Riddles
Participants solve creative riddles as a daily brain workout, practicing open-minded thinking and avoiding premature cognitive closure.
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Related Exercises
Problem Solving
Improvisational problem-solving exercises where teams tackle challenges using 'Yes, And' principles to build creative solutions.
Question Storming
Instead of brainstorming answers, brainstorm questions about your challenge. This reframes the problem and often reveals root causes and new angles.
Talk It Out
When creatively stuck, find a sounding board and simply talk until you stumble across the answer. Conversation becomes a way of discovering what you actually think.
The Pineapple
An exercise exploring how a simple object can become a catalyst for creative exploration, storytelling, and metaphorical thinking.
Mind Meld
Mind Meld is a convergence exercise in which two players simultaneously say unrelated words, and the group then attempts to find a single word that connects the two. Players count down and speak at the same time, narrowing toward a shared answer through successive rounds of association. The exercise trains group mind, lateral thinking, and the trust required to commit to a choice without hesitation.
Alternate Uses Test (AUT)
Take an everyday object and list as many different uses for it beyond its intended purpose as possible in two minutes. A daily creativity training exercise from divergent thinking research.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Riddles. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/riddles
The Improv Archive. "Riddles." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/riddles.
The Improv Archive. "Riddles." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/riddles. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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