And every single time, creative things begin to happen. That’s when I’ll provide the two hints described above. Accusatory glances come my way (“Why are you torturing us, Tammy?”). Sometimes pens get tossed onto the table in utter defeat, before any attempt is made at all. When I give the instructions for Part 2, there is usually an audible groan. It feels true and I suppose that’s why this comment shows up so often. I don’t know if this is true and haven’t found a reliable source of data on this. I’ve heard it said that children can solve this puzzle more quickly than adults because they don’t add the rule that adults, succumbing to self-imposed limitations, do. I eavesdrop on their conversation, of course, and notice that once they have a companion in crime, they stick with it a bit longer and push each other to think in new ways. If I allow people to work on the puzzle together, more figure it out than when they work on it alone. And many adults self-impose a rule I haven’t imposed - they assume the lines may not extend beyond the boundary formed by the 8 dots along the outside of the square. The “trick,” of course, is that you have to think outside box - quite literally - to be able to connect the dots with four straight lines without lifting your pen off the paper. If they’ve truly never run into the puzzle before, and don’t know the “trick” to solving it, they will sometimes throw up their hands and accuse me of giving them an unsolvable task. Many people struggle with Part 1 of the exercise but they keep at it for a while. To thwart the Einstellung effect in problem-solving, put down your pen, look at the puzzle, and say to yourself, “Don’t be blind!”.Most people cannot solve Part 2 with the same approach they used to figure out the solution to Part 1 (unless they cheated and googled it).Need a hint? Well, ok, if you really tried and are still stuck, I’ll give you not one, but two hints: Don’t just give in to the temptation to turn to someone near you for help. Go ahead and work on it for a few minutes. Next, without lifting your pen off the paper, connect all the dots with 1 straight line.Draw 9 dots in the same configuration described above.There’s another solution I see now and then that you can google (do it later) to find out. When you’re done, you can check your solution against the one I’ve posted here. Go ahead and work on it if you haven’t seen this one before I’ll wait. Next, without lifting your pen off the paper, connect all the dots with 4 straight lines.Draw 9 dots to form a square, 3 rows of 3 evenly spaced dots each, just like the example above.Here’s what it is and how I use it in conflict resolution to help clients problem-solve more creatively (as well as a Part 2 of the exercise that may be new to you). It’s a permanent resident of my conflict resolution activities toolbox.
The 9-dot puzzle has been around for a while now, so maybe you’ve seen it.
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