Lateral thinking puzzles

How to play

One person hosts and any number of people answer. You talk it through together until you land on the one explanation that fits.

1. The host reads the puzzle out

   Pull a puzzle with the tool above and read it aloud. The host is the only one who knows the answer.

2. Players ask questions that can be answered yes or no

   Things like “Is the person a man?”. “Why?” is not allowed, because the answer would be an explanation.

3. The host answers with one of three things

   Yes, no, or doesn’t matter — nothing else. When a question gets close, say “good question” and the room moves.

4. Read the answer out when somebody gets it

   If the reasoning holds, it counts. The wording does not have to match, as long as the shape of the story does.

See the puzzle list ／ What is a lateral thinking puzzle?

Play with people who are not in the room

How these were chosen

These 41 came out of 505 puzzles we wrote, cut down in four rounds. We looked for five things: an answer that surprises you and still convinces you, exactly one answer that fits, a premise that is genuinely odd, a route you can reason along without special knowledge, and no repeat of a pattern already used. So the list itself is the selection — there is no separate shelf of the good ones.

See the puzzle list

Common questions

What is a lateral thinking puzzle?

A deduction game. You get a strange situation with most of the facts missing, and you ask questions that can be answered yes or no until you can explain it. The same thing is called a situation puzzle, a story riddle, a yes or no riddle, or a minute mystery.

How many people does it take?

One host and one player is enough, and there is no upper limit. With a big group it helps to agree loosely on who asks next.

Is it free? Do I need an account?

It is free. Nothing to install and nothing to sign up for. Whoever opens this page becomes the host and can start straight away.

What if nobody can work it out?

Peek at the answer and it appears on the host’s screen only; tap again to close it. Feeding in a little more when the room is stuck is a normal way to play.

How many puzzles are there?

We wrote our own and put them through four rounds of selection. 41 of them are published here, one page each, with the answer folded away.

Does the host need a phone?

One device is enough and only the host needs it. Everyone else plays without looking at a screen, since looking would give the answer away.