Situation puzzle

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Situation puzzles, often referred to as minute mysteries, lateral thinking puzzles or "yes/no" puzzles, are puzzles in which participants are to construct a story that the host has in mind, basing on a puzzling situation that is given at the start.

Usually, situation puzzles are played in a group, with one person hosting the puzzle and the others asking questions which can only be answered with a "yes" or "no" answer. Depending upon the settings and level of difficulty, other answers, hints or simple explanations of why the answer is yes or no, may be considered acceptable. The puzzle is solved when one of the players is able to recite the narrative the host had in mind, in particular explaining whatever aspect of the initial scenario was puzzling.

These puzzles are inexact and many puzzle statements have more than one possible fitting answer. The goal however is to find out the story as the host has it in mind, not just any plausible answer. Critical thinking and reading, logical thinking, as well as lateral thinking may all be required to solve a situation puzzle.

The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward De Bono to denote a creative problem-solving style that involves looking at the given situation from unexpected angles, and is typically necessary to the solution of situation puzzles.

The term "lateral-thinking puzzle" was popularised by Paul Sloane in his 1992 book Lateral Thinking Puzzlers.^[1]