317-Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Futility Closet

Greg Ross

History

4.8 • 748 Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2020

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Here are six new lateral thinking puzzles -- play along with us as we try to untangle some perplexing situations using yes-or-no questions.

Intro:

Stonewall Jackson recorded 14 precepts for good conversation.

Ben Franklin offered four "rules for making oneself a disagreeable companion."

Sources for this episode's puzzles:

Puzzle #1 is from listener Allen Houser.

Puzzle #2 is from listener Michael Cavanagh.

Puzzle #3 is from listener Jessica Aves.

Puzzle #4 is from listener Laura Merz.

Puzzle #5 is from listener ospalh.

Puzzle #6 is from Agnes Rogers' 1953 book How Come? A Book of Riddles, sent in by listener Jon Jerome.

You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss.

Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website.

Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.

If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Futility Closet Podcast, forgotten stories from the pages of history.
0:14.9	Visit us online to sample more than 11,000 quirky curiosities from Stonewall Jackson's Rules
0:20.6	for Conversation to Ben Franklin's
0:22.7	rules for being disagreeable. This is episode 317. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. This is
0:29.8	another special episode of lateral thinking puzzles. These are puzzles where one of us describes
0:35.0	a strange sounding situation and the other has to try to figure
0:38.2	out what's going on by asking yes or no questions. Thanks so much to everyone who's been sending
0:42.6	in puzzles for us to try. We can always use more, so please keep sending them to podcast at
0:47.5	futilitycloset.com. And we'll be back next week with another dose of quirky history and another
0:53.3	lateral thinking puzzle.
0:59.6	This is from listener Alan Houser. In the 1999 computer game, Roller Coaster Tycoon, players build
1:06.3	and manage the day-to-day business of virtual amusement parks. Players progress through the game by
1:11.5	managing a variety of scenarios that are completed by achieving one or more specific goals, like
1:16.2	staying under budget or increasing the number of visitors. While playing one of the game's
1:20.5	scenarios, a player decides to methodically pluck individual virtual amusement park visitors from
1:25.5	the property and drown them in the park's lake.
1:28.3	Oh, no.
1:29.1	Why?
1:30.1	Oh, my.
1:31.0	So, um, did this actually accomplish the goal in the game?
1:35.2	Yes.
1:35.9	But accidentally, like, obviously the game developers didn't intend that you were
	...

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