In Kastellorizo, in October, puzzles have… a scientific solution.
The Puzzle Festival returns for the sixth consecutive year and turns the remote island into a big laboratory of ideas, science, and discovery.
There are islands that invite you to relax. And there are islands that make you think. In Kastellorizo, from October 16 to 18, 2026, both will happen!
The reason: the Puzzle Festival – Science Games, co-organized by Pantazis Houlis, founder of the Meduseum Puzzle Museum, and Eleni Grammatikopoulou, who has a long-standing contribution in science communication. They were inspired and have been organizing this ambitious and daring project since 2021.
The puzzle as a starting point
At the Festival, a puzzle is not just a game that asks for a correct answer. It’s a different way to approach the world. To observe more closely. To question what we take for granted. To test a hypothesis. To fail and try again.
With this philosophy, this year’s program spans from Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics to DNA, Health, the Environment, the Ocean, Astronomy, Education, Art, and Culture.
Scientists, educators, creators, and riddle enthusiasts come together in a program that aims to show in practice that scientific thinking can be accessible, exciting, and – why not? – fun.
A program that doesn’t easily fit into a single room.
The program schedule includes, among others, academic and NTUA professor Theodosis Tasios, academic and Paediatrics and Endocrinology professor at the University of Athens Georgios Chrousos, professor at the Technical University of Crete Giorgos Chalkiadakis, Prof. Steven Boyages, Medical Doctor, Endocrinologist, University of Sydney, a worthy child of the Kastellorizian diaspora, the internationally acclaimed puzzle designer Yavuz Dermihan, as well as scientists from important research institutions across the country.
Puzzle workshops and exhibitions, hands-on experiments, STEM activities, robotics and drones, escape rooms, “geography” quizzes, stand-up science, events on AI, misinformation and fake news, online safety, the art of cinema, solar/astronomy observation, the ocean, are just a few of the activities that make up this year’s mosaic.
Because here, science is not hidden behind a showcase. It comes out onto the street. It joins the game. It asks for our participation.
From “puzzle flowers” to DNA
Kastellorizo is not just the setting of the Festival. It is part of the very story of it.
The nature of the island, its geography, history, and unique identity become the reasons for new puzzles and new stories.
This year, in fact, the “puzzle flowers” make their appearance, a new artistic symbol of the festival (Pantazis’ new puzzle) inspired by the unique flora of Kastellorizo. Small local plants with a distinctive presence, like Campanula kastellorizana, become an excuse to remind us that nature is full of complex problems, surprises, and solutions waiting to be noticed. …
Where Education Meets Adventure
Already in previous years, educational activities, specially designed for the students of the island, have been established, which take place before the festival, in the morning school program. They cultivate curiosity and bring students into direct contact with science, through experiments, creative activities and experiential learning.
From the secrets of the ocean and Linear B to the art, technology, and safety surrounding electricity, knowledge is not presented as something that simply needs to be memorized. It becomes an experience.
A small island, a big idea. A puzzle that travels.
The Festival no longer stays within the limits of Megisti. The event has already traveled from Athens and Patras to Xanthi and Vamvakou in Parnon, gradually expanding the network of people and organizations participating in this unique celebration of science.
And maybe that’s the most interesting ‘paradox’ of the festival:
How does a small, remote island become a meeting place for scientists, educators, artists, students, and people with a shared curiosity about the world?
Perhaps the answer is the puzzle itself. Because puzzles have no borders. Science has no borders. And curiosity certainly doesn’t.
So, our appointment is in Kastellorizo.
Not just to find the answers. But to discover what the right questions are.
6th Kastellorizo Puzzle Festival – Science Games | 16-18.10.2026 | Kastellorizo
Information and program: kastellorizofestival.com/
The whole organization is carried out by EN.I.G.MA (Union of Ideas, Puzzles, Mathematics) – with the Puzzle Museum being its main activity – in cooperation with the South Aegean Region and with the support of the Municipality of Megisti. It is under the auspices and support of the Hellenic Parliament and several ministries and is mainly funded by private sponsors.
