserved.
THIS SOFTWARE AND DATABASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED. BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-
ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE
LICENSED SOFTWARE, DATABASE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY
THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.
The name of Princeton University or Princeton may not be used in
advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software
and/or database. Title to copyright in this software, database and
any associated documentation shall at all times remain with
Princeton University and LICENSEE agrees to preserve same.
The 40 level includes words from Alan's 3esl list found in version 4.0
of his 12dicts package. Like his other stuff the 3esl list is also in the
public domain.
The 50 level includes Brian's frequency class 1, words appearing
in at least 5 of 12 of the dictionaries as indicated in the 12Dicts
package, and uppercase words in at least 4 of the previous 12
dictionaries. A decent number of proper names is also included: The
top 1000 male, female, and Last names from the 1990 Census report; a
list of names sent to me by Alan Beale; and a few names that I added
myself. Finally a small list of abbreviations not commonly found in
other word lists is included.
The name files form the Census report is a government document which I
don't think can be copyrighted.
The file special-jargon.50 uses common.lst and word.lst from the
"Unofficial Jargon File Word Lists" which is derived from "The Jargon
File". All of which is in the Public Domain. This file also contain
a few extra UNIX terms which are found in the file "unix-terms" in the
special/ directory.
The 55 level includes words from Alan's 2of4brif list found in version
4.0 of his 12dicts package. Like his other stuff the 2of4brif is also
in the public domain.
The 60 level includes all words appearing in at least 2 of the 12
dictionaries as indicated by the 12Dicts package.
The 70 level includes Brian's frequency class 0 and the 74,550 common
dictionary words from the MWords package. The common dictionary words,
like those from the 12Dicts package, have had all likely inflections
added. The 70 level also included the 5desk list from version 4.0 of
the 12Dics package which is in the public domain.
The 80 level includes the ENABLE word list, all the lists in the
ENABLE supplement package (except for ABLE), the "UK Advanced Cryptics
Dictionary" (UKACD), the list of signature words from the YAWL package,
and the 10,196 places list from the MWords package.
The ENABLE package, mainted by M\Cooper <thegrendel@theriver.com>,
is in the Public Domain:
The ENABLE master word list, WORD.LST, is herewith formally released
into the Public Domain. Anyone is free to use it or distribute it in
any manner they see fit. No fee or registration is required for its
use nor are "contributions" solicited (if you feel you absolutely
must contribute something for your own peace of mind, the authors of
the ENABLE list ask that you make a donation on their behalf to your
favorite charity). This word list is our gift to the Scrabble
community, as an alternate to "official" word lists. Game designers
may feel free to incorporate the WORD.LST into their games. Please
mention the source and credit us as originators of the list. Note
that if you, as a game designer, use the WORD.LST in your product,
you may still copyright and protect your product, but you may *not*
legally copyright or in any way restrict redistribution of the
WORD.LST portion of your product. This *may* under law restrict your
rights to restrict your users' rights, but that is only fair.
UKACD, by J Ross Beresford <ross@bryson.demon.co.uk>, is under the
following copyright:
Copyright (c) J Ross Beresford 1993-1999. All Rights Reserved.
The following restriction is placed on the use of this publication:
if The UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary is used in a software package
or redistributed in any form, the copyright notice must be
prominently displayed and the text of this document must be included
verbatim.
There are no other restrictions: I would like to see the list
distributed as widely as possible.
The 95 level includes the 354,984 single words, 256,772 compound
words, 4,946 female names and the 3,897 male names, and 21,986 names
from the MWords package, ABLE.LST from the ENABLE Supplement, and some
additional words found in my part-of-speech database that were not
found anywhere else.
Accent information was taken from UKACD.
The VarCon package was used to create the American, British, Canadian,
and Australian word list. It is under the following copyright:
Copyright 2000-2016 by Kevin Atkinson
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this array, the
associated software, and its documentation for any purpose is hereby
granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appears
in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation. Kevin Atkinson makes no
representations about the suitability of this array for any
purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
Copyright 2016 by Benjamin Titze
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this array, the
associated software, and its documentation for any purpose is hereby
granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appears
in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation. Benjamin Titze makes no
representations about the suitability of this array for any
purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
Since the original words lists come from the Ispell distribution:
Copyright 1993, Geoff Kuenning, Granada Hills, CA
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. All modifications to the source code must be clearly marked as
such. Binary redistributions based on modified source code
must be clearly marked as modified versions in the documentation
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
(clause 4 removed with permission from Geoff Kuenning)
5. The name of Geoff Kuenning may not be used to endorse or promote
products derived from this software without specific prior
written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY GEOFF KUENNING AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL GEOFF KUENNING OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.
Fonts
Bricolage Grotesque and DM Sans, served by Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License.
Puzzles and games
Every puzzle on this site is made by Brain Brunch: the crossword grids and every clue, the riddles (some are fresh takes on traditional folk riddles, retold in our own words), the Logic Grid stories and clues, the Picture Logic drawings, the Daily Sudoku, Math Mischief and What's Next? puzzles. They are created with the help of computer programs and AI, then checked by code (for example, every sudoku and Picture Logic puzzle is verified to have exactly one solution).
The game types themselves are classic, long-established puzzle formats. Word ladders were invented in 1877 by Lewis Carroll, who called them "Doublets". Sudoku is a familiar number-placement puzzle format (we don't use anyone's sudoku logo or design), Picture Logic is a nonogram-style puzzle, and Quad Royale is our own version of a classic connection game. Brain Brunch is not affiliated with any puzzle publisher, toy or game company.
Our board games are based on traditional games using familiar abstract-strategy formats: Reversi (a reversi-style game), Checkers (checkers-style), Penta Line (five-in-a-row), Dots and Boxes (dots and boxes), Mill Masters (nine men's morris) and Pebble Pits (a mancala-style sowing game). The rule explanations, board artwork and computer opponents were implemented for this site. These games are not connected with, or endorsed by, any company that sells a version of these classic games.
Chess follows the centuries-old rules of chess, which belong to everyone. Hex Bridge uses the rules of a classic connection game played on a board of hexagons, Starpoint Scramble is our version of the traditional star-board marble race, and Radar Strike follows the old pencil-and-paper fleet-guessing game. Hidden Rank Strategy is our own hidden-rank strategy game in the tradition of classic capture-the-flag board games, with its own aircraft ranks, Storms, Mechanics and board. The interfaces, rule explanations, chess piece drawings and computer opponents were implemented for this site, and none of these games is connected with, or endorsed by, any company that sells a version of a similar game.
Rise & Slide (and its Daily Climb) is our own take on the ancient race game in which players climb up and slide down a numbered board, a family game played in India for centuries before it spread around the world. Its two-dice choice, power-up cards, bump rule, Sky Islands and Jungle Temple themes, artwork and computer players are original to Brain Brunch. It is not connected with, or endorsed by, any company that sells a version of this classic game.
The Brain Training games (Card Flash, Ink Trick, Mental Arithmetic, Shape Rotation, Word Builder and the Daily Brain Workout) are designed and programmed by Brain Brunch, with our own names, artwork and scoring. They use familiar exercise types such as memory recall, color-word matching, mental math, shape rotation and word building. They are games for fun and are not a medical, psychological or IQ test.
Crossword answers, Word Ladder words and Word Builder words come from the SCOWL word lists credited above.
Hidden Five, Word Clusters, Daily Word Search, Secret Saying, Cipher Cross and Letter Orbit are original Brain Brunch games built on classic, long-established puzzle types (word guessing, word grouping, word search, cryptograms, codewords and word wheels). The interfaces and puzzle generators were implemented for this site, and they are not connected with, or endorsed by, any newspaper, app or company that publishes a similar game. The Word Clusters groups and Word Search themes were written by Brain Brunch. Secret Saying uses a curated bank of short sayings. We do not claim exclusive rights in common short phrases or public-domain material.
Sign Grid, Number Pens, Count Trail, Cross Sums, Sum Shot and Merge Climb are original Brain Brunch games built on classic, long-established number puzzle types (inequality grids, cage arithmetic grids, number paths, cross sums, arithmetic target puzzles and sliding merge puzzles). The interfaces, explanations and code were implemented for this site, and every puzzle is generated by our own code and checked to have exactly one answer (or, for Merge Climb, checked to be winnable). They are not connected with, or endorsed by, any newspaper, app, TV show or company that publishes a similar game.
Crown Garden, Island Links, Lantern Flip, Park & Slide, Safe Squares, Vault Code, Corral Loop and Shape Shadows are original Brain Brunch games built on classic, long-established puzzle types (crown/queen placement grids, bridge puzzles, light-switching puzzles, sliding-block puzzles, trap-finding number puzzles, the old pencil-and-paper code game "bulls and cows", loop-drawing puzzles and the centuries-old tangram). The interfaces, explanations, artwork and code were implemented for this site, and every puzzle is generated and checked by our own code (one answer each, solvable by logic, or for Park & Slide and Lantern Flip, with the true fewest moves worked out). They are not connected with, or endorsed by, any toy maker, app, social network or puzzle publisher that offers a similar game.
Artwork and sound
Category and sharing illustrations were created with AI assistance and edited for this site. Visual similarity and trademark review remain distinct from how an image was generated. Sound effects are synthesized in the browser without third-party recordings.