Step-by-Step Instructions
- Challenge your group to solve a mystery (with limited facts) as quickly as possible.
- To help them find a solution, your group can only ask you questions that can be answered with “YES” or “NO.”
- When ready, state the facts of a particular mystery, eg “Romeo and Juliet are dead, lying in a puddle of water with broken glass everywhere. How did they die?”
- Invite your group to start asking questions. You may only respond with “YES” or “NO.”
- You may respond with “IRRELEVANT” if your answer to a question does not bring the group closer to a solution.
- If, after ten or more minutes, your group has not solved the mystery, you may guide your group to ask questions about a certain topic to draw them closer to a solution. Eg “Where did the water come from?”
- Once solved, present another mystery if your group is interested.
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I just participated in something very similar to Minute Mysteries in an ECHO session (virtual event). The moderator sent out a mock patient case (related to substance use disorder) ahead of the session and asked everyone to review in advance. When it was time for the event, we read the case together as a group, and then the moderator opened it up for questions to fill in “gaps” in the scenario before we moved into discussing what types of services/solutions would be appropriate to offer. The expert presenters participated as well and it made for an excellent group learning and discussion dynamic. I have never seen this activity in written form and so glad I found it. Saving for future use.
That’s such a cool connection between your experience & this team puzzle. Indeed, this type of connection (to other situations) can be built with so many of our activities. Have fun.
Great series of brain teasers here.. Useful for Trivia nights or Olympics or just for quiet time.
Oh, I have several lateral thinking puzzles that I *adore*!
The music stopped, and he died. What happened?
“He” was a fly, and he got smooshed in a game of musical chairs.
Two men are in a bar. One is holding a smoking gun, and the other is dead. There are also 53 bicycles in the bar.
The men were playing cards, using “Bicycle” brand – 53 cards means that one of them was cheating.
Additionally….
I have a friend who got out-thought by his daughter when she was a freshman in high school. He presented the “father dies-son survives-surgeon can’t operate” lateral thinking puzzle to her. “Oh,” she said, without even missing a beat. “The surgeon and the father are gay.”
Chris, thanks for sharing these. I am familiar with them and love them, too.