[nutso42]

I've always been a fan of riddles and such, but what I greatly prefer are what's known as Lateral Thinking Puzzles. They're essentially a mix between riddles and storytelling. The way it goes is someone presents a very brief, undetailed scenario, and you're free to invent a story to describe how such a situation occurred.

For instance, if I say "A train pulls into the train station, but no one gets off and no one gets on" you would be free to interpret it however you like. You could go for a dull answer (i.e. It wasn't the train anyone was waiting on), or as fantastical and embellished as you like (The conductor was being held at gunpoint by a gang of bandits, who ordered him to fly through the station without stopping, so that they could reach their goal of etc etc etc), or perhaps subvert the expectations (i.e. It's a model train and station, and all the people are plastic).

I put forth the idea to make a game of these. I present a puzzle, and whoever answers it first - in any way they choose - gets to present the next puzzle. Simple turn based game that even if you don't participate will likely be fun to read.


So, let me set out the opening puzzle....

In the middle of the ocean there is a large yacht. All around are corpses floating in the water.

Free of details and with room to invent. Have at it, if y'all are interested.

[BrandonMiaow]

People had long ago stopped dying. They were much too healthy and had much too many preservatives in them. Murder could still end a person's life, but who had time for that? Horror novelists, necrophiles, and other such weirdos were left without material. As a result, a young entrepreneur saw the opportunity for money. He began creating corpses using chemicals and DNA. He was very successful and shipped his corpses all over the world. It was down to the retailer to decide whether to sell the corpses in parts or as a whole. A self-guided shipping vessel and a yacht happened to meet in the open ocean. The yacht was owned by a lonely, rich man named Roger. He is lonely and half-mad, and is struck with inspiration while reading Treasure Island on his yacht. He pulls close to the shipping vessel and climbs aboard. At first it appears empty, but as he goes below, he finds a whole cast of characters. Old men with fantastical tales, buxom dames, and other such treats. They seem bored and lethargic, so he invites them to his ship. They are reluctant but they eventually make it to his yacht for a grand party. Drinks are served and music is played. Roger begins to confide in his new friends, of his mistakes, of his loneliness, of his regret. They listen politely, but eventually Roger stops, self-conscious. "So, what do you think? Say something?" They are silent. "Damn it!" he roars, and strikes one of his new friends. This friend collapses from his chair and is still. He checks his pulse, frantic. "Oh my oh my..." The others saw it. They had to go as well. He begins beating and beating, all of his friends, till they're no more. He sits frantic in a pile of corpses. How could it go so wrong? He was now a murderer. He unloads the corpses off of the yacht, and realizes, even if he got away with it, he could not go on. He leaps into the water and drowns.
The end.

An alien stands over a dead dog, panting.

[Happymeal]

The truth of the matter was that the alien's pet, whom he had cherished through the past 15 years, had recently passed away, but the tragedy of this situation was that he had died in an incident with the genetics chamber aboard Josh's, the alien's, newly purchased stayflyer 500 which he saw an ad for in the local newspaper. He was attempting to create new bacteria in order to fight the destruction of a special genotype of banana called banana 1 which was susceptible to almost all harm, but was the most delicious and ancient of all banana species. Unfortunately, he had just finished painting his ship and some of the excess wet paint dripped into the genetics chamber due to his sloppy job. Josh thought no big deal of it until the tests began. He had taken a variety of bacteria samples and the job was to begin. However, as soon as he had placed the first banana and bacteria concoction into the chamber, a loud noise was heard and a ray of light flashed. Josh was upset that the genetics chamber had exploded, but he soon noticed that his pet dog, Jugem Jugem Unko Nage Ki Ototoi no Shin-chan no Pantsu Shinpachi no Jinsei Balmunk Fezarion Isaac Schneider San Bun no Ichi Junjyou na Kanjyou no Nokotta San Bun no Ni wa Sakamuke ga Kininaru Kanjyou Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiruyou de Shinranai no wo Boku wa Shitteiru Rusu Surume Medaka Kazuno Kokoedame Medaka….Kono Medaka wa saki no to wa Chigau Yatsu Dakara Ikeno Medaka no Hou Dakara Raa-yuu yuuteimiouki Mukou Pepepepepepepepepepepepe Bichiguso Maru (named after the animal in the jugem arc of Gintama), was caught in the explosion and tears began to stream down his face. Not knowing what to do, Josh took the dog's dead body to his home planet where he would bury him before he took off for his next flight, but not before he purchased a new TV in order to watch anime in HD.

Gabe Newell recently gets married to a goat named Sandra

[SquishypuffDave]

[nutso42]

[SquishypuffDave]