The Trainwreck Labs Newsletter
Coming to your inbox every Monday with a brand new fun-fact and all the answers to Trainwreck Labs games from the past week.
This week, we have…
A fun fact inspired by Globle
Metazooa: Live announcement
Answers to last week's games
Reader survey
Metazooa: Live… is coming back!
Saw the hype, but didn’t get a chance to take part in Toronto’s Metazooa: Live? Fear not! After a short break, Metazooa is coming back to life at a brand new location!
This September, the hit feature of Toronto Games Week is going to a new park with new plants, new animals, and new players. Come find the amazing ecological scavenger hunt at Metagame 2025 in Berkely, Califofnia from Sept 12 - 14.
Do you want Metazooa: Live to come to one of your local parks? Respond to this email to let me know!
São Tomé and Príncipe are the Chocolate Islands
Willie Wonka must never learn about this tropical paradise.
Most people think of Swiss or Belgian chocolate when they crave something sweet, but there’s a tiny island nation off the west coast of Africa where chocolate isn’t just a treat—it’s part of the landscape. São Tomé and Príncipe (Globle answer for July 21) is known as the “Chocolate Islands,” and for good reason: it was the world’s largest cocoa producer at the turn of the 20th century, and wild cacao trees still grow here today.
When Portuguese colonists arrived in the late 1400s, they quickly realized the volcanic soil and tropical climate were perfect for growing crops like sugar and later, cacao. By the late 1800s, São Tomé and Príncipe’s plantations produced more cocoa than any other country, making it a global chocolate powerhouse. The islands’ cacao, known for its rich, fruity flavor, was shipped to Europe and used in luxury chocolate bars.
But here’s the twist: in São Tomé and Príncipe, cacao trees don’t just belong to organized farms—they also grow wild along riverbanks and in forests, making it one of the few places on Earth where you can pluck cacao pods straight from the wild. Some local chocolate makers use these wild beans to produce rare, single-origin chocolate bars, sought after by connoisseurs for their unique terroir. So next time you’re savoring a piece of dark chocolate, you might just be tasting a little bit of São Tomé and Príncipe’s tropical magic.
Learn more: Chocolats Du Monde, BBC
Trivia
The inhabitants of São Tomé and Príncipe are fond of the saying "leve-leve". What does it mean?
Answers to last week's games
Monday, July 21 to Sunday, July 27.
Globle
Jul 21 São Tomé and Príncipe
Jul 22 France
Jul 23 Croatia
Jul 24 Eq. Guinea
Jul 25 Tonga
Jul 26 Sierra Leone
Jul 27 Dominica
Jul 28 Play now!
Globle: Capitals
Jul 21 Wellington
Jul 22 Brazzaville
Jul 23 Yaounde
Jul 24 Beirut
Jul 25 Kyiv
Jul 26 Skopje
Jul 27 Kampala
Jul 28 Play now!
Chronogram
#842 Mao Zedong
#843 Benjamin Franklin
#844 T. E. Lawrence
#845 Joseph Stalin
#846 Thomas Aquinas
#847 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
#848 Saladin
#849 Play now!
Fictogram
#609 Celie
#610 Dracula
#611 Ishmael
#612 Newland Archer
#613 Yossarian
#614 Janie Crawford
#615 Nick and Nora Charles
#616 Play now!
Metazooa
#721 coyote
#722 hummingbird
#723 poison frog
#724 house fly
#725 box turtle
#726 raven
#727 civet
#728 Play now!
Metaflora
#660 silver birch
#661 cherry
#662 dill
#663 plum
#664 dahlia
#665 flax
#666 hazelnut
#667 Play now!
Linxicon
The following are the shortest paths from last week:
#524 west → western → cowboy → owner → possess
#525 able → ability → sport → toss
#526 vote → politicians → scientists → laboratory
#527 brick → houses → homelessness → poorer → fewer
#528 prosecutor → jurisdiction → scope → reach
#529 priority → position → game → toss
#530 immediately → deadline → assignment → teacher → teach
#531 Play now!
Elemingle
#180 Palladium
#181 Antimony
#182 Yttrium
#183 Silver
#184 Phosphorus
#185 Thallium
#186 Vanadium
#187 Play now!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
Before you go…
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