The Origins of This "Deadly Soup": A Hidden Global History of Lateral Thinking Puzzles

You might have encountered them at parties or stumbled across them on social media: someone tells a bizarre, incomplete story like "A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. Instead of being angry, the man says 'Thank you' and leaves."

Then everyone becomes detectives, asking only "yes," "no," or "irrelevant" questions, gradually piecing together a truth that makes you slap your forehead in amazement.

This game goes by many names - lateral thinking puzzles, situation puzzles, or yes/no riddles. But have you ever wondered where these names came from? Are they really connected to an actual soup? Today, let's become the "solvers" ourselves, using facts as clues to deduce the historical "solution" behind these puzzles.

First, What Exactly Is This Game?

Stripping away all the mystique, lateral thinking puzzles are essentially oral reasoning games. In the English-speaking world, they go by several straightforward names: Situation Puzzles or Yes/No Puzzles.

The game's core lies in challenging our brains to break free from conventional thinking patterns - what psychologist Edward de Bono famously termed "Lateral Thinking" in 1967. Simply put, it's about not getting stuck in a rut and looking at problems from different angles. Those seemingly bizarre puzzle setups are designed precisely to force us out of our mental comfort zones.

The Modern Evolution: A Clear Timeline

This game didn't appear out of nowhere. We can trace its path to popularity quite clearly.

1970s-1990s: The Golden Age of Print Media

Before the internet became widespread, logic puzzles were staples of books and magazines. Works like Raymond Smullyan's "What Is the Name of This Book?" (1978) and Paul Sloane's "Lateral Thinking Puzzles" series (starting in 1992) built substantial audiences and classic puzzle collections for this type of game.

1990s: The Dawn of the Internet

With the rise of Usenet (early internet forums), online communities like rec.puzzles became new homes for puzzle enthusiasts. Countless classic situation puzzles spread virally through electronic archives.

1991: North America's Commercial Breakthrough

A Canadian company had the brilliant insight to transform this oral game into a physical product - MindTrap. By printing puzzles on cards and adding scoring tracks, they successfully created a party board game perfect for family gatherings, pioneering the commercialization of the format.

2004: Germany's "Dark Humor"

On the other side of the world, German publisher moses. Verlag released what would become Europe's hit sensation: Black Stories. True to its name, these puzzles were darker and more deadly, filled with bizarre death scenarios. This card game series by Holger Bösch precisely targeted the young adult market and continues releasing expansion packs today.

2004-2005: The Defining Naming Moment

This year saw the publication of a book in Japan titled "Suiri Quiz Dōjō: Umigame no Sūpu" (Reasoning Quiz Dojo: Turtle Soup). It compiled puzzles popular on the 2ch forum. This book's title directly linked the specific "turtle soup" puzzle with the entire game genre. The following year, when translated into Chinese, "turtle soup" became the most universal and recognizable official name in the Chinese-speaking world.

2018: Breaking into Popular Art

An animated short film called "Albatross Soup" made a stunning debut at film festivals worldwide. Using highly creative experimental visuals, it vividly recreated players collectively reasoning through the classic "soup suicide" puzzle, introducing lateral thinking puzzles to mainstream audiences in an entirely new artistic form.

Why "Turtle Soup" Specifically?

Now we know the name originated in Japan, but what exactly is this story?

The name itself comes from what could be called the "crown jewel" of classic puzzles. While variations exist, the core version goes like this:

The puzzle's "solution" (standard answer) is deeply tragic: Years ago, the man was in a shipwreck. Stranded on an island, his companions fed him human flesh disguised as "turtle soup" to keep him alive. Years later, when he first tasted real turtle soup, the difference in flavor made him instantly realize the horrific truth from his past. Mentally shattered, he chose to end his life.

Because of the 2004 Japanese book title and its subsequent Chinese translation, this most representative story became the namesake for the entire game genre.

Two "Textbook-Perfect" Classic Examples

To give you a more direct feel for these puzzles, here are two "educational-grade" examples that appear in various sources and are definitely not made up.

Example A: The Hiccupping Man at the Bar

Setup: "Someone walks into a bar and asks for water; the bartender suddenly pulls out a gun and points it at him; the man says 'Thank you' and leaves - why?"

Solution: The man had hiccups and wanted water to cure them. The clever bartender used shock therapy to cure him, so he thanked him and left. This example perfectly demonstrates how "yes/no" questioning gradually eliminates wrong paths to reach a simple yet unexpected truth.

Example B: Turtle Soup / Albatross Soup

Setup: "Someone orders turtle soup, confirms it's really turtle, then commits suicide - why?"

Solution: As described earlier, this story's core reveals a buried traumatic memory involving cannibalism. It's considered classic because the answer can't be reached through simple logical deduction - it requires a massive "lateral thinking" leap to construct a grand, tragic backstory.

From Game to Culture: Lateral Thinking Puzzles Around Us

Today, whether in variety shows, social apps, or friend gatherings, lateral thinking puzzles have become low-barrier, high-interaction social tools. Terms like "setup" (puzzle), "solution" (answer), and "yes/no/irrelevant" have become common parlance among English-speaking players.

In education, they're sometimes used as tools for training "critical thinking" and breaking mental patterns. Of course, critics point out that poorly designed puzzles can devolve into frustrating "guess what I'm thinking" battles.

Finally, How Should We Scientifically View Their "History"?

Through our exploration above, we can clearly see a verifiable modern transmission chain:

Books/Magazines → Early Internet Communities → Commercial Board Games/Cards → Social Media & Film Adaptations.

The Chinese name "turtle soup" has the most direct lineage to the 2004 Japanese book "Umigame no Sūpu."

North America's MindTrap (1991) and the German-speaking world's Black Stories (2004) represent two of the most successful parallel commercial waves globally.

You might encounter articles attempting to trace these puzzles back to "Socratic questioning" or "Zen koans," noting similarities in thinking approaches. While these comparisons are interesting, we must be cautious - currently, no reliable documentation proves these ancient wisdom traditions are direct historical sources for this modern game.

So next time someone serves up this "turtle soup," you might also tell them the story of the soup itself. After all, the joy of solving puzzles lies not only in finding the "solution" but also in understanding where it all began.

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