The Turtle Soup Game

[Randy Jackson]

Many years ago, I taught folklore at a summer camp(we had new campers each week of different ages, from 8-15). At the time, the folklore class was pretty unstructured, so I could more or less do as I pleased. Sometimes I told ghost stories, sometimes sports games, sometimes mythology, whatever I thought might be entertaining to the kids. One of the most useful things we did was two minute mysteries, as they allowed me to be lazy.

The basic rules are as follows: a scenario is laid before the people playing, and you're allowed to ask as many yes/no questions as you like to determine the answer. The answer to the question may also be 'Irrelevant' if it has no bearing on the solution.

I request the following :

* One question per post

* If you already know the answer, please keep it to yourself and let others play. Same with Googling the answer.

Once the scenario is solved, the person who solves it gets to post a new one OR they can pass it back to someone else who's interested (FYI, I'm happy to post more).

So here's the first scenario:

A man is found dead, surrounded by 52 bicycles. What happened?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Sounds like fun, Randy! (I know this one, so I'll keep mum.)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I know this one, too.

I used to do a lot of substitute teaching, and I regularly used brain teasers such as this to pad out the hour if the regular teachers' lesson plans fell short.

[ClarkKent_DC]

I don't know this one, and although I love reading two-minute mysteries like Encyclopedia Brown and Mike Mist and others of that ilk, I am terrible at solving them.

But what the heck, I'll give it a try. 

A man is found dead, surrounded by 52 bicycles. What happened?

Was he participating in a bike race? 

[Randy Jackson]

No 

ClarkKent_DC said:

A man is found dead, surrounded by 52 bicycles. What happened?

Was he participating in a bike race? 

[Peter Wrexham]

As I type this, it's exactly 52 minutes since you replied to the bike race question.  So, next question:

Is the precise number of bicycles, 52, significant?

[Randy Jackson]

Yes

Peter Wrexham said:

Is the precise number of bicycles, 52, significant?

[Lee Houston, Junior]

Okay. Did the man pass away at a bicycle factory?

[Randy Jackson]

No

Lee Houston, Junior said:

Okay. Did the man pass away at a bicycle factory?

[Peter Wrexham]

Are the bicycles rideable?

[Randy Jackson]

No

Peter Wrexham said:

Are the bicycles rideable?

[JD DeLuzio]

Are these 52 Bicycle playing cards?

[Randy Jackson]

Yes

JD DeLuzio said:

Are these 52 Bicycle playing cards?