Event Riddles have been a thing for a while now: In past years, we did Thousand Eye God Events that required solving a riddle to find the grove of the Thousand Eye God, and before that we did riddles on how to find the Conduit site. These riddles were always designed to be intermediary, meaning long enough to keep the player engaged for at least 30 minutes to an hour without solving it instantly and making the challenge irrelevant, but also not so difficult it should be considered a funnel. With Riddles being more common recently, and my own intention to also make use of riddles in future mini events, I wanted to take some time to make a short PSA explaining where some riddles go wrong, and how to avoid those steps. In some cases, I've even witnessed participants yelling at each other in frustration over not being able to solve the riddle as a group, forgetting that them being stuck can easily be solved with some simple problem solving. First and foremost, if you are stuck, you should work backwards to each step of the riddle. This is done to see where the problem was made and try to re-solve it. No riddle is designed to be so difficult that you should get to be stuck for more than 20 minutes on the same step. 6/7 groups that make mistakes and get stuck and frustrated at the end get stuck because they make an assumption lets say, 5 out of 10 of the steps, and now they are at 7 out of 10 steps and the whole riddle no longer makes sense. The tactic here is to step back to 6 and re-evaluate. Still doesn't make sense? step back 5 and re-evaluate. Still doesn't make sense? step back 4 and re-evaluate, etc. Following others lead is a bad idea, even if you think they are smart, and you think you are not. Some people have the veneer of towering intellect, and some people think they are dumb when they are actually just underestimating themselves. What often happens is that one domineering personality in the group takes the lead and starts barking that they have solved the riddle step, but more often than not do people trip over their own cleverness to solve the riddle the quickest, and do not think about the alternatives. This is especially pervasive in riddles that I personally make, which contain a number of red herrings to throw the player off the scent. Try to keep thinking for yourself. Walk with groups and others, but do not let them dictate how you think. Speak up if you think there is an alternative solution, and stand your ground if someone dismisses your input because they think they have already solved it. If you are stuck, it's okay to take a break so long as there is no clear deadline to the Event. Most riddles are given several days up to a week of a deadline. It's okay to take a break and take a step back, and just think on it for a while and come back with fresh eyes, or a batch of coffee. Maybe even contact another group and see how far you got. But more importantly, don't get caught in a cycle of doom with others. The more you convince yourself that a riddle cannot be solved, the more you end up greenhouse your own insight and creativity to find the solution required. Try practicing the theory of the tenth. If everyone in your group agrees on something, agree at face value, but assume they are wrong and consider an alternative. Then keep that in mind until they get stuck. If they had it right all along, then great! riddle solved! If not, then you come equipped with a different way of solving the riddle as they get stuck, meaning you always have a backup. Events in the future will contain more riddles. With these simple steps and understandings, you might be more equipped to have fun during the whole situation instead of getting caught in a frustrating cycle. Most if not all riddles are very solvable.
