# Buying riddles?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-riddles/508970>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [September 5, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-riddles/508970 "2009-09-05T17:34:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-riddles/508970/1 "2009-09-05T17:34:57Z")

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I’m writing an interactive fiction game for the upcoming IF competition ([http://www.ifcomp.org/](http://www.ifcomp.org/)), and I need a few good, original riddles. Not offensive, not too difficult–just enough to give the player an amusing speedbump before getting to the next scene.

I’d be happy to pay for these riddles, so long as no one else has ever set eyes on them. Does anyone know of an online company or service that can help?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-riddles/508970/2 "2009-09-05T17:44:03Z")

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This might be better suited for The Game Room than GQ.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-riddles/508970/3 "2009-09-07T17:14:34Z")

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Do you know any kids? Pay them for their English homework.

It’s not uncommon to have an assignment along the lines of “here is a word. Write a short poem about that word, without using it.” The poem is the riddle, the prompt word is the answer.