//16.4 HKFYG Highlights: Alumini
by Karman Shiu and Mia Yao
Two young innovators turned their passion for puzzles and community stories into a start-up business.
Over the past 180 years, the bustling Stone Nullah Lane in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district, has seen thousands and thousands of hurried pedestrians. More recently, one can observe a group of students weaving their way through old tenement buildings, historical sites, clutching papers and pointing at nearby shops. What are they doing?
It’s best to ask Fion Lau and Ken Chau.
In 2022, Fion and Ken founded something innovative and highly enjoyable, a unique social enterprise called Puzzle Weekly, which takes its participants on a journey of discovery by combining puzzles and community stories, to learn about specific neighbourhoods and people and to promote and preserve local culture.
Talking to Youth Hong Kong, two founders shared their journey of utilising gamification to share cultural stories and knowledge through interactive experiences.
Puzzling Out Ideas
In 2021, Fion was wrestling with her final-year project on communication design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). When researching about Hong Kong’s tourism industry, she met Ken, a public policy graduate and escape-room enthusiast. Together, they had a unique idea: combining passions and attempting to merge community stories in a game format. To bring this vision to life, Fion joined PolyU’s start-up incubation programme.
“Traditional methods like books and newspapers felt dull and uninviting. We wanted to use games, an engaging, fun medium, to help participants learn about a community without even realising it,” Fion explained.
The entrepreneurial journey was far from smooth. Fion and Ken described the initial phase as the toughest. “At the beginning, we knew almost nothing; from how to present our ideas, to fully grasp the concept of ‘real-world puzzle-solving,’” Fion recalled.
Their first pitch competition ended in failure, leaving them disappointed, but not deterred. Determined to refine their idea, they worked tirelessly with friends in their spare time to develop their first game, The Secret Messenger.
Set against the backdrop of rapid urban redevelopment in Wan Chai, the game encourages players to explore the district’s unique landmarks and uncover stories tied to its transformation. Participants are asked to navigate this old commercial area and solve riddles by gathering clues from the community.
Even residents of the area joined in, with some actively guiding other participants through the puzzles. Some players, despite living in Hong Kong all their lives, admitted their initial lack of familiarity with the area’s culture and architecture. 「Young participants had heard of Wedding Card Street but didn’t know its exact location or history. Through the game, they got to explore and learn,」 Fion shared.
A year later, Fion and Ken re-entered the same pitching competition in which they had not measured up introducing their first game The Secret Messenger. This time, they made it to the finals, securing the first round of funding and being able to establish their game design start-up, Puzzle Weekly.
At the 2022/23 HKFYG Young Techpreneur Project, Puzzle Weekly won the Outstanding Project Award. Fion and Ken are grateful for the support they received, including access to professionals from different fields.
Connecting Cultures
Realising the cultural diversity of the city, with 8% of is population identifying as ethnic minority groups, including South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Caucasians, among others, and while doing research for The Secret Messenger, Fion and Ken decided to launch a new project.
They brought together a team of about 20 young people, including those from local and ethnic minority backgrounds to launch a new project. Together, the team gathered stories, and developed a bilingual game book titled Cultural Go. With a multi-religious focus, the book combined illustrations and puzzles to introduce players to religious festivals, cultural practices, and beliefs from Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism.
Engaging residents through games has helped to forge a new connection between people and the community. 「People in Hong Kong are always busy with work, school and even holidays. They only notice old shops when they’re about to close down and then post it on social media without really understanding the culture behind it. I hope our games prompt players to pause, think, interact with their surroundings, and truly understand their community,」 Ken said.
“Never Stop Trying”
Speaking of Hong Kong’s start-up ecosystem, both Fion and Ken are optimistic. They highlighted various support programmes that provide free resources and expert-led workshops for participants who qualify. 「Young people can leverage these programmes to enhance their skills, gain industry insights, and slowly build connections,」 they noted.
Fion encouraged young entrepreneurs to embrace failure, seek professional guidance and try again. 「We failed countless times at first, but every failure taught us something new and introduced us to new people. What I want to say is never stop trying,」 she said, adding that the supporting programmes and competitions provided at universities are a great starting point to expand network and build one’s brand.
Expanding Puzzles
Currently, the team collaborates with organisations to design games on new themes like financial literacy, environmental protection, fraud prevention, and community conservation. Their mission is to use interactive, enjoyable experiences to help people explore issues, fostering awareness and visibility for different communities.
By telling Hong Kong stories through games, they hope to encourage young people to explore the community and inspire thoughtful conversations to preserve memories and create new ones. ■
Fion Lau is a forward-thinking developer of community-based puzzle hunts and the co-founder of social design enterprise Puzzle Weekly. This award-winning project has been shortlisted for the 2022/23 HKFYG Young Techpreneur Project.