Google kicks off I/O 2023 with a textual input/output puzzle

Google I/O 2023 is just around the corner, as the company has launched a new “input/output” puzzle that will reveal the date and location of this year’s event.

History of Google I/O

For more than a decade, the Google I/O developer conference has served as a showcase for the company’s latest technology and a preview of what’s to come. From the latest enhancements to Android and Wear OS to flashy, impromptu tech demos like the Assistant Duplex, I/O keynotes are often packed with the biggest Google news of the year.

Typically, Google I/O takes place in the first fortnight of May, often at the Shoreline Amphitheater near Google’s campus in Mountain View, CA. That said, COVID-19 has affected the last few years of the conference, leading to the cancellation of the 2020 event and digital-only events in 2021 and 2022.

Google I/O 2023 puzzle introduction

Today, Google has given us our first teaser of what to expect from I/O 2023 by releasing a new web puzzle. In previous years, the final solution to the puzzle revealed the date and location of the next Google I/O conference, and in some past instances, the first person to solve the complex puzzle received a free ticket to the event.

This year, the company took the I/O name quite literally by launching a puzzle built around inputs and outputs (often abbreviated to “I/O”). Rather than resolve, it looks like we’ll all need one. Work together to find a “collective” solution.

Google I/O 2023 puzzle progress

Hello again, world.

To begin, create a pattern of inputs to inform a collective output.

From the starting page, there are options to “Start” or “Observe”. By starting, you are able to make some of your “input” for the puzzle, while choosing to observe allows you to see your “global progress”. You can also quickly toggle between these two views using the buttons on the left.

From the Input tab, you’re given six tiles that you can slide up or down the list. The puzzle will automatically group or ungroup the tiles depending on where you drag them. Each tile is marked with a set of six dots that are either filled or not filled, meaning that the binary may be important to the puzzle.

Hovering over the left side of each tile reveals a colored “Open” button. The variety of puzzles you’ll find seems to vary, but one constant is the availability of a much-needed “clue” button in the bottom-right corner.

In one example – “Puzzle 3” – clicking it takes you to a grid of numbers. From here, you’re able to slide rows and columns, which will probably require you to do it in a particular way to make progress.

Select a column to move its contents up or down, or a row to move its contents left or right. Follow the shift instructions as indicated by the clues. Pay close attention to orders.

‘Input 1.0’ solution

In another example “Puzzle 1” clicking through reveals a series of toggle switches, which enable or disable the appearance of a color. Added to this is a color-filled poetic clue that indicates which switches should be enabled.

blue before red
yellow after green,
where it leaves gray
It remains to be seen.

Notably, these toggles are paired in groups of two, meaning that only one of each pair can be enabled. From top to bottom, these pairs are:

yellow blue
red green
Grey Green
red Yellow
blue Grey

We know to turn on the toggle, following a pattern set by the rhyme clue: 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10 to reach the final solution, most of which can be seen below.

‘Input 3.0’ solution

Following a similar pattern, the puzzle titled “Input 4.0” is also a series of toggle switches. Here we are given only one sign that “one is one, two is three.” There are five toggles in total; The top and bottom ones are gray when enabled, and the middle ones are shaded to white.

The solution here is pretty straightforward, as all you have to do is toggle the topmost switch to first and the third switch to second. “One is one, two is three,” after all.