A puzzle book by Blaž Urban Gracar
Discover a vast unknown world and learn its cryptic language
through more than 90 word-search puzzles!
LOK is a book of mind-bending word-search puzzles.
The goal of each puzzle is to find Lok keywords and use their special effects to black out all cells in a grid. On top of that, you must also figure out most of the rules by yourself, deducing them from the carefully crafted sequence of more than 90 puzzles, contained in the main storyline, 2 expansions and many off-page enigmas. The result is a deep and rewarding experience with surprising twists and insights.
LOK is available as a physical book. It is spiral-bound and it includes a transparent sheet that can be placed over any page and drawn on with a dry erase marker. Solving puzzles on paper is the way that LOK is meant to be played. Buy it here.
PDF available in English, Japanese and Slovenian
LOK is also available as a free PDF for everyone to enjoy. You can draw over the PDF with any drawing tool software - a good free drawing tool is Drawboard. You can also download the Japanese edition (translated by Competor) and the Slovenian edition. Download the PDF from the LOK's Itch.io page.
Currently in development
LOK Digital is the video-game adaptation of LOK. Made in collaboration with Raindrinker (Icedrop Games), it expands on the original paper puzzle premise with new puzzles, mechanics and paper-transcending twists. Play the demo.
REVIEWS
Shut Up And Sit Down Review (starts at 6:46)
"... I’ve always adored puzzle games, especially those that ask their players to break out of the box ... LOK is too good to leave alone. One more reason Gracar has become one of the up-and-coming designers I’m most eager to watch develop."
"... While the market is currently flooded with all kinds of derivative logic books filled with computer generated Sudokus and Kakuros, LOK differentiates itself as an ingenious passion project of someone who simply wants to contribute to the world of puzzling."
"... So I really enjoyed this ... I liked the way it introduces the rules, because it doesn't tell you strictly the rules, but it just shows you a puzzle and 'Oh, there's a new word! ... This puzzle is solvable, so what does the new word do? ... This word must do something that blacks out these squares,' and so you kind of figure out what it does, which I think is really cool."
- Board Game Blitz review (time-stamp: 1:23)
VIDEOS
Playthrough of the first 5 puzzles of the book:
Playthrough stream of LOK by Joe Plays Puzzle Games (click here to watch the full playlist):
INTERVIEWS
"What’s the difference between a puzzle and a game? Heck if we know. Today’s Space-Cast delves into two puzzle titles by designer Blaž Gracar: the 18-card microgame All Is Bomb and the pen-and-transparent-sheet game LOK. Listen in as we discuss both games, the value of nonsense words, and share some of our favorite puzzle recommendations."
"... It took me weeks to decide on some miniature details, like the correct font for titles, or the alignment of chapter artworks. Everything needed to match the vision, and it was hard to be certain what is correct in some aspects. But I’m very happy with how it all came together in the end."
MENTIONS
Ava: "I'm faintly worried you just hallucinated the game..." Tom: "It does sound that way, doesn't it?"
- Shut Up And Sit Down Podcast (time-stamp: 29:15)
"... Everybody’s done a word search. But have you done a word search that asks you to black out every single space, bounce around a grid via mind-teasing powers, and decipher nonsense words? That’s Blaž Gracar’s LOK in a nutshell ... Publish these in newspapers and you’d delay the death of print."
"... In chapter one it's like when you're learning a language in a classroom, with teachers and students ... Chapter two is like when you're using a dictionary or Google Translate, you kind of get the grasp of it, you just need to get a quick confirmation, "What's that word, oh right, I understand it, I can use it in a sentence,' ... Then from chapter three onwards, it's like you're in the country and you're just watching and you're observe and you're trying to pick up what you can and put it in a some sort of a context ..."
- The Staying In Podcast (time-stamp: 12:28)
"... LOK was also a particular highlight of 2022. It was such a delight to sit down away from the screen with a book of beautifully formatted puzzles. I love the moment it basically just says 'This puzzle is solvable. Figure out the rules.' ..."
- Thinky Games' Highlights of 2022
DEVELOPMENT LOGS
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LOK Digital demo available now! (March 12, 2023)
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LOK Second Edition (January 16, 2023)
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LOK Digital reveal (November 06, 2022)
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LOK Japanese Edition (September 26, 2022)
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LOK is back on stock! (August 22, 2022)
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First print run of LOK sold out! (July 30, 2022)
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LOK is out now! (July 20, 2022)
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Almost there (For real this time) (July 03, 2022)
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Slowly nearing the finish line (April 20, 2022)
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First draft of LOK finished! (March 03, 2022)
LOK was made by Blaž Urban Gracar, a Slovenian artist. He is a musician (composing music for theatre, producing left-field electronica, playing keyboards in a rock band), writer (publishing poetry, prose and comic books), filmmaker (editing and animating short films) and game designer (mostly creating puzzly solo games). He lives by the sea with his partner, her daughter, three cats, a dog and a turtle.
