The Turtle Soup Game

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?

2 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff of Earth-J on June 2, 2020 at 2:31pm

...or unless they had a boat.

But if they had had a boat, they could have all used it.

Plus, in order to fake the other guy's departure, the chef would have had to wreck the boat.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Peter Wrexham on June 2, 2020 at 2:47pm

Jeff, what I'm imagining is a shipwreck or plane crash in which someone was killed. The survivors bury the body. The chef (thanks for suggesting that piece of terminology!) then surreptitiously digs up bits of the body to make what he claims is turtle soup, keeping the survivors alive until they can be rescued. At the time, our protagonist never even considers the possibility that he's eating human soup.

But that's getting a bit ahead of where I've reached with my questions.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jeff of Earth-J on June 2, 2020 at 3:04pm

"(thanks for suggesting that piece of terminology!)"

The other guy is "the soup."

"The survivors bury the body. The chef then surreptitiously digs up bits of the body to make what he claims is turtle soup,"

I like it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JD DeLuzio on June 2, 2020 at 4:58pm

I think you have it, and turtles would suggest a shipwreck to me.

After cursing the Professor, he utters his final words, "little buddy...!"

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Randy Jackson on June 2, 2020 at 5:05pm

Yes, there was a situation where the man was stranded with others on a deserted island. There was starvation and death until someone came up with the turtle soup.

I see that Jeff came up with the correct answer, but I think Peter got it first, so I'm giving it to him.

Peter Wrexham said:

Did the soup-maker and our protagonist survive a shipwreck, plane crash or similar disaster?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Peter Wrexham on June 2, 2020 at 5:50pm

Getting the right answer was definitely a team effort! And I'm glad that we finally have an explanation for the title of the thread!

Next puzzle:

She woke up unusually early on the morning of what she was later to describe as the proudest day of her life. It was the day that her son took her to court.