Annekatrin Baumann
Puzzle designer / game author
Profile
Annekatrin Baumann is a puzzle designer and game author from Stuttgart. Since 2018, she has been developing puzzle books, Advent calendars and games for publishers such as Frechverlag, PONS and Franzis. For clients such as SWR and Vodafone, she also designs digital puzzle formats, escape rooms and exhibitions.
Even as a child, Annekatrin Baumann loved solving puzzles and math problems on vacation, and she did so voluntarily. This early love of logic, of games in every form and of creative thinking has become her profession: as an author of escape room style puzzles and a game developer, she has published numerous books, Advent calendars, games and apps. Partly because of her degree in audiovisual media, her focus is always on unusual puzzle and game mechanics and on the interactive use of different analog and digital media.
Media
Introduction video by THE CREÄTIVE HOUSE
Featured on the Instagram channel SWR Heimat,
post from June 19, 2023
Short interview on SWR4 about the dream job of puzzle author, June 26, 2023
As a speaker at the “Next Frontiers” future congress
Newspaper article in "Acher & Bühler Bote"
Facts and figures
Since 2019, 14 puzzle books by Annekatrin Baumann have been published, along with seven puzzle Advent calendars and two games. Her titles have appeared with ten publishers and have been translated into Italian and Hungarian. Logika London 1850 and Sherlock Holmes und das schottische Seeungeheuer both made the Spiegel bestseller list in the Hobby and Creativity category.
The Tatort Game, for which she developed the puzzles, received the European Digital Publishing Award. The Vodafone web series Paranormal Connectivity 2, for which she developed the puzzles, won the Deutscher Digital Award 2024 in Silver.
Milestones
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2011: Bachelor of Engineering in Audiovisual Media at Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart (Stuttgart Media University).
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2016: Master of Arts in Electronic Media at Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart (Stuttgart Media University).
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2018: Started working as a puzzle author, initially part-time.
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2019: The first volumes of the Logika series are published by Frechverlag.
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2021: Move to full-time self-employment.
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2022: Training in the EMPAMOS method for analyzing game mechanics in Nuremberg.
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2023: The Tatort Game is released by SWR, and the game show Democracy on Fire premieres at the Futurium in Berlin.
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2025: Certified training as a board game specialist (Fachkraft für Gesellschaftsspiele) at the Brettspielakademie.
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2026: The exhibition 6 ways of thinking opens at OpenSpace Heilbronn.