516

I’d like to ask the good people of this community that, if you do know the solution or figure it out, that you not share the answer here. Feel free to announce your success, but there’s something to be said for discovering the answer completely unaided, even if it takes years.

It’s embarrassingly obvious once you see it though.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 74 points 3 months ago

Ever play the game Myst? As a kid that's exactly how it was. Days of banging my head and then a rush of finally figuring something out. Really miss that

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 points 3 months ago

I recommend Outer Wilds then.

Go in as blind as possible. They recommend a controller over mouse and keyboard and they mean it. The DLC is just as good as the base game, but I'd tackle it after doing the main objective.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] JaymesRS@piefed.world 7 points 3 months ago

Did you ever read the tie-in novels?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] flyhunter@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

Take a look on tunic, but it comes with some combat action, which may not be what you are looking for.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] AppearanceBoring9229@sh.itjust.works 71 points 3 months ago

For everyone saying it's the difference between the two numbers, it's not it. Because the last one should be 8 to follow the rule

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Jilanico@lemmy.world 55 points 3 months ago

Figured it out. Weirdly, knowing you solved it made me confident I could too, and I don't even know you 🤔

spoilerI focused on the anomaly ignoring the rest, tried to see what possible rules could lead to it, then went back to see which rule also applied to the "non-anomalous" numbers.


[-] bamboo 42 points 3 months ago
[-] Jilanico@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago

Amazing story 💫

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Snailpope@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] arsCynic@piefed.social 39 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Enkrod@feddit.org 28 points 3 months ago

Hah, took me nearly a minute.

Tap for spoilerAdd the digits on both sides.

? = 12

But I only got it so quickly because I enjoyed a similar puzzle once.

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
...

continue the series.

[-] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 months ago

Did I get it?

answer13112221

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (13 replies)
[-] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 24 points 3 months ago

Wow so easy, I got this in negative 4 second, literally 4 seconds before I even saw the puzzle. Of course I'm not going to share the solution here because I don't want to ruin It, but I definitely got it.

[-] thinkercharmercoderfarmer@slrpnk.net 20 points 3 months ago

What the heck man I have things to do today.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

I think I figured it out, but it's so easy that I don't think that could possibly be it. But it is, apparently.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Lembot_0006@programming.dev 16 points 3 months ago

This kind of puzzle is very lazy for creators: just make the function more complicated and/or increase the amount of parameters and this makes the puzzle drastically more difficult.

The method of solving is just brute force. Boring. Uninspiring.

[-] missingno@fedia.io 30 points 3 months ago

The function is not complicated, and the solution does not require brute force. In fact, it's quite elegant in its simplicity.

And when you get it, you then get to take a step back and admire how the creator was able to set up the numbers given to almost point to the red herring answer. Not a lazy puzzle at all.

[-] Attack0fthenerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 months ago

Boring and uninspiring ass comment. You know it's free to not post anything and allow people to enjoy shit?

[-] starik@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 months ago

That’s what makes me think it’s not a math puzzle. If it turns out to be like “divide by 3, add 2, multiply by 2, add 4,….” it wouldn’t be very interesting.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 3 months ago

The number of comments in this thread where people confidently declare they solved it with the wrong answer is absolutely baffling. Especially since it literally calls out the exception to that 'solution' in the post itself. Did those people not even look at the 7? That's the real strength of this puzzle, making idiots who think they're geniuses loudly prove their stupidity.

[-] Avicenna@programming.dev 6 points 3 months ago

Yeah it takes a different type of self confidence to think someone else can consider "adding two numbers" as their master piece puzzle lol.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

Got it. Very misleading puzzle, haha.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] David_Eight@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago

How do we know if we're right then?

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago

You solve for it.

If the answer you get is right, you'll be able to apply it to every trio and get the number on the "line". It's kinda like how you can plug in your answer into a quadratic equation to double check you got it right.

[-] TorstenTyp@feddit.nu 12 points 3 months ago

Ah, typo is short for typographical error. I’v never realized that before.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 months ago

It took me several minutes but I finally got it. The comment saying to focus on the "anomaly" and how it could be 7 helped me to get there.

Yeah, feels pretty silly that I didn't see it sooner. I overcomplicated it haha.

[-] malle_yeno@pawb.social 11 points 3 months ago

Figured it out! That was cool, thanks!

Tap for spoilerOnce I saw it and heard "the solution isn't obvious", I got focused on the idea of digital roots cuz I thought back to the game series 999. But that didn't work, so I focused on the shape of the pizzle and thought it looked like a thermometer, so I tried conversions of F to C, which also didn't work. But when I heard other people say that it made then think about the "obvious" solution and work around the 7, I thought back to my digital root idea and realized I was applying it in a different way in 999 versus what's happening here.

This was a fun adventure~

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Triumph@fedia.io 10 points 3 months ago

That was easy. Years, you say?

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 10 points 3 months ago

I figured it out took about 10 minutes, thought i was onto it immediately until I had 8 at the end haha

[-] someacnt@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 months ago

IMHO, although it is hard to solve, it is neither brilliant nor profound - rather, it is misleading. It relies on a simple and common trickery involving multiple of 3, which is easy to see through for those with mathematical intuition. Of course many do not practice math, so it is seemingly interesting for them, but it's not much.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] skulkbane@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Oh i see,

Its

solution12

You add up the digits.

(7+2)+(9+9)=9+18=27

9+(4+5)=9+9=18

(1+8)+(3+9)=9+12=21

(2+1)+(3+6)=3+9=12

3+(2+8)=3+10=13

(1+3)+(2+1)=4+3=7

Yay

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] 0ops@piefed.zip 9 points 3 months ago

I admit this one extended my toilet time more than I intended, but I got it!

[-] Star 8 points 3 months ago

Got it in my first try! Thanks for making me feel extra smart today, though I think I'm just lucky. I recently watched a horror game with a similar one xD

[-] rrrurboatlibad@lemdro.id 8 points 3 months ago

I figured it out in about 3 minutes. I think I'm autistic or something

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] zout@fedia.io 7 points 3 months ago
[-] rmuk@feddit.uk 6 points 3 months ago

Okay, I've got it. I suggest you take your time before revealing because it's quite satisfying if you figure it out yourself.

Each circle has something different inside it. You need to make sure the circle at the end of the arrow is different to the circle at the start of the arrow. This can be tricky because some circles have TWO arrows pointing at them, so it needs to be different to both things.

Interestingly this puzzle has multiple solutions. Here they are:

5, grape, Montreal, 97

Let me know if you find any others!

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
516 points (100.0% liked)

Dull Men's Club

4245 readers
18 users here now

An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.

https://dullmensclub.com/

1. Relevant commentary on your own dull life. Posts should be about your own dull, lived experience. This is our most important rule. Direct questions, random thoughts, comment baiting, advice seeking, many uses of "discuss" rarely comply with this rule.

2. Original, Fresh, Meaningful Content.

3. Avoid repetitive topics.

4. This is not a search engine
Use a search engine, a tradesperson, Reddit, friends, a specialist Facebook group, apps, Wikipedia, an AI chat, a reverse image search etc. to answer simple questions or identify objects. Also see rule 1, “comment baiting”.

There are a number of content specific communities with subject matter experts who can help you.

Some other communities to consider before posting:

5. Keep it dull. If it puts us to sleep, it’s on the right track. Examples of likely not dull: jokes, gross stuff (including toes), politics, religion, royalty, illness or injury, killing things for fun, or promotional content. Feel free to post these elsewhere.

6. No hate speech, sexism, or bullying No sexism, hate speech, degrading or excessively foul language, or other harmful language. No othering or dehumanizing of anyone or negativity towards any gender identity.

7. Proofread before posting. Use good grammar and punctuation. Avoid useless phrases. Some examples: - starting a post with "So" - starting a post with pointless phrases, like "I hope this is allowed" or “this is my first post” Only share good quality, cropped images. Do not share screenshots of images; share the original image.

.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS