BloomingCon

BloomingCon, the 186th National Puzzlers’ League convention, will be in Bloomington, Indiana, July 9-12, organized and hosted by joey, KayG, Qoz, Willz, and ESPN.

The pre-con cookout aka picnic is July 8 from 6-8 on the Solarium patio. If you have any questions about the convention, the con hosts can be reached at bloomingcon@puzzlers.org.

Quick Links

Registration is closed • Hotel Rooms • Airport Shuttle Bus • Convention Drop-in Policy
Lilly Library: Activity Room Signup • Special Collections Pop-Up Signup

July 8: It's Happening!

We are looking forward to seeing you in beautiful Bloomington!

We did a small test run of the Activity Room Tuesday, with a few people who arrived on Monday, and we think you are really going to love it!

Some last minute reminders:

There are lots of important things in the July 1 update. Please check it out if you missed it.
You may have noticed that the look of the website changed. For the week of con, we have optimized the Guide and Restaurant pages for mobile phone viewing, and most sections are collapsed. Tap on the section you want to see.
The cookout aka picnic is today, on the Solarium Patio, weather permitting. We'll move inside to the Solarium if it rains, but the Solarium will be available for anyone who wants to be inside, before, during, and after the cookout.
There are still times available for both timed events at the Lilly Library, for all days. The links are on the main con web page, and the guidepage, and right here: Activity Room Signup • Special Collections Pop-Up Signup (Reminder, if your device is set to Eastern time, you may see incorrect times. Rerfresh the page to get the correct times.
We had previously said you could sign up for 2 hours in the Activity Room. You can now sign up for an extra hour, and if you are here on Wednesday, you can sign up for two extra hours on Wednesday.. The most available times are:
- Wednesday 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm
- Thursday 12 pm, 3 pm
- Friday 1 pm, 3 pm
If you haven't yet signed up yet for an entry time for the Special Collections Pop-Up on Thursday, the most available times are: 2:20, 2:40, 2:50, 3:20
Room signups are all about managing capacity. There are only so many chairs. If you're in the room and your time is up, but it's not filling up yet (no time slot is completely full at this time), feel free to stick around for a while. This is all on the honor system — nobody is checking your ticket at the door.
Hotel checkin time is 4 pm; checkout time is noon.
The hotel has hotel maps at the front desk. There's also a QR code for an online map. There is also a list of which floors everything is located on next to the elevators. The IMU floors are L(obby), M(ain), 1, 2, 3, 4. The 1st floor has all our convention spaces, including hospitality, along with 1/4 of the hotel rooms.
If you want to get to The Vault brew pub, you have to go to the special Vault elevator on the Main level.

July 1: Restaurants, Escape Rooms, and Con Handouts

We just released our last pre-con update to the BloomingCon website:

We've added lots more information on restaurants, including late night options, plus information on the IMU's outside food rules (a bit more flexible than at most cons). We encourage you to bring a refillable water bottle, which you can fill up at the drink filling stations.
If you are bringing a guest (anyone other than a child who is not mobile on their own) please register them for a free guest registration. They can also sign up for the Wednesday cookout aka picnic. Use special case code CON26-LATEPICNIC.
If you haven't already, please sign up for times to visit the Lilly Library for the hands-on puzzles in the Activity Room on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, and for the Items from the Special Collection on Thursday afternoon. You may drop in anytime Friday afternoon for the Lexicograhers in Residence. Details here.
If you are taking the Airport Shuttle Bus, sign up by July 1 for the discount pricing.
(UPDATE July 3: The discount seems to still be working, but we encourage you to reserve your seats both ways as soon as possible)
Both escape rooms in town have all original games and great ratings. They are opening extra hours during the day to accommodate NPL members and are offering us discounts as well. Details here.
If you are bring a con handout, local copy shop Mr. Copy is offering a 10% discount to BloomingCongoers and free delivery to the Biddle Hotel, and their prices were already the lowest in town. They specialize in bulk printing and do not make single copies or have self-service copying. Details here.
If you still haven't registered, late registration closes on July 3, midnight ET.
(UPDATE July 3: registration is closed)
Last, but not least, to whet your appetite just a little bit for all the puzzling to come, we've created a small BloomingCon-themed cryptic for your solving pleasure.

June 23: Normal Registration is Closed

Normal con registration is now closed. The late registration con fee is $320; we will be open for late registration until July 3. The codes for registering guests and picnic-only guests have changed as well. Use CON26-LATEGUEST and CON26-LATEPICNIC.

June 16: Post-Deadline Hotel Rooms

The extended hotel deadline has passed and we hope everybody has a room. But, if you have procrastinated and don't have a room, there are three options, including group rates we've arranged at two nearby hotels.

First, we expect a few people who reserved rooms at The Biddle will end up being unable to attend con, so their already-reserved rooms will be available at the convention rate. Please reach out to us (bloomingcon@puzzlers.org) and we will make these rooms available on a first come, first served basis, based on dates reserved. You probably also want to make a reservation at one of the overflow hotels.

(UPDATE: Discount expired, but rooms are still available) The first hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn, a 0.7 mile walk, and right off E 7th St, the same street that the IMU Complex is on. It was remodeled recently and is quite nice. Rates are $119 for either a single King room or a two Queen room, so you save a bit of money in exchange for having to walk back and forth. Rates include a complimentary breakfast and free parking. Reservation deadline is June 23. Click here to reserve a room at the Hilton Garden Inn

(UPDATE: Discount expired) And, finally, we have The Graduate, a "boutique" hotel built 8 years ago, which is a definite step up but pricier. It's also closer to the IMU Complex, with a 0.5 mile walk through Dunn Meadow and the Sample Gates. After dark, we recommend avoiding Dunn Meadow, which makes it 0.6 miles. Rates are $169 per night for a single King room. Reservation deadline is June 23. Click here to reserve a room at The Graduate

Like the Biddle, all hotel room prices are +12% tax.

June 1: Con Guide, The Lilly, and Guests

BloomingCon will be here any day now!

Con Guide

Our initial Con Guide is now available. It currently includes some essential FAQ, updated info on getting to Bloomington and in-town transportation, and basic dining information.

We will continue to update between now and July.

The Lilly Library

There is now a page dedicated to the Lilly Library, with a lot more detail on what's happening — the Activity Room with rare and interesting puzzles pulled especially for BloomingCon, the public exhibition of the Kripke Dictionary Collection, and two special NPL-specific sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoon created just for us. Because space is limited, you'll need to sign up for time slots, starting June 9. More details are on the Lilly Library page.

Guest Registrations (and Picnic Attendees)

Anyone who comes with you other than a child who is not mobile on their own is considered a guest, and they must be registered if they will be in any of our convention spaces, including our meeting rooms and the Hospitality Suite. This includes spouses, children, parents, partners, etc. Guests will receive a nomtag, which they should wear when they are in our spaces.

The way to register a guest is to fill out the registration form and enter CON26-GUEST into the Special Cases field at the bottom, then click Apply. This will change the total cost to $0. Then choose Another Method for the Pay With field, and enter "guest" in the Please note how you will be paying field.

Sometimes, guests want to attend the picnic (cookout) on Wednesday to hang out with attendees they know. We can arrange that! Instead of following the instructions above, they should fill out the registration form and enter CON26-PICNICONLY into the Special Cases field at the bottom, then click Apply. The fee is $30. Check out as usual.

If you have more than one guest, you will have to register each one separately. If you register somebody for the picnic, you do not have to also register them as a guest — it's one or the other.

NOTE: When you register guests or picnic-goers, you should make sure you are not signed into the website. If you are, it will create a record with your name and nom, not theirs. Before registering a guest, you should sign out, or use an incognito/private browsing window or a different browser. (If you mess up, let us know and we'll fix it.)

May 1: BloomingCon Deadlines and Airport Bus Info

See the Con Guide for the latest information.

The deadline for hotel room reservations at the convention discount price is June 8.
puzzlers.org/con2026/hotel

The deadline for con registration at the standard rate is June 22.
puzzlers.org/con2026/registration
(After June 22, the rate increases $50.)

Airport Transportation

Go Express Travel has a great bus service which will take you right to BloomingCon! The bus drops you off and picks you up right next to the entrance to the hotel.

We have negotiated a significant discount on the airport shuttle bus, normally $38 each way. The discount is $11 per ride, in addition to the online discount of $5, lowering the rate to $22. You must book online by July 1 with Go Express Travel. puzzlers.org/con2026/airport

Click Book Now and then choose the Bloomington Airport Shuttle. Enter your travel date (make sure you don’t set it May or June by mistake). Select Indianapolis International Airport (IND) for Traveling From and I.U. Memorial Union for Traveling To. On the next page, where it asks for a “Number of Bags”, note that this is for additional bags beyond the allowed bags of 1 full size bag and 1 carry-on per passenger. Finally, on the Checkout page, enter the promotional code Puzzle2026 to get the discount. You need to make two reservations, one each way. Your credit card will be charged at the time you make your reservations.

Buses run every hour on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and every two hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

At the Indianapolis Airport, the shuttle picks up at the Ground Transportation Center located directly across from baggage claim area on the lower level of the main terminal in Zone 1 (see diagram)

At the hotel, the bus stop is in the circle drive, steps from the entrance to the Biddle Hotel.

April 1: BloomingCon Registration Open

See the Con Guide for the latest information.

It’s April, and that means it’s time to start getting ready for this summer’s NPL convention. We are looking forward to seeing you July 9-12 and welcoming you to Bloomington, the Pride of Indiana! This year, Condé Nast Traveler and Travel and Leisure both ranked the Bloomington campus of Indiana University among the most beautiful campuses in the nation, with its collegiate gothic limestone architecture and natural features such as the Jordan River, Dunn’s Woods, and the arboretum.

In addition to our expansive official spaces in The Indiana Memorial Union, you’ll find a multitude of gathering spaces for puzzle-solving, along with half a dozen restaurants. Just off the campus, Bloomington’s west side is lively, diverse, and teeming with international cuisine and activities.

The Lilly Library

And then there’s the Slocum Puzzle Collection at the Lilly Library, which we’ve been telling you about. A number of exhibits will be available whenever the library is open. These include the Slocum Room, which is their permanent public exhibit; some public area exhibits the library is working on; and a special exhibition of the Kripke dictionary collection recently acquired by the Lilly. Those alone will be worth the visit for many, but there’s more. Our special access room showcasing some rare and interesting mechanical puzzles for hands-on play will be available Tuesday through Friday. Folks who want to get some extra time should consider visiting the Lilly on Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll have details in May on how you can sign up for time slots.

Hotel reservations

Our hotel block at the Biddle contains two types of rooms. Rooms with one queen bed, for up to double occupancy, are $139 per night plus tax. Rooms with two queen beds, for up to quadruple occupancy, are $169 per night plus tax. Hotel tax in Bloomington is 13%. To make your reservation, go to puzzlers.org/con2026/hotel or call 800–209-8145 or 812–855-2536 and use the group code NPL2026. Our discount rates are good from Monday, July 6th, through Tuesday, July 14th. The deadline to get that rate is also June 8. For those driving, the guest parking fee is $6 per day, added to your hotel account. More information on transportation from and to the airport will be available in May.

Registration

The con fee for BloomingCon has been set at $270 for registrations made by June 22; registrations made after that date will be $320. You can register for BloomingCon at puzzlers.org/con2026/registration

Thanks and see you in Bloomington!

Convention "Drop-In" Policy

Locals and guests of attendees can "drop-in" for a single session Thursday or Friday night without paying and we encourage local puzzlers considering membership to do so. Thursday and Friday night sessions start at 8PM, and we recommend you touch base with a Con Host or an Ambassador when you arrive (look for the white or red ribbons, respectively, below their nomtags). If you like what you see at the session, it may be possible for a local person pay the con fee during con, in order to attend the rest of con (and join the league too). If you are interested, reach out to a con host or email bloomingcon@puzzlers.org before dropping in.

Sessions are in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union, and we recommend you arrive a little bit early so you can get a nom tag. Thursday is preferred to Friday.

BloomingCon Hosts

Qoz, Joey, KayG, ESPN, Willz
In Memoriam: Ember

Read the original announcement from 2025.

NPL Code of Conduct: www.puzzlers.org/conduct

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