The great classics · ★★☆
Albatross Soup
A man walks into a seaside restaurant and orders albatross soup. He swallows a single spoonful, stands up, walks out and kills himself. Why?
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Free dark riddles and situation puzzles
Strange stories to piece together with yes-or-no questions. Read a scene, notice what does not add up, and start working out what happened. The rules · Which questions to ask · Which riddle to start with
91 riddles · 5 collections
91 riddles
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Man in the Elevator
A man lives on the 12th floor of a building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby. Every evening he rides up to the 8th floor and climbs the stairs the rest of the way, except when it rains, or when someone else is in the elevator: then he rides straight up to the 12th. Why?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Unopened Package
A man lies dead in the middle of a deserted field. Next to him is an unopened package. There are no footprints anywhere around. How did he die?
The great classics · ★☆☆
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet lie dead on the living-room floor. Around them: shards of glass and a puddle of water. The window is open and the curtain sways in the draft. What happened?
The great classics · ★☆☆
A Glass of Water and a Gun
A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says "thank you" and leaves satisfied. Why?
The great classics · ★★★
The Music Stops
The music stops and, a few seconds later, a woman dies. Hundreds of people were watching her, and nobody laid a hand on her. What happened?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Puddle Under His Feet
A man is found hanging from a beam in a completely empty barn. No furniture, no ladder, nothing to climb on. Just a wide puddle of water beneath his feet. How did he do it?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Fast Drinker
Two men order exactly the same iced drink, poured from the same pitcher. One downs it in a single gulp; the other sips it slowly. The slow drinker dies of poisoning; the other is fine. Why?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Carrot in the Meadow
In the middle of a meadow lie a carrot, a small pile of pebbles and a scarf, all together in the grass. Nobody put them there recently. What are they doing there?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Car and the Hotel
A man pushes his car up to a hotel. The moment he gets there, he knows he is bankrupt. What is going on?
The great classics · ★★★
The Match in the Desert
A completely naked man lies dead in the middle of the desert. Clutched in his hand is a burnt match. The sand around the body carries no footprints and no tyre tracks. What happened?
The great classics · ★★☆
The Light Switched Off
A man wakes up in the middle of the night for a glass of water. Before going back to bed, he absent-mindedly switches off the light. In the morning he looks out the window, screams, and takes his own life. Why?
The great classics · ★★★
The Arm in the Mail
A parcel arrives in the mail. Inside it, a severed human arm. The man who opens it looks the arm over, nods, and mails it on to a second man, who looks it over in turn and then buries it. No crime has been committed. What is going on?
The great classics · ★☆☆
Recognized at First Glance
A man dies and arrives in heaven, where thousands of naked people from every era are gathered. He spots Adam and Eve immediately. How?
The great classics · ★☆☆
Born Together, Not Twins
Two brothers were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same hour, in the same year. Yet they are not twins. How is that possible?
The great classics · ★★☆
Strangled at the Movies
A couple go to the movies. The show is sold out and there are people all around them. During the film the husband strangles his wife, then takes the body home without attracting the slightest attention. How is that possible?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Phantom Weapon
A man is found dead, stabbed, in his own living room. On the floor lies a puddle of water tinged with blood. Nobody left the building between the moment he cried out and the search: the police go through the room, the building and everyone in it, and find no blade anywhere. Where did the weapon go?
The great classics · ★★☆
The Stranger in the Car
A car runs out of gas on an empty road. The husband sets off to find a can, first making sure his wife locks the doors and rolls up the windows. When he gets back, his wife is dead and there is a stranger inside the car. Everything is still locked from within. What happened?
The great classics · ★★☆
Frozen in a Heatwave
In the middle of a heatwave, a body is found in a park with a fractured skull and many broken bones. Yet the medical examiner's conclusion is final: death by hypothermia. How is that possible?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Diver in the Forest
After a forest fire, rescuers find a dead man among the charred trees, wearing a full wetsuit, mask on his face and fins on his feet. The nearest coast is fifty miles away. How did he get there?
The great classics · ★★★
The Sawdust in the Wings
A circus performer is found dead in his dressing room; he took his own life. In a corner of the room, a small pile of sawdust and wood shavings. That sawdust explains his death. How?
The great classics · ★★☆
The Deserted Yacht
In the middle of the ocean, a yacht is found afloat, deserted, in perfect condition. Several bodies float in the water around it. The sea is calm and the passengers' belongings are untouched on board. What happened?
The great classics · ★☆☆
Alone in the Open
On a wide open plain, a woman throws an object as hard as she can. There is nobody else for miles around. A few seconds later she drops dead. What killed her?
The great classics · ★☆☆
Dead While Getting Dressed
On an ordinary morning, a man finishes getting dressed, lies down on his bed and is dead within minutes. He lives alone, and nobody entered the house that night. The autopsy finds a healthy man, one tiny wound on the sole of his foot, and traces of venom. Nothing dangerous is found in the house. What happened?
The great classics · ★★★
The New Shoes
A woman buys a new pair of shoes, goes to work, and is dead within the hour. She did not trip, and no vehicle hit her. Why?
The great classics · ★★★
The Smoking Carriage
A man is riding the train home from Switzerland. The journey passes without the slightest incident and the train arrives on time. All the same, had he taken a non-smoking carriage he would be dead. Why?
The great classics · ★★☆
Thirty Flags Before Dinner
An ordinary man delivers a letter to each of thirty foreign governments in a single day. He goes to their offices in person, carries no passport, and never leaves his home city. The letters are accepted everywhere, and that evening he is home for dinner. How?
The great classics · ★☆☆
The Midnight Card Game
Late at night, two people are playing cards in a living room. Nothing is moving outside. One of them glances at the black window and knows, with a chill, that she is going to die. What did she see?
The telling detail · ★★☆
Death at Sea
A man reads in the newspaper that a woman fell overboard from an ocean liner and drowned, on the crossing that was her honeymoon trip. The article calls it an accident. From that single read, the man knows it was murder and calls the police. How does he know?
The telling detail · ★★☆
The Message in Blood
A man is murdered on an international night train. Before he dies, he writes the word "elf" on the floor in his own blood. From that one clue, the police arrest the killer by morning. How?
The telling detail · ★★☆
Guilty but Unpunishable
In court, two sisters come to the stand together. One of them proves beyond any doubt that the other murdered her own husband. The judge announces: "Guilt is established, but I cannot punish this woman." Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
Betrayed by a Detail
During the Second World War, a superbly trained German spy with flawless English presents himself at an American border post as a citizen coming home. He fills in the form in a clean hand, not one misspelling, not one crossing-out, and is arrested on the spot. What gave him away?
The telling detail · ★★☆
The Voice on the Radio
A man is driving down the highway with nothing on his mind. He switches on the radio, listens for five minutes, swings the car around, drives home and kills his wife. Why?
The telling detail · ★☆☆
Fired for a Dream
An employee begs his boss: "Don't board that flight, last night I dreamed your plane crashed!" The boss cancels his trip... and the plane really does crash. On his return, he thanks the employee warmly, then fires him on the spot. Why?
The telling detail · ★★★
The Lifesaving Broken Arm
A man is walking along the road when a pebble works its way into his sandal. He leans on a pole and shakes his foot, head down. A passerby runs up and breaks his arm with one savage blow. The man will thank him for it. Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
The Red Dress
Every school morning, a mother lays out her little girl's clothes. One morning the mother oversleeps, and the big sister, wanting to help, dresses the girl in her red dress instead. That night, a man dies in their house. What happened?
The telling detail · ★★☆
The Flicker
Nineteen thirty-four. A man in a suit runs flat out down a long corridor, a signed paper in his hand, shouting for a door to be opened. The ceiling lights dim for a moment, then recover. He stops running, puts the paper away, and walks back the way he came. Why?
The telling detail · ★★★
Two O'Clock Twice
A witness swears he saw the accused stab his victim at two in the morning exactly: the church bell was striking behind them. A dozen guests swear the accused was at a party across town at two that same morning. Nobody is lying, nothing is mistaken, and he is convicted all the same. How?
The telling detail · ★★☆
A Letter from Abroad
A man receives a long, warm letter from his brother, who is traveling abroad with a girlfriend the family barely knows. The trip is wonderful, the letter says, and they are staying another month. The details are right and the tone is his brother's. The man reads it once and reports a murder. Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
He Never Told
A married woman drinks a mouthful of wine, and shortly afterwards tells her husband's oldest friend about her affair: every detail, every date, every lie. The friend is honest and loyal, and he shakes her husband's hand every week. Yet he never says a word of it to him, and he never will. Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
Beware of Pickpockets
Posters appear around a crowded tourist square: beware of pickpockets. The warning is perfectly accurate, for the square is full of them. Yet the police tear down every poster the moment they find one, and once the walls are bare, thefts go down. Why?
The telling detail · ★★★
Dialed in the Dark
Shot in a night robbery, a shopkeeper reaches the phone in the stockroom. He knows the number by heart and dials in the dark, then whispers that he is hurt, in the stockroom. He collapses before saying more. Help never comes. Had he turned on the light, he would have reached the emergency services. Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
The Test He Refused
The old king dies without ever naming which of two claimants is his lost son. An old counselor whispers the same simple test to each man: it would take a minute and leave no mark worth mentioning. The first claimant agrees at once. The second goes pale and refuses. The court crowns the one who refused. Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
Tracks to the Door
A man is found shot dead behind the wheel of his car, parked on a quiet lane. In the soft ground, tire tracks run from the road straight up to the driver's door, then back to the road. No other car stopped anywhere near, and there is not a single footprint. What happened?
The telling detail · ★★☆
The Lights Came On
A man comes home after midnight to a dark, silent house. His wife opens the door, and he kills her on the step. No neighbour is awake and no one passes in the street. He carries her inside and switches on the light. Within the hour, he is under arrest. Why?
The telling detail · ★★☆
Ten Minutes in the Dark
Nineteen seventy-eight. Two old friends spend ten minutes side by side in a small dark room, in complete silence, each busy with his own work. Nothing is said and nothing moves but their hands. When the light comes back on, one of them knows the other has been seeing his wife. How?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
The Perfect Breakfast
A man takes one spoonful from the most beautiful bowl of cereal he has ever seen, spits it straight back out and apologises. Beside him, a woman he has never met bursts into tears. Nobody was poisoned, he took nobody's breakfast, and the bowl went in the bin an hour later. Why?
Modern lives · ★★☆
The Walled Yard
A woman is murdered in a yard behind six-metre walls. None of the surrounding buildings has a window or roof overlooking it. Yet a witness describes the killer's cap, shoulders and bag. He watched with his own eyes, without entering the yard or seeing the man's face. How?
Modern lives · ★★☆
The Viewer's Complaint
A woman gets a furious letter from a stranger: her words gave away a film's twist twenty minutes in. She has never met him, written a review or discussed the film in public. Every sentence she wrote was accurate, yet one word spoiled the ending. What happened?
Modern lives · ★★★
Routine Maintenance
A technician climbs alone into a wind turbine for a routine repair. His two colleagues wait at the foot of the tower. An hour later, without a single call from him, they phone for help: they know he is dead. He did not fall, nothing fell on him, and nobody else went up. How is that possible?
Modern lives · ★★☆
The Keys in His Pocket
A man parks in the garage attached to his house, drops the keys in his pocket and pulls the door shut. He has dinner with his wife and goes to bed. Both are found dead in their bed by morning. No break-in, and the boiler is ruled out. The car has not moved, and its tank is empty. What happened?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
The Armchair Champion
Two neighbours across the landing make a month-long bet: whoever walks the least pays for dinner. Each has a watch that counts the steps. The first walks two hours a day. The second has not left his flat, owns no treadmill, and it is his watch that shows the most steps. How is that possible?
Modern lives · ★★☆
Lunchtime, as Usual
Every day at noon, a man gets an alert from his mother's video doorbell: the meal delivery. This Wednesday the alert comes at the usual time and shows the usual driver, who sets the meal down and leaves, as he does every day. The man, who has not spoken to his mother since yesterday, calls an ambulance at once. Why?
Modern lives · ★★☆
The Spotless House
A woman is found dead at the foot of her stairs. The police call it an accident: no sign of a struggle, no footprints, the house is spotless. Three days later a detective comes back, crouches over a small round device sitting against the skirting board, and has the husband arrested. What happened?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
Every Morning at Seven
Since her husband's funeral, a woman has had a message from him every morning at seven. A few words, never the same twice. She replies; he never answers. Her husband's phone has been switched off in a drawer for ten days. How is that possible?
Modern lives · ★★☆
The Passenger's Fine
A car mounts the kerb and stops against a lamp post. Nobody is hurt, and neither occupant has moved from their seat. Behind the wheel is a twenty-year-old woman with no driving licence. Beside her is a man she met an hour ago. The police fine him, and only him. Why?
Modern lives · ★★★
Dead on Paper
One morning a man's bank writes to say his account is closed: the holder has died. He goes to the register office, where a clerk hands him a death certificate in his own name, dated three months earlier. Nobody mistyped anything, and there is no namesake. What happened?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
Fires in the Orchard
At three in the morning a man walks his orchard, lighting hundreds of small flames one by one between the trees. He is not lighting the place up, he is not smoking anything out, and he burns nothing that grows there. At sunrise he blows every flame out and goes to bed. Why?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
First Woman Home
An unknown runner crosses the line first among the women at the city marathon. She started with everyone else, wore her own number the whole way, and thousands saw her finish. Two hours later, without a single witness against her, the organisers take her medal back. How do they know?
Modern lives · ★★☆
The Last Box
For a year a man has crossed off one box every evening on the kitchen calendar. He is not counting down to a trip, or a visit, or anyone's return. On the evening he crosses off the box he has been waiting for, he lays his papers out on the table and takes his own life. Why?
Modern lives · ★☆☆
Cleared for Takeoff
Four hours on the tarmac: the aircraft is faultless, the tanks are full, the sky is clear, and the airport at the other end never closes. When the tower finally clears the flight for takeoff, the captain shuts down the engines and cancels it. He is neither ill nor drunk, and he has been on duty since dawn. Why?
Modern lives · ★★☆
Never a Day Off
For six years, a bank clerk has not taken a single day off. First in, last out, never once off sick. This year head office orders him to take two weeks' leave. He spends them at home, doing nothing anyone could hold against him, and he is arrested before he is due back. Why?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
Eleven Went Out
Every 31 October a man sets the same 11 figures out on his front lawn; two of them move when children come near. Four times during the evening he goes back out to refill the sweet bowl. In the morning he comes to fetch them with the wheelbarrow, two at a time. He counts 12, and he has bought nothing this year. What happened?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
No Contest
A man turns up at the village fancy dress party as a boxer: gloves round his neck, a purple swelling on his temple, one eye that does not quite follow the other. Best makeup of the night, no contest. He drinks, he laughs, he dances heavily. At 11 they call his name; he does not stand up, and the room applauds. Why?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
One Sweet Too Many
Her son comes home with a full bag. As she does every year, she tips it all out on the table and counts: forty. She sets one aside, out of his reach, and spends the rest of the evening ringing doorbells along the street. The next day four families thank her. What happened?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
The Biggest Sweets
Outside number 8 a man has set up a folding table against the gate. He is handing out full-size bars, not sweets, and by eight o'clock the whole street knows it. The queue lasts until eleven at night. He has bought 200 bars and he does not live there. Not one child gets as far as the door. Why?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
The Last Song
At midnight, 120 people dance upstairs in an old barn, and the floor holds. By three, only twenty remain, half of them seated. During the final song the floor collapses, killing one person. An engineer finds sound timber and far fewer people than earlier. How?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
The Ones Who Lay Down
At a Halloween party in a cellar, thirty guests dance beside a cauldron spilling white mist across the floor. Later, three are found unconscious nearby: a girl asleep on cushions, a man who lay down, and the dog. The dancers are still on their feet. What happened?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
Nobody Was Looking for Him
An 82-year-old man goes missing on a Tuesday. Sixty volunteers, two dogs and a helicopter comb the parish for three days: nothing, and he does not answer when they call his name. On the evening of the 31st, three ten-year-olds walk him home alive. They were not looking for him, and they went exactly where the search had already been. What happened?
Halloween Night · ★☆☆
Everything Was Locked Away
On the morning of 1 November a dog is at the emergency vet with chocolate poisoning. The night before, the parents counted their son's haul and locked it in the kitchen cupboard; the key never left the father's pocket. The cupboard is untouched. Nobody else came into the house. What happened?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
The Quiet One
The 31st, in a hospital A&E waiting room: costumes everywhere and fake blood on half the people. A triage nurse walks past a man drenched in red who is howling, and takes a silent young man straight through whose costume carries one stain the size of a coin. The first man will put in a complaint. She was right. Why?
Halloween Night · ★★★
Returned Like New
On 1 November 400 costumes come back to the hire shop: torn, stained, always with something missing. One arrives by post, without a note, washed and pressed and as good as new, and its customer will never claim his deposit. The owner sets it aside and calls the police. Why?
Halloween Night · ★★☆
Forty Doors
Overnight on the 31st, four houses in the same street are burgled. The police interview 50 neighbours: nobody saw anything out of the ordinary. Yet the whole street saw the burglar, some of them more than once, and a dozen of them gave him something. How is that possible?
Halloween Night · ★★★
The Grave With No Name
An unidentified woman found in the woods lies in an unnamed grave. For three years, a man with no known link to her leaves flowers there. In the fourth year he asks a mason to carve a first name. Days later, the police arrest him for her murder. What did the name change?
Halloween Night · ★☆☆
Nobody Came Up
On the evening of the 31st a man falls at home, breaks his hip and cannot get up; his phone is in the other room. His window stands wide open over a street full of people. He shouts for help for three hours. Dozens of people hear him. Nobody comes up, and nobody in that street behaved badly. Why?
Halloween Night · ★☆☆
The Box in the Car
On the morning of 1 November a woman takes scissors to the decoration she had spent three hours stringing between the two birches at her gate. She puts a piece of it in a cardboard box, gets in the car and drives 25 miles. She leaves with the box and comes home without it. She bought nothing and called on no one she knows. Why?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
The Bird Took the Blame
A capon sits out on the worktop for six hours before it goes in the oven. On Christmas morning nine of the 12 who ate it are doubled up. The bird is innocent and so is the butcher. The person who made them ill did not eat there, and was not in the house five minutes. What happened?
Christmas Eve · ★☆☆
Dinner Behind Glass
Eight in the evening on Christmas Eve. The goose is in the oven, the oven is on, and the door will not open. Nothing is jammed against it, the oven is not broken, and the power has not gone off. Nobody will get it open for hours, and there will be no goose tonight. What happened?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
The Ungrateful Four
A grandmother hands her four grandchildren their presents, and all four unwrap at once. Each of them kisses her, thanks her warmly, and not one wrong word is said all evening. As always, the wrapping paper goes on the fire as it comes off. She goes home at midnight and never speaks to any of them again. What happened?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
The Last Four Doors
On the evening of 20 December a man finds his daughter's advent calendar: doors 21 to 24 are open and empty. Every other door was opened on its own day. She is eight, and she has taken nothing that was not hers. He cancels the table he had booked for Christmas Eve. Why?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
The Guest Nobody Invited
A chalet, the road closed by snow since six. At midnight the hostess realises she does not know the name of one of the men in her sitting room. He has been drinking and laughing with her guests for five hours, he has lied to nobody, and two of those guests know exactly who he is. Who is he?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
A Long Way to Say Nothing
For four years now, a man who had not set foot in a church in 30 years has driven 400 kilometres every 24 December to attend midnight mass in a village where he does not live. He does not pray, does not take communion, speaks to nobody, and leaves before the end. Why?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
Only the Boiler
His mother's house has stood empty since her funeral in October. On the morning of 24 December he gets there first, fires up the boiler, and drives off for the bread and the champagne. Two hours later the kitchen ceiling is on the floor and water is running through the whole house. He touched nothing else. What happened?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
Out in His Shirtsleeves
Christmas Eve, 10 at night. A man steps outside in his shirtsleeves and the door swings shut. No key, no phone, no neighbour, and it is minus six. He rings, he bangs, he shouts: the bell is dead, the shutters are closed, and 20 people are singing inside. Twenty minutes later he is at the table, having broken nothing. How?
Christmas Eve · ★★☆
She Is Breathing Perfectly
On Christmas morning a two-year-old swallows something she picked up under the tree. She is not choking, she is not coughing, she breathes perfectly and asks for more chocolate. At the hospital she is taken ahead of everyone and put to sleep within the hour. What she swallowed is not sharp, not poisonous and not a medicine. Why the hurry?
Christmas Eve · ★☆☆
A Stranger Writes
In October a woman left her husband and moved to another town without leaving an address. Nobody has it, not her family, not her bank. On 8 December she finds a letter in her box addressed to her six-year-old son, by name, at that address. She calls the police. She is wrong to be frightened. Why?
Christmas Eve · ★☆☆
Her Own Handwriting
On Christmas Eve a woman unwraps her sister-in-law's present: one of those ribboned boxes the shops sell by the 1000, a scented candle inside. Under the candle, a card with no name on it, written in her own hand. She has never written a word to her sister-in-law, and nobody is playing a trick on her. How is that possible?
Christmas Eve · ★☆☆
He Was Looking Right at It
Just after midnight on Christmas Eve a man walks into casualty: he has lost the sight of his left eye. Nobody hit him, nothing exploded, and he never left his own front room. He was holding the thing that did it, a foot from his face, looking straight at it. He never saw it coming. What happened?
Christmas Eve · ★★★
The Finest Presents
A man gives his wife and his children presents of a kind he has never given them before: a fountain pen, a notebook, a coffee machine, a framed photograph. He bought nothing, stole nothing, borrowed nothing. On 6 January his wife finds a flattened cardboard box in the boot with his name on it, and understands. What happened?
Christmas Eve · ★★★
The Reservoir Stayed Full
A family buys their tree on 1 December and tends it like a houseplant: standing in water the same evening, the reservoir checked daily, never once dry. On Christmas Eve a light string shorts out. Within a minute the room is gone. The fire officers will say they have rarely seen a tree that dry. How is that possible?
Christmas Eve · ★★★
The Midnight Alibi
A man is tried for a midnight murder, 40 kilometres from the house where he spent Christmas Eve. Seventeen guests honestly believe he stayed inside all evening. Snow has covered every track in the yard. A photograph taken there at one in the morning undermines his alibi. What does it show?
Sealed case files
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