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1[[quoteright:256:[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wait_for_shadow.png]]]]
2
3->''"Wait. Wait forever... The seal for No.3 will be removed."''
4-->--'''Hint room''', ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend''
5
6The waiting puzzle is a StockVideogamePuzzle which the player solves by simply remaining in a certain area for probably at least 15 seconds. This often turns into a serious GuideDangIt if no hints are given that waiting will change anything, or if it's an AbsurdlyLongWait.
7
8Some versions of this puzzle involve an {{NPC}} inching slowly across the screen, whose actions will set the EventFlag, while the player stands by.
9
10Closely related is the balancing act puzzle, in which the player must remain within a demarcated but unstable area for a certain time period while struggling to counteract gravity or other forces.
11
12The inverse of TimedMission, and a form of FakeLongevity. SheatheYourSword is related, as it's essentially a Waiting Puzzle translated into a BossBattle format.
13
14If waiting is your primary means of collecting resources and making progress, then you most likely have an IdleGame.
15
16A form of RewardingInactivity. See also WeWait and YouWereTryingTooHard. Can compare with PatiencePlot.
17
18----
19!!Examples
20
21[[foldercontrol]]
22
23[[folder:Action-Adventure Games]]
24* One of the secrets in ''VideoGame/{{Anodyne}}'' requires you to wait until a rabbit inches across the screen in order to unlock a gate. If you move at all, the rabbit runs in the other direction, so you have to stand perfectly still...for nearly ''two hours''.
25* In ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend'', one of the corridors is unsealed this way.
26* Almost any time you're captured and imprisoned in a ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' game, one of the options for escaping is to wait for someone to bust you out.
27* In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]'', there is a minor waiting puzzle in one of the later dungeons. There is an Armos Knight blocking the way forward, but as a nearby Owl Statue advises, if you just sit there for a bit he'll move.
28* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has a set of VR missions including mystery investigations where you have to pick out a murder suspect out of a lineup based on evidence in the room. The last mission only has the victim's corpse and no suspects. Wait for ''ten'' minutes and the victim will just stand up, showing that there's no mystery to be solved.
29* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'': You can defeat one boss just by waiting out the battle due to the boss being so damn old. Alternatively, just save, change your [=PS2's=] internal clock to a week in the future, load your save, and pat yourself on the back. Also you can "defeat" a later boss by just waiting while underwater, thus drowning yourself. It's a ''MindScrew'' boss, but it's expected given the series title.
30* In ''VideoGame/SpiritualWarfare'', there's an old woman on the casino strip who quotes a Bible verse about how you should wait patiently if you want what you don't yet have. If you take her advice and stay put for about 15 seconds, a car will pull out and drive off, revealing a hidden shop where you can get a [[EdibleAmmunition Banana]] (the overall best fruit to throw).
31[[/folder]]
32
33[[folder:Adventure Games]]
34* In the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', you sometimes get timed choices. 99% of the time, letting the timer run out results in failure, but to get ''Fleeing the Complex'''s [[spoiler:Presumed Dead]] ending you need to let the slowly-depleting timer run out at the final choice without picking any of the options that appear. Additionally, in the "Stickmin Space Resort" route of ''Completing the Mission'', the second correct choice is to, again, let the timer run out while dealing with two Toppat guards. Henry plows right through one of them and continues up the ramp to the rocket.
35* ''VideoGame/JackKeane'' has a part where you have to pass a trail of "Time and space". You can either wait it out or [[spoiler:just hit the space key]].
36* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'':
37** To get [[spoiler:Mordack's wand]], you must wait in the library adjacent to Mordack's bedroom (out of the line of sight of the door) until [[spoiler:you see him get in bed and go to sleep, at which point you can return to his bedroom and steal it off his end table.]]
38** Just after that is the puzzle to recharge Crispin's wand, which requires placing it at one end of a strange machine, placing Mordack's wand at the other, inserting a wedge of cheese into the machine, and waiting for about one real-time minute. In a spectacularly cheap move, Mordack can still appear and kill you while this is happening.
39* ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'' (the game): In the Japanese Rock Garden, you have to not do ''anything'', not even move the cursor, for like a minute. Then a hand appears from the sand to give you [[PlotCoupon an item]]. '''You must not take it.''' The hand goes away. You have to ''continue to be idle'' for another minute, then the hand reappears and you can then take the item. If you continue to do nothing after that, the game will complain at you for not doing anything.
40* A puzzle in ''VideoGame/RivenTheSequelToMyst'' requires you to ''slowly'' advance on some seal-like creatures. Since movement in ''Riven'' is punctuated, not continuous, this means you wait ten seconds... then click... then wait ten seconds... then click... There's also an animal trap in the game. To catch something in it, you put a piece of bait in it, lower it (make sure it's both powered and opened!), then wait for it to catch something. The time this takes varies, and you can choose to stay put and wait or go somewhere else in the meantime. Like the above example, it's not required, but simply gives you another small hint.
41* The text adventure game ''Timequest'' by Creator/LegendEntertainment has a puzzle where you are required to meditate. Simply typing "wait" results in a message telling how your character fidgets around while passing time, and the proper way to do it is to type something like "sit still". Or, if you simply wait around twenty seconds without typing anything, which accomplishes the same thing. Therefore you might easily ''accidentally'' solve this puzzle while you are trying to think of what you are supposed to do!
42* ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}'':
43** The climactic puzzle in the single-player version of ''The Path of the Shell'' requires that you stand on a particular spot without moving for fifteen minutes. There are only very subtle clues that this is what you need to do. The multiplayer version has a different path to this ending which doesn't involve waiting.
44** There is another puzzle in ''The Path of the Shell'' which also requires that you wait fifteen minutes while some pellets cook. But at least you can explore the rest of the game while you are waiting. However, the multiplayer version dials it up a notch, requiring you to wait ''four hours''.
45** Another multiplayer-only puzzle requires you to wait for an event which happens approximately once every 24 hours! At least in that case, the puzzle is about figuring out ''when'' the event happens, so you can go to the right place just before the expected time.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Fighting Game]]
49* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'': One of the microgames in the ''[[VideoGame/WarioWare WarioWare Inc.]]'' stage requires you to stand completely still for a few seconds, in the middle of a fight, to receive a bonus. It is a re-creation of a genuine microgame from the series proper.
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
53* In the video game based on ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'', there's an achievement for sitting on the sofa with your girlfriend until she falls asleep, and another for watching the entire movie on the TV.
54* In the beginning of ''Videogame/FarCry4'', [[PlayerCharacter Ajay]] is told by BigBad Pagan Min to sit at the dinner table and wait a while as he goes off to interrogate a prisoner. If the player actually waits long enough (15 minutes), [[spoiler:this triggers a secret ending in which Pagan returns and takes Ajay via helicopter to fulfil his objective of putting his mother's ashes to rest in a specific graveyard way across the game map, all without getting involved in the civil war which would otherwise be the plot for a normal playthrough, while Pagan casually reveals several major plot points and twists during the trip]]. This Easter egg was repeated in ''VideoGame/FarCry5''. There, [[spoiler:the Deputy decides that attempting to arrest Joseph will not end well for anyone and decides to simply call off the arrest.]]
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:[=MMORPG=]]]
58* There's a quest in ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' where a character asks you to look for boars in a certain area. A 30 minute timer starts ticking down when you accept the quest. Usually, if you don't complete a timed quest in the allotted time you fail and can't try again for a while, so you might be worried if you haven't found any boars when time is about to run out. However, there ''are'' no boars, and you're not ''supposed'' to find any; you just have to spend 30 minutes in the area to convince him you tried.
59* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'': The quest ''Recruitment Drive'' has one of these. But rather than simply waiting in the one room, you need to wait without moving at all. And there's an hourglass on the nearby table [[SchmuckBait just begging to be picked up]].
60[[/folder]]
61
62[[folder:Platformer]]
63* You get ''thirteen'' achievements in ''VideoGame/AchievementUnlocked'' for not doing anything after starting the game.
64* The final stage in ''VideoGame/{{Depict1}}'' [[spoiler: puts the player back at the start of the game]]. Entering the level goal nets you a BadEnding, but if you wait near it for a short while, it will disappear and you will be able to proceed to the game's ''real'' finale.
65* ''VideoGame/{{Fez}}'' has a clock with ''four'' hands, which take one minute, one hour, one day, and one week, respectively, to complete a revolution. Each hand nets you a prize when it hits "12:00". Good luck with that.
66* One level of ''VideoGame/{{Karoshi}}'' traps you in a pit you can't escape from; you must wait one minute before a block falls and crushes you. It's fine in the original game, but its sequel has a 'speed run' in which you complete the first game's levels as quickly as possible, which turns this level from 'filler level' to 'absolutely maddening'.
67* In ''[[VideoGame/GanbareGoemon Goemon's Great Adventure]]'', one entry pass is collected via standing under a waterfall in a certain town for a certain period of time. Just do that, and it appears.
68* ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' has a bunch of these:
69** Unlocking Baphomet's ankh requires waiting around in the Twin Labyrinths room diametrically opposite (and not directly connected) to the BossRoom.
70** The most annoying part of a multi-part puzzle in the Confusion Gate requires waiting for a {{Mook}} to random-walk into a conspicuous piece of scenery.
71** Getting the Ocarina requires pausing the game in a certain spot while holding the pregnant statue and waiting for Lemeza to go to sleep.
72** Near the end of BrutalBonusLevel, one must wait about a minute to get a colored block to appear. It must be done 3 times.
73** This is how the ankh jewel in the [[BuildLikeAnEgyptian Temple of the Sun]] is obtained. The player idles underneath the eye of Udjat.
74* There's a level in ''VideoGame/MonsterParty'' where one of the bosses consists of two dancing zombies that don't attack and can't be killed. If you wait long enough, they'll disappear, and then you can move on.
75* The DOS-version of ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' has an odd waiting puzzle, and considering the whole game is a TimedMission you generally don't want to spend time loafing around. [[spoiler: At the end of the twelfth level, you first have to SheatheYourSword to defeat your own shadow, by some considered a GuideDangIt. Directly afterwards, you have to walk or jump straight into thin air, which appears to be sure death, if not for ground materializing beneath you. How is this a waiting puzzle? If you make this jump before the melding is complete, you will instead simply fall to your death. Of course, you'll have to trial and error this at the end of a fairly long level.]]
76** Another level has a more straightforward waiting puzzle, where you have to wait for the princess' pet mouse to open a door for you. At this point, there isn't much else to do, though, except start exploring and possibly dying in the process. The timing is really tight, such that it's actually possible to get out without any help if you don't waste time, and you might figure you are supposed to restart the level and do it quicker. At least, the mouse's intervention is foreshadowed in a cutscene which you might or might not have skipped and the wait isn't terribly long.
77* While it isn't required to complete the game, you can get an achievement in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008'' if you wait for a minute without moving or pressing any buttons [[spoiler:while holding Elika's dead body]].
78** Same thing in ''VideoGame/Portal2''--you get an achievement for waiting in [[spoiler:Wheatley's]] first puzzle room and refusing to solve it.
79** And in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' you get an achievement for waiting a minute while [[spoiler:paying your respects at the site of his parents' death]].
80** Similarly, in ''VideoGame/{{Journey|2012}}'', you get a trophy if you and your companion sit down facing each other and meditate for 20 seconds at any point in the game.
81* In ''VideoGame/TakeshisChallenge'', the TreasureMap could only be read without ruining it either by exposing it to sunlight and not touch the controllers ''for an hour'', or by dipping it in water and shouting into the microphone no less than five and no more than ten minutes later.
82* One of the branching pathways in ''VideoGame/WarioLandII'' is unlocked when the player, rather than hitting a button to wake up in the first level, stays asleep for 10 seconds and having the villains carry Wario out of his house.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Puzzle Games]]
86* ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' has a hidden secret that involves a cloud platform that takes ''[[AbsurdlyLongWait two hours]]'' to reach its destination.
87* ''VideoGame/PortalReloaded'': The first "puzzle" is this, and the wait is said to take twenty years. Which is deliberately designed to be bypassed by a PortalToThePast, well, Future, that can be used to go to the past, introducing the TimeTravel mechanic, and avoiding TheSlowPath, which would kill the player character.
88* ''VideoGame/TwelveMinutes'': [[spoiler: If the player does not take any action in their initial playthrough, none of the conflict in the game happens. A happy ending is achieved in five minutes.]]
89* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter'', Luke warns you that you can't do anything to solve his puzzle. The trick is he means it literally; don't do anything.
90* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'': A few optional puzzles require you to wait on a moving platform of some sort while other elements of the puzzle move in and out of view. [[spoiler:One requires you to sit through a [[AbsurdlyLongWait fifty-minute]] video of an eclipse, and you can't do anything else in the meantime.]]
91* ''Videogame/{{Antichamber}}'' involves a puzzle in which the player's path is blocked by a door with a mysterious eye on it that will eventually grow tired and fall asleep in what amounts to a staring contest. This seems trivial in a normal playthrough, however you can see the annoyance on speedrunners' faces when they're forced to sit and do nothing for about half a minute.
92* The ''[[VideoGame/TheImpossibleQuiz Impossible Quiz]]'' series has at least two:
93** In level 35 of the original game, the player must [[spoiler: wait five seconds for the game-over button to change]].
94** In level 94 of the original game, the player must [[spoiler: allow the timer on the bomb to expire. It turns out to be a dud]].
95[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
98* In ''VideoGame/{{Alundra 2}}'', this puzzle exists in a cave about halfway through the game. After reading the hint sign for progression, the player must jump in the air and float in place for a while (with the help of a relic) so that the door to the next room opens.
99* In ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'', to get [[RobotBuddy PAL-18's]] best weapon, you have to let him play in the Moon Burger ball pit for FOUR HOURS. And even longer (seven hours total) for the Shadow Bracers. And since you can't leave the area while he's playing...
100* Unlocking the last five tracks in the sound test (basically the FinalBoss theme and all the tracks that only play during the ending) in ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' requires the player to get the Shampoo magus and then hold onto it for ''336 hours of real time'' (when you could easily finish the entire game in less than a quarter of that unless you're trying to go for OneHundredPercentCompletion.) Obviously, the best solution is to just leave the game running for two weeks. Or you could just look up the tracks on Website/YouTube if you're that desperate to hear them.
101* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has a mild one in its last dungeon, Arianna’s World. There’s also the laundry sidequest, which involves sitting in front of a washing machine for nearly ''six minutes'' while a load of underwear finishes its rinse cycle.
102* Appears near the end of ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' with a dragon statue asking Ryu to "Bow down before me and pray...", a ContinuityNod to save-points of the previous games, but with no other hints or animations of Ryu's sprite as indication of anything happening.
103* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', Crono gets arrested fairly early in the game. You can either wait three (in-game) days until your execution or you can attempt to escape by ticking off the guards. It is considerably easier to wait three days due to [[BigDamnHeroes some well-timed intervention]].
104** An earlier example: While Marle is getting candy at the Millennial Fair, don't move. Specifically, don't move away from her, but it's way easier just to wait 15 seconds.
105* At one point in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', while you are infiltrating Viper Manor, a guard asks for a password and a dialog box pops up with a few plausible-sounding choices. The ''correct'', choice, however, is to not pick any of the options and just wait a few seconds instead, as the correct password is silence.
106* A waiting puzzle is one part of getting the secret ending of ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' (the other is striking a true friendship with your VirtualSidekick Johnny Silverhand[[note]]itself a daunting prospect involving a [[GuideDangIt convoluted sequence of dialogue choices]][[/note]]): shortly after the PointOfNoReturn, Johnny presents to you your options for the MultipleEndings, and not saying anything for ca. 5 minutes of real time will prompt him to add another one to the list: [[spoiler:storming the Arasaka Tower on your own, no plans, no backup -- [[SuicideMission most likely, you die]], but if you reach your goal, you'll finally become a living legend of the Night City, just like you wanted all along]].
107* A couple GuideDangIt moments in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' have to do with this. To return to the tutorial level, for instance, the player has to sit curled up in a bird's nest for thirty seconds--a giant crow will then pick the character up and fly away. Joining the Gravelord Covenant, meanwhile, requires you to sit in an easily overlooked empty coffin for 30 seconds ''with a specific item in your inventory'' to be transported to Gravelord Nito and pledge allegiance to him. Oh, and if you just follow the plot and enter Nito's chamber normally, he will attack you, rendering his Covenant [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable]] (until NewGamePlus).
108* Another NES game, ''Destiny of an Emperor'' has you waiting beside [=ZhuGeLiang=] until he wakes before he joins. Any attempts to move or talk will reset the timer.
109* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'':
110** You are told the password to Belch's base is "wait 3 minutes." Which turns out to be having to stand at the waterfall and do nothing for three minutes in real time.
111** Later on, the only way to complete Poo's Mu training is to sit in one spot and ignore all the [=NPCs=] distracting you with requests to get down, and then ignore the image of your ancestor as he horribly maims you. Fitting, as "Mu" means "Nothingness".
112* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' contains a few. One mission requires you to wait and do nothing while a huge bear is attacking you. Also, a master of Alteration magic requires that you wait underwater near him for three in-game hours (six minutes of real time) before he will offer training. Although if the player is an Argonian he will give the training for free since Argonians can breathe underwater without needing to use magic
113** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' also has a few. One of the Thieves Guild missions involves taking the [[{{MacGuffin}} Skeleton Key]] back to [[OurGodsAreDifferent Nocturnal]]. After getting to her inner sanctum you have to fall into a death trap hole and wait for two or more minutes until finally the game pulls out the key and unlock the floor.
114* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'':
115** The PuzzleBoss fight against Gogo in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''. He is a mimic — if you attack him physically, he'll counter with an overwhelming physical attack. If you attack with magic, he'll counter with an overwhelming magical attack. The only way to beat him is to do absolutely nothing for nearly a minute before he gives up, which may be irritating since you're, at the time, racing against a clock to not drown as the battle is in a tower underwater.
116** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a moment where you can leave the FloatingContinent as soon as you reach the airship... and you'll [[PermanentlyMissableContent leave Shadow behind on the falling island.]] He arrives at the airship with 5 seconds remaining in the clock.
117** Getting 100% completion in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' requires you to allow MrExposition to finish telling a very long, not especially relevant story. If he senses you're losing interest -- for instance, if you press the button to hurry his dialogue -- he stops. You have to put down the controller and wait him out.
118** Several of the hunts in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' require you to stay in one area for a set amount of time before the marks appear-- generally long after you've had enough time to clear the area of enemies several times over and leave.
119** The Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' had a special holiday "fight" against Gilgamesh once in which he had massive amounts of HP and all attacks did only 1 damage. The only way to win was to "skip the fight" by hitting the skip button to cycle through your active character about 7 times.
120* This is half of a puzzle early in ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia''. One room in the Larai Cliffs has a floor of gold tiles, and when Will plays his flute, one tile glows. Will must then stand on that tile for several seconds before a door opens in the southern wall.
121* A variation occurs in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', during the DuelBoss fight against Xemnas. The battle begins with Sora and Xemnas running up/down a building towards each other, mirroring how Roxas and Riku did the same in the "Another Side, Another Story" secret movie. A Reaction Command "Clash" will pop up, which will do no damage to Xemnas when used. Wait a second, though, and the command will change to "Break Through", which deals a little damage. Wait another second and it changes to "Finish", which causes Sora to slam Xemnas into the side of the building and do quite a bit of damage. Since most players will hammer Triangle as soon as they see the prompt, this counts as this and a bit of a GuideDangIt as well.
122* ''VideoGame/LegendOfGrimrock'' has several waiting puzzles where you must "rest" in the correct tile for a door to open. Although woe if you decided to rest for the first one (you could have just waited 15 seconds) as right behind the door is a pack of fairly strong enemies.
123* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' gets an optional one in the ''Citadel'' DLC when James Vega challenges Shepard to break his record of 182 pull-ups; the player is totally welcome to do this with an [[ActionCommand interrupt]] for each one. [[spoiler:The reward is a short cutscene, and that's it.]]
124* One of the three penultimate bosses in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights: Shadows of Undrentide'' is invincible unless you wait for its magical defenses to go down. If you walk too close to it before that happens it starts [[ZergRush spawning zombies]] and is ''still'' invincible.
125* In ''VideoGame/{{OneShot}}'', you need a five-digit code to activate an elevator. Instead of solving the puzzle for the code, you can ask an NPC to guess numbers sequentially. He'll get it right after an AbsurdlyLongWait of thirty-five hours.
126* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', in order to get to Regice, you examine a wall that has a message in Braille, and then wait for two minutes. If you don't happen to be fluent in Braille, it might just open while you're trying to decode it.
127* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' there is a variant of this in the Fourth Kalpa of the Labyrinth of Amala. There is an old man inside a maze, and he asks if you want to hang out for a few minutes and slow down for a bit and wait. Answering either 'Yes' or 'No' will make him kick you out of that section of the Kalpa. [[spoiler: Waiting three minutes, then answering 'Yes' will make him thank you, and let you through to get a very nice item.]]
128* In ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga'', revealing the item on Floor 21 requires standing still for several seconds.
129* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has one in the form of the FinalBoss of the Genocide run, [[spoiler:Sans. His "special attack" involves doing absolutely nothing, trapping you in his turn forever, without letting you have yours, since he knows that on one of your turns you'll kill him. The solution is to simply wait until he falls asleep, then push the box over to the FIGHT command so you can finally kill him. If you try to move the box before he falls asleep, he just resets your position.]]
130** At the beginning of the game, right after Toriel gives you the Cell Phone and leaves, she tells you to wait in this room. To progress the game, you need to leave and explore the rest of the dungeon yourself, but if you stay in the room for five minutes, you'll get a rather amusing call from her. If you keep waiting, you'll get a call every five minutes. It's not required, but it is an entertaining EasterEgg.
131** Another waiting-related EasterEgg happens in the date/hangout with Papyrus. If you simply wait when he prompts you to press C to bring up the dating/friendship meter, without pressing any buttons, eventually he'll decide to simply move on without it.
132** Waiting during [[spoiler:Mettaton EX's essay question without typing anything will cause Mettaton to remark that you must be speechless.]]
133** An alternate way to disable the final forcefield in the CORE if you can't complete the Gauntlet area or solve the shooter puzzle is to [[spoiler:go to the forcefield in question and wait for it to go away]].
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder:Shoot 'em up]]
137* One of the secrets in ''VideoGame/{{Hydorah}}'' requires you to randomly wait in a particular boss room for a while after you defeat the boss.
138[[/folder]]
139
140[[folder:Simulation Games]]
141* In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'': ''Magical Melody'', getting one of the notes requires you to remain still for five minutes of real time.
142[[/folder]]
143
144[[folder:Survival Horror]]
145* In the original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', Barry will accidentally drop the rope he was using to hoist up Jill and leave to find another. If you played through Chris' game first, you might be tempted to just move the tombstone and head into the basement, but that guarantees Barry will not survive the game. If you want him to live, you ''must'' wait; he'll come back.
146* One of the endings of ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse'' involves this. To get it, [[spoiler: after the game starts, simply wait where you are for one hour. The roses will wither and die, and you can leave.]]
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Visual Novels]]
150* At the end of ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', Kakuya has Akira in her grasp and is [[ButThouMust forcing him]] to say everything she wants him to say. The way to get around this is letting the Crisis Choice timer run out, rather than picking any of the dialogue options.
151* A "test of patience" in ''VisualNovel/SummerRoseCourt'', a fan game for ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', requires the player to wait for a little while instead of picking a choice. You get a few chances before failing; Nora briefly breaks the fourth wall to help if you don't figure it out the first time.
152-->'''Nora:''' So just don't do ANYTHING. Okay, Ruby? Just wait! Don't click on a choice!\
153'''Ruby:''' Wait, what was that last one??\
154'''Nora:''' I said don't speak!
155* ''VisualNovel/ChoicesStoriesYouPlay'' often has timed choices. 99 percent of the time, letting the timer run out results in a bad outcome and sometimes even a GameOver. Very rarely, though, the correct choice is to let the timer run out. In ''VisualNovel/{{Bloodbound}}'', one of the stories where this happens, the game gives you a hint by telling you that if none of the given choices work, then "perhaps there is something else you can do, or ''not'' do".
156* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' [[spoiler: the characters find out that they are part of an endless series of killing games that exist only because people like us want this as entertainment. The Mastermind insists the protagonist choose between Despair and Hope (the CentralTheme of the series), but the protagonist urges everyone not to vote. Thus, the solution is to choose neither option but instead to let the timer run out.]]
157* ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'':
158** At the end of the Healing Room escape sequence, D-Team is presented with a [[BigRedButton Big Blue Button]] [[SchmuckBait warning them to not press it]] and a timer counting down. Sigma is convinced that it is a trick and that they should push it, while Phi believes the warning is genuine. Cue a 70 second decision screen of Sigma and Phi shouting at Diana to push or not push the button respectively while the camera dramatically zooms in on the button. [[spoiler:Pressing the button leads to a sudden EverybodyDiesEnding, while letting the timer expire opens the exit.]]
159** After clearing the Pod Room escape, [[spoiler:Eric charges at Q with a shotgun and demands he tell him who killed Mira before he shoots in 20 seconds. This brings up a name entry screen with 16 seconds on the clock; while you can give Eric a variety of answers, all of them will result in Eric shooting and killing Q. The correct solution is to let the timer expire, which causes Eric to stand down.]]
160[[/folder]]
161
162[[folder:Miscellaneous Games]]
163* There are several {{Hidden Object Game}}s that have an award for taking ''more than'' ten minutes to complete a puzzle (Often in the same game that has achievements for completing X puzzles in a row in ''under'' three minutes, and barely enough puzzles to go around). This generally means finding all but one of the hidden objects and then finding something else to do for several minutes before clicking on the last one.
164* Idle RPG chatrooms are counterintuitive chatrooms, where you gain experience (and levels) for not saying or doing anything in the chat room. Typing anything in the chat room will typically cause you to lose all experience you've gained since the last level.
165* The ''Don't Shoot the Puppy'' Flash game, in which ''any'' interaction with the PC (not even involving the Flash object in the browser) will shoot the eponymous puppy for an immediate GameOver.
166* ''VideoGame/{{Kuukiyomi}}'':
167** Some levels require you to act correctly, wait until the screen fades into white and proceed to the next level. Otherwise you'll get lower total score.
168** Some levels require you to not act quickly, because the hint is shown several seconds later, especially the show quiz situation. Don't answer the question too fast (but instead don't answer or answer it wrong) because [[spoiler:the show staff slowly sneaks onto the screen and shows a placard that says "No Budget", implying they don't have a reward to provide]].
169** Another variant is the dentist situation. The most considerate thing you can do is to do ''nothing at all''. Don't touch any buttons (except the button that controls your left arm, as the dentist tells the player character to raise your hand when you feel pain) when the dentist drills the player character's teeth, especially a button that controls the player character's right arm.
170* One of the quests in the Ancient Arabia section of ''LegendMUD'' involves giving a belly dancer a bottle of perfume in exchange for a status award and some pretty decent basic equipment. Unfortunately, you have to give her a bottle for ''each'' item in the five-piece set and it can take up to several ''hours'' for her to randomly make an offer to trade. Savvy players tend to set up a macro triggered by a phrase from her offer dialogue, "follow dancer" and then go read a book or something.
171* The Newgrounds game ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/499695 OCD+]]'' is based on taking this to its logical extreme: ''K'' requires the player to hold the K button and do nothing else for a full hour, while ''SHUT'' is a 14-hour timer. [[spoiler:Well 15-hour, it did say '''estimated''' time of arrival]]
172* To get the good ending of the online game ''Seven Minutes'', you have to wait [[TitleDrop seven minutes]] in the starting room [[SchmuckBait after touching that cool-looking blue flame]]. Leaving the starting room at any point locks you into the bad ending no matter how many rooms you try to clear after that.
173* ''VideoGame/WarioWare: Smooth Moves'' has eight different microgames focused on putting the Wii Remote on a flat surface face-down, and waiting for the cue to pick it up. Because of the fast-paced nature of these microgames, for all but one of these, the time needed to wait is a few seconds at most.
174[[/folder]]
175
176!!Non-video game examples:
177
178[[folder:Fan Works]]
179* The fanfic ''FanFic/HitmanMiami'', written as a {{walkthrough}} for a fictional game, parodies this by having the player wait at a bus stop "for thirty-five real-time minutes". Later on, this is parodied again:
180-->The player must now watch the warehouse for hours on end, waiting for when the non-stereotypical Sikh businessman named Eddie Smith comes around. This may take anywhere from five to eight hours, so it's in the player's best interest to buy a good novel before playing this mission.
181[[/folder]]
182
183[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
184* A variant in ''Film/SawIV''. Rigg is instructed by a tape that he has a timer of 90 minutes to get to the room where his colleague Eric could potentially die in. When he gets to the entrance and goes through it despite Eric's plea for him not to do so, Rigg finds out that the timer referred to the time he had to wait in order to enter without worrying about Eric getting killed. This was meant to teach him about giving up his supposed ChronicHeroSyndrome that he's being tested for.
185[[/folder]]
186
187[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
188* ''Series/SupermarketSweep'':
189** The Lifetime/PAX versions would give a $100 bonus (later $200) to any contestant who had the patience to idle and allow a 1 oz. bag of coffee to be ground for them during the Big Sweep. To prevent people from running off to collect other groceries while the grinding happened, they had to hold the button down the whole time. It only took ten seconds, but in a game show setting with an average of only two minutes to maximize your score, it was a hefty time sink. Contestants were allowed to keep one hand on the grinder while using the other hand to grab nearby items and throw them in the cart.
190** On the 2020 revival, a contestant can take a time penalty by visiting a florist or a barista and waiting for an order to be filled for a cash bonus. This takes the form of the actor/actress fumbling around deliberately until the time penalty has elapsed before giving the contestant the item.
191[[/folder]]
192
193[[folder:Webcomics]]
194* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', all the kids who play SBURB must overcome a challenge or solve a puzzle in order to "enter" the game. For Dave Strider, the puzzle takes the shape of an egg in a nest - all he has to do is wait for it to hatch. However, SBURB gives each player a challenge suited to their character strengths and weaknesses. For Dave, the [[TimeTravel Knight of Time]], patience and inactivity do not come naturally. He tries and fails to reach the egg before it hatches on its own.
195[[/folder]]
196
197[[folder:Western Animation]]
198* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' episode "The Gathering", a group of six younglings are each faced with a SecretTestOfCharacter in order to obtain a kyber crystal for their lightsabers. One of them finds his crystal on the other side of an ice-cold lake, and all he has to do to retrieve it is wait until nightfall for the lake to freeze over so he can safely walk across. This wouldn't be so bad if the youngling in question wasn't a HotBlooded Wookiee who can't stand waiting at the best of times.
199[[/folder]]
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