History Main / AlphabetSoupCans

* The Library Island Arc of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' had the Baka Rangers running from a living statue, while their way kept being blocked by doors with math and english problems on them. Naturally, [[LampshadeHanging they're baffled]] as to why the hell these things are in their way. After the fact [[spoiler: it's implied that the Headmaster [[BatmanGambit set the whole thing]] up to get them to study for their finals]].

** Blaine's Gym in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' was doing the quiz-gym first, although the questions were related to Pokemon rather than anything educational.

In {{Edutainment Game}}s, there have to be obstacles that are... well, educational. And there are... whether it makes any sense within the context of the game or not. It isn't just a case of SolveTheSoupCans, they're AlphabetSoupCans!

In {{Edutainment Game}}s, there have to be obstacles that are... well, educational. And there are... whether it makes any sense within the context of the game or not. It isn't just a case of SolveTheSoupCans, they're Alphabet Soup Cans!

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' on the DS, Rydia's minigame for leveling up Whyt (a summon who can be used in battle and multiplayer mode) is to perform various mathematical operations on four numbers in order to get the end result to equal ten. Worse, you need to do this as many times as possible in one minute. Other final fantasy games have similar Easter Eggs, some of which are plot relevant.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' your first 'boss' type battle is beaten by using a calculator, to prove that you can do math and he can't. Or at least, you can do it faster. Afterward, the mage guy gets sucked into the calculator, for reasons unexplained.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has plenty of these. Math problems included.

So, why does the BigBad always challenge you with fifth grade math problems? Because you need to work on your long division! He's thoughtful that way. Still, you'd think that if he ''really'' wanted to outsmart people, he'd come up with something more difficult. (On the other hand, having watched ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader''... )

Or you could just chalk it up to GameplayAndStorySegregation.

* Fantina's Gym in Hearthome City in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' has to be navigated with math problems. Not only are the problems incredibly easy, but the game provides you with a working calculator. The problems are so easy that if you get any wrong, the trainers assume you're getting them wrong on purpose and will comment on it.

* Funbrain is a website with an "arcade" consisting of 100% alphabet soup cans that let the player, say, perform long division to get a freethrow in basketball, unlock an Egyptian tomb or even drag a dandelion seed onto a flower.

* The ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'' series. Puzzles can require anything from basic arithmetic all the way up to geometry. (Sometimes, however, these are subverted, when a puzzle that seems to involve math actually has a simpler answer.)

** ''VideoGame/CarmenSandiegoWordDetective'' {{Hand Wave}}s the grammar, word search and spelling puzzles as decoding passwords.

** ''[[VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures6thGradeMissionEarthquest JumpStart 6th Grade]]'' is the biggest offender. Most of the activities in this game could essentially be boiled down to a glorified multiple choice exam while being chased by hostile robots, rendering most if not all the educational content out of context.

** ''Jumpstart 6th Grade'' is the biggest offender. Most of the activities in this game could essentially be boiled down to a glorified multiple choice exam while being chased by hostile robots, rendering most if not all the educational content out of context.

* Justified in the earlier games of the ''CarmenSandiego'' series. In these games, you had to chase globe-hopping crooks around the world by using clues to figure out where they went next. (With some rather bizarre hints that seem rather contrived.) Later games in the series, however, embraced Alphabet Soup Cans more fully.

** Somewhat {{justified|Trope}} in ''JumpStart3rdGrade'' considering that the villainess is a [[InsufferableGenius smarty-pants]] third grader who puts obstacles like this to make herself look smarter.
** ''JumpStart4thGrade'' had the ExpositionFairy Flap state in a throwaway line that Mrs. Grunkel set these up all over her island so that she could finally get her little monsters to be able to learn. After all, she IS a SadistTeacher.
** ''JumpStart5thGrade'' combined these with plot-sensitive tasks. Those crossword notes Jo has to solve are Martin's way of secretly informing her where Dr. X will strike next without calling attention to it. Getting the NoodleImplements involve doing things like mixing drinks or recovering artifacts. The most obvious use of this trope is when Jo has to pick the door locks by solving math equations.

* The Library Island Arc of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' had the Baka Rangers running from a living statue, while their way kept being blocked by doors with math and english problems on them. Naturally, [[LampshadeHanging they're baffled]] as to why the hell these things are their way. After the fact [[spoiler: it's implied that the Headmaster [[BatmanGambit set the whole thing]] up to get them to study for their finals]].

* Justified in the earlier games of the ''CarmenSandiego'' series. In these games, you had to chase globe-hopping crooks around the world by using clues to figure out where they went next. (With some rather bizarre hints that seem rather contrived) Later games in the series, however, embraced Alphabet Soup Cans more fully.
** "Great Chase through time" zig-zags this. Sometimes this is justifiable a bit in that you are doing something that the culture you are visiting ''did'' do, like keep track of all the surplus food and supplies in the Incans (using their accounting systems), and rehearsing the openings of Beethoven's symphonies because he is busy writing down the notes to the ''full'' ones in another room. A few times it seems a little more contrived; like how guards will not let you in a season themed room until Renee Sance's kimono matches the theme of the room. (apparently they can't just ''ask'' the guards to adjust the mirror. Either way that's one ''strange'' duty they have.)
** CarmenSandiegoWordDetective {{Hand Wave}}s the grammar, word search and spelling puzzles as decoding passwords.

So, why does the BigBad always challenge you with fifth grade math problems? Because you need to work on your long division! He's thoughtful that way. Still, you'd think that if he ''really'' wanted to outsmart people, he'd come up with something more difficult. (On the other hand, having watched ''[[AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?]]''... )

* [[http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/07/sega-announces-english-of-the-dead-for-ds/ English of the Dead.]] Translate words. Kill Zomies.

* ''MegaManLegends 2'' has a minigame where you can get various items by answering various questions related to history, science & other subjects (thankfully, this isn't necessary, as the one item you actually need can also be bought). What makes this a particularily glaring example of GameplayAndStorySegregation is that the Legends series is supposed to take place AfterTheEnd, where most of humanity's history has been lost.

* In ''BaldursGate2'' and ''ThroneOfBhaal'', among the hack'n'slashing, spell-slinging fights, there's a few places where the only way to move forward is... solving math and logic problems. The Circus Tent quest on Waukeen's Promenade and the riddling imp in Watcher's Keep come to mind.

** The device that you can use to learn ''Riven'''s numerical system is justified by being in a classroom (although its importance is elsewhere).
** ''Exile'' justifies educational type puzzles with the fact that the setting was originally created as a training course for Atrus' sons. The age of J'nanin specifically is a course on the types of energy an age can draw on - Kinetic (Amateria), Natural (Edanna) and Mechanical (Voltaic) - culminating in a civilized age (Narayan) where all three forms of energy are being brought into balance. In Riven, that's not a puzzle so much as an in-universe version of AlphabetSoupCans.
** ''Revelation'' requires you to learn a few words in a primitive monkey language, and also recognize the tracks of various animals (there are guides for both of these elsewhere in the Age). Earlier, a puzzle requires you to transliterate the D'ni alphabet, using Yeesha's homework as a guide.

* In ''SilentHill3'', when playing on the hard puzzle difficulty, one of the first puzzles you encounter tests your knowledge of Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
* The entire gameplay of ''VideoGame/MarioIsMissing!''. You must return artifacts to their proper places by jumping on (literally) harmless Koopa Troopas, in the hopes that they will drop one of the three {{MacGuffin}}s you're looking for in that area. ''Then'', you have to answer trivia questions ''about'' the item to "prove" you have the real thing so they'll take it back. You ''also'' have to ask the locals various questions to try to figure out where you are so that, once you've returned all the artifacts, you can leave on Yoshi's back. Do this with three cities in each chamber, and you get to [[CurbStompBattle "fight"]] one of Bowser's kids. Do ''that'' whole mess three times, and you [[CutsceneBoss "fight"]] Bowser. Congrats. You win.

** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in ''JumpStart3rdGrade'' considering that the villainess is a [[InsufferableGenius smarty-pants]] third grader who puts obstacles like this to make herself look smarter.
** ''JumpStart4thGrade'' had [[ExpositionFairly Flap]] state in a throwaway line that Mrs. Grunkel set these up all over her island so that she could finally get her little monsters to be able to learn. After all, she IS a SadistTeacher.

** ''Midnight Rescue'' had Morty leave random notes lying around as clues, but many of the notes were related to Morty's backstory, the school that was being painted invisible and the students who attended there, as well as other things going on in the town of Shady Glen; the additional passages from novels are more in line with out-of-context.
** ''OutNumbered'' took place inside a television station, and puzzles were generally about how much one won during a game show or how many supplies there were in a closet, or how many minutes of footage were cut; the equation drilling with Telly to get the room code was less in context.
** ''Spellbound'' was made up of nothing but spelling practice drills because the whole plot revolved around Morty challenging the Super Solvers to a spelling bee.
** Played straighter in ''Gizmos & Gadgets'' and ''Mission T.H.I.N.K.'', with the locked puzzle doors that made up the bulk of the game. The end challenges, vehicle races and strategy games respectively, were more in context as those were Morty's conditions of beating him.

** The ''Super Seekers'' titles for younger players would play this straight. ''Treasure Mountain'' and ''Treasure Cove'' would give you clues on where to find treasure if you caught those who would ask you simple questions. ''Treasure Mathstorm'' and ''Treasure Galaxy'' added to this by granting currency for solving various math-related tasks, but still retained the soup-can style problems for treasure retrieval.
* Over-lookable on some occasions when said Alphabet Soup Cans are used as an interface (such as ''Typing of the Dead'', where the player's typing makes them shoot the zombies rather than have the zombies being killed by typing words).

* In a desperate measure to avoid actual [[ProgrammingGame programming minigames]] and yet still have some kind of thematically fitting puzzle for computer cracking, ''[[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic KoTOR]]'''s developers inserted simple math quizzes using the dialog system.

* In ''TheLongestJourney'' your first 'boss' type battle is beaten by using a calculator, to prove that you can do math and he can't. Or at least, you can do it faster. Afterward, the mage guy gets sucked into the calculator, for reasons unexplained.

* The ''VideoGame/ReaderRabbit''/''ClueFinders'' series.
** Sometimes justifiable regarding ''ClueFinders'', in which some challenges simply have you doing somebody a favour to get a reward, such as cutting bolts of fabric into fractions, helping a barista put coffee on a tray, assembling proper data for a Librarian's book, or putting a fence around a pit so a monkey can't fall into it. But other times, they're simply just locked doors you have to answer word problems or [[TrialAndErrorGameplay hypothesize what the password is]], or building bridges to cross pits. Either by spelling words, answering word problems, or linking tiles together to form a chain to the end. (In the latter, you're never told ''what'' the pattern is, usually beyond one of the characters saying "There's got to be a pattern here...")

* The ''VideoGame/JumpStart'' series. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in ''JumpStart3rdGrade'' considering that the villainess is a [[InsufferableGenius smarty-pants]] third grader.