this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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Dull Men's Club

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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.

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[–] AppearanceBoring9229@sh.itjust.works 62 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

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

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[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 59 points 4 weeks ago (9 children)

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

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 19 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Loved that game and every game in that series. Part of the fun was being dropped into this world with no clues and just having to feel your way around.

I admit that I surrendered after a while and got a walkthrough, which was followed by several hours of, “Oh for fucks sake I could have figured that out!”

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 13 points 4 weeks ago

Every once in a while I definitely needed the walkthrough too. I hear blue price hits the same feeling. My wife and I just need to find time to dive into it together

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 7 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] JaymesRS@piefed.world 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Did you ever read the tie-in novels?

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 5 points 4 weeks ago

I have, I picked up the Myst Reader which collects all three from a used book sale a while back. I remember them being a fun read. Nothing mind blowing but a fun jaunt through more Myst

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[–] Jilanico@lemmy.world 43 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

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@lemmy.blahaj.zone 30 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] Jilanico@lemmy.world 10 points 4 weeks ago

Amazing story 💫

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[–] Snailpope@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago
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[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 35 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

Free clue: It’s not 15. That solution doesn’t work for the bottom numbers, and it’s very clearly stated that the 7 is not a typo.

Edit: What makes this puzzle so good is that it tempts you with an “obvious” solution that works with all but the last set, but there’s an equally obvious solution that does fit every set, if you can shake yourself free of the fist one.

[–] BlackVenom@lemmy.world 15 points 4 weeks ago

Thanks but I'll ignore the last set and win

(╯°-°)╯︵ ┻━┻

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[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 29 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Enkrod@feddit.org 27 points 4 weeks ago (15 children)

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 10 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Did I get it?

answer13112221

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[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 15 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 15 points 4 weeks 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.

[–] emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

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 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

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

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[–] thinkercharmercoderfarmer@slrpnk.net 12 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

What the heck man I have things to do today.

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[–] LordFireCrotch@lemmy.today 11 points 4 weeks ago

I have to admit that I believe I have successfully found the solution.

It took me about 2 minutes lol.

[–] David_Eight@lemmy.world 11 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

How do we know if we're right then?

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 41 points 4 weeks ago

You’ll feel a sudden, unmistakable rush of self-confidence.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 weeks 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.

[–] MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 weeks 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.

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 8 points 4 weeks ago

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

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

Took me about 20 minutes. There's a rule you find first that would work if the 7 was an 8. But it isn't. So there's another rule.

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[–] malle_yeno@pawb.social 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

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~

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[–] ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world 8 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

Got it. Very misleading puzzle, haha.

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[–] TorstenTyp@feddit.nu 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 4 weeks 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

[–] skulkbane@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

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

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[–] Triumph@fedia.io 5 points 4 weeks ago

That was easy. Years, you say?

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 5 points 4 weeks ago

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

[–] rrrurboatlibad 5 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

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

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