There is a well known family game where one person takes an object in mind, and the rest of the company may ask yes/no questions and have to guess what it is.
Example:
A: OK, I’ve got something in mind
B: Is it something I can touch?
A: No.
B: So it is something abstract?
A: Hm, no
C: Is it something I can hear?
A: No
D: Is it something I can see?
A: Yes!
B: Is it inside the house?
A: No
C: Can it always be seen?
A: No
D: Just on certain days?
A: Question not clear, but probably no.
and so on.
(btw, if you want to know what A has in mind, you can ask me yes/no questions at the bottom of this page)
This kind of game consists of a series of puzzles. There is a variant, in which baffling stories are presented, and people may ask yes/no questions to explain the situation.
Well known examples are:
A) A man goes down with the elevator everyday. When he returns from work, he goes up half way, and takes the stairs. Unless it rains, then he goes up all the way.
B) A man is lying in a meadow. He is dead. Besides him there is a white package.
c) A man walks into a saloon. The bartender pulls his gun at the man. The man says: “thank you” and leaves the saloon.
I first heard these puzzles when I was a teenager, and you can find the solutions on several places on the web.
For those who are interested in this kind of puzzle, Paulo Sloane runs a forum with this kind of puzles at www.lateralpuzzles.com. He is also the author of the book “Lateral thinking puzzlers”.
justpuzzles 