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* Parodied in the H-manga ''Bakunyuu Sphinx to Itsumo no Riddle'', where the sphinx in question attacks people who don't even try answering... but is thrown completely off her game when one of the intruders answers her riddle with a LoveConfession.
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* ''TabletopGame/{{Godforsaken}}'': Sphinxes can confuse other creatures by forcing them to answer difficult riddles. If their riddle is answered, they can be quite talkative, if arrogant.

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->"Ha ha! Hey Sphinxie, I got yer riddle right here: What's hard in the morning, soft most of the day, and hard again all night?"
->"I don't know, but I think you've got one in your pocketses!"

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->"Ha
->''"Ha
ha! Hey Sphinxie, I got yer riddle right here: What's hard in the morning, soft most of the day, and hard again all night?"
->"I
night?"\\
"I
don't know, but I think you've got one in your pocketses!"pocketses!"''



* ''Webcomic/GastroPhobia'' features a sphinx who is repeatedly humiliated because she only knows [[RiddleOfTheSphinx the one riddle]], and [[http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-03-09 everyone]], even [[http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-03-06 the little kid]], knows the answer already.


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* ''Webcomic/PepsiaPhobia'' features a sphinx who is repeatedly humiliated because she only knows [[RiddleOfTheSphinx the one riddle]], and [[http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-03-09 everyone]], even [[http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-03-06 the little kid]], knows the answer already.
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** The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ema/207/sphinx-of-the-steel-wind Sphinx of the Steel Wind]], however, gives the impression that she isn't really interested in this kind of thing. All of her abilities are bluntly powerful combat abilities rather than clever, tricky ones, and her favorite riddle -- which, the card notes, nobody's ever answered to her satisfaction -- is "why should I spare your life?"

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** The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ema/207/sphinx-of-the-steel-wind Sphinx of the Steel Wind]], however, gives the impression that she isn't really interested in this kind of thing. All of her abilities are bluntly powerful combat abilities rather than clever, tricky ones, and her favorite riddle -- which, as the card notes, nobody's ever answered to her satisfaction -- is "why should I spare your life?"
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** The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ema/207/sphinx-of-the-steel-wind Sphinx of the Steel Wind]], however, gives the impression that she isn't really interested in this kind of thing, given her favorite riddle -- which, the card notes, nobody's ever answered to her satisfaction: "Why should I spare your life?"

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** The [[https://scryfall.com/card/ema/207/sphinx-of-the-steel-wind Sphinx of the Steel Wind]], however, gives the impression that she isn't really interested in this kind of thing, given thing. All of her abilities are bluntly powerful combat abilities rather than clever, tricky ones, and her favorite riddle -- which, the card notes, nobody's ever answered to her satisfaction: "Why satisfaction -- is "why should I spare your life?"
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* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Kay'la encounters one in the mithral mines while hiding from its master, a murderous rakshasa. Apparently it used to use the RiddleOfTheSphinx, but the rakshasa changed it to an unsolvable riddle to prevent it from revealing his secrets. (Kay'la comes up with a solution anyway, so the sphinx can reveal how to defeat him)
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* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In the second film, two sphinxes, one with a goat's head and one with a wolf's head, guard the temple of the totem and ask Weslie and Wolffy how many stars are in the sky. Weslie replies by saying there are as many stars in the sky as there are grains of sand in the desert, prompting the sphinxes to start counting the grains of sand. By the time Weslie and Wolffy make it out of the temple with the totem, the sphinxes are ''still'' counting the grains of sand.

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* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In the second film, two ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfTheTigerProwess'': Two sphinxes, one with a goat's head and one with a wolf's head, guard the temple of the totem and ask Weslie and Wolffy how many stars are in the sky. Weslie replies by saying there are as many stars in the sky as there are grains of sand in the desert, prompting the sphinxes to start counting the grains of sand. By the time Weslie and Wolffy make it out of the temple with the totem, the sphinxes are ''still'' counting the grains of sand.

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** Module S2 ''White Plume Mountain'', described as "the [[OnlySmartPeopleMayPass puzzle dungeon]] to end all puzzle dungeons", has one corridor guarded by a gynosphinx who will only let you past if you solve her riddle (or come up with creative workarounds such as seen in the novel, above, and ''Nodwick'', below).



** In another instance, the answer to the riddle is "the moon". Nodwick is annoyed (and disgusted) that the sphinx was willing to accept Yeagar's [[{{Mooning}} display of frustration]] instead of a verbal response.

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** In another instance, in the module-parody strip "Climb Every (White Plume) Mountain" the answer to the riddle is "the moon". Nodwick is annoyed (and disgusted) that the sphinx was willing to accept Yeagar's [[{{Mooning}} display of frustration]] instead of a verbal response.

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* The [=AncientSphinxmon=] from Episode 58 of ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' has a pattern of attacking people near cultural or recreational sites through forcefully taking off his victim's shoes and forcing them to trip, then ask them riddles. If the victim fails to answer his riddles correctly, he forces stone to manifest inside the victim and encases them, turning them into golden bricks. He eventually accumulates enough victims to create a massive pyramid that [[spoiler:can resurrect his boss, Pharaohmon.]]



* ''Anime/Ulysses31'': The 31st century space version of [[Literature/TheOdyssey Ulysses]] bumps into a space version of the Sphinx in one episode. It naturally asks him the standard RiddleOfTheSphinx, though this time the Shpinx has a daughter and she wants to keep Ulysses for herself, so she submits him to further challenges hoping he loses and becomes her slave/lover.



* The [=AncientSphinxmon=] from Episode 58 of ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' has a pattern of attacking people near cultural or recreational sites through forcefully taking off his victim's shoes and forcing them to trip, then ask them riddles. If the victim fails to answer his riddles correctly, he forces stone to manifest inside the victim and encases them, turning them into golden bricks. He eventually accumulates enough victims to create a massive pyramid that [[spoiler:can resurrect his boss, Pharaohmon.]]
* ''Anime/Ulysses31'': The 31st century space version of [[Literature/TheOdyssey Ulysses]] bumps into a space version of the Sphinx in one episode. It naturally asks him the standard RiddleOfTheSphinx, though this time the Shpinx has a daughter and she wants to keep Ulysses for herself, so she submits him to further challenges hoping he loses and becomes her slave/lover.
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* The [=AncientSphinxmon=] from Episode 58 of ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' has a pattern of attacking people near cultural or recreational sites through forcefully taking off his victim's shoes and forcing them to trip, then ask them riddles. If the victim fails to answer his riddles correctly, he forces stone to manifest inside the victim and encases them, turning them into golden bricks. He eventually accumulates enough victims to create a massive pyramid that [[spoiler:can resurrect his boss, Pharaohmon.]]

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** [[https://scryfall.com/card/c18/104/sphinx-of-uthuun Sphinx of Uthuun]] gives your opponent choice of which cards to put into your hand and which to put into your graveyard.

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** [[https://scryfall.com/card/c18/104/sphinx-of-uthuun Sphinx of Uthuun]] gives your opponent choice of which cards to put into your hand and which to put into your graveyard. [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=547552 Unesh]] does the same at a smaller scale, but also riddles the opponent whenever any Sphinx enters the battlefield under your control.


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** [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=383305 Master of Predicaments]] lets you pick a card in your hand and then force the opponent to guess if its mana value is greater than 4. If they guess wrongly, you can cast that card for free.
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* ''VideoGame/CragneManor'': Discussed by Bethany. She visited a desert house that had two sphynxes in it. She gets along great with one, but the other one is mad at her because she solved all its riddles in three minutes. Bethany offered to help it come up with new ones, but now it just rolls its eyes at her and makes fart noises when she tries to talk to it.

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Typo fix. Also added an example


* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': The Ancient Ones are Sphinx statues in Gobi's Valley with hexagonal rings on their top. They tell Banjo and Kazooie that they can defeat Gruntilds if they PassThroughTheRings while flying. When the bear and bird pass through the rings of all five statues, they admit that they were joking and can only give them a Jiggy as reward.

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* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': The Ancient Ones are Sphinx statues in Gobi's Valley with hexagonal rings on their top. They tell Banjo and Kazooie that they can defeat Gruntilds Gruntilda if they PassThroughTheRings while flying. When the bear and bird pass through the rings of all five statues, they admit that they were joking and can only give them a Jiggy as reward.


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* ''VideoGame/MonstersIncScreamTeam'': One of the desert levels features a giant sphinx statue. The player must input the right sequence of symbols in order for the sphinx to reveal a Nerve.
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* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'': Dora Sphinx (King Sphinx in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'') takes the human form of a game show host who asks riddles to children (and later, the Rangers), and traps them inside trees when they answer wrong. He even asks the classic sphinx riddle to stump the first kid at the beginning of the episode. The heroes eventually turn this against him, defeating him by [[BriarPatching tricking him into asking them what his weak point is]] (because he always reveals the correct answer to riddles after receiving a wrong answer).

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* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'': Dora Sphinx (King Sphinx in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'') takes the human form of a game show host who asks riddles to children (and later, the Rangers), and traps them inside trees when they answer wrong. He even asks the classic sphinx riddle to stump the first kid at the beginning of the episode. The heroes eventually turn this against him, defeating him by [[BriarPatching tricking him into asking them what his weak point is]] (because he always reveals the correct answer to riddles after receiving a wrong answer). Geki cleverly turns this against him earlier too when Dora Sphinx's riddle is what is the absolute in the universe (Sphinx says "evil") but Geki says that he believes it is "justice" and since it's a subjective question (given that good and evil were battling it out right there) they can't have their answer until one of them wins, which locks Dora Sphinx out of giving him riddles from then on.

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* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': The Ancient Ones are Sphinx statues in Gobi's Valley with hexagonal rings on their top. They tell Banjo and Kazooie that they can defeat Gruntilds if they PassThroughTheRings while flying. When the bear and bird pass through the rings of all five statues, they admit that they were joking and can only give them a Jiggy as reward.



** ''VideoGame/MarioParty 2'': In the Mystery Land board, Bowser is cast as the Bowser Sphinx (though he merely wears an Egyptian headdress and isn't winged or lionlike at all) who challenges all comers to identify a silhouette. The Superstar of the board identifies it easily.

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** ''VideoGame/MarioParty 2'': ''VideoGame/MarioParty2'': In the Mystery Land board, Bowser is cast as the Bowser Sphinx (though he merely wears an Egyptian headdress and isn't winged or lionlike at all) who challenges all comers to identify a silhouette. The Superstar of the board identifies it easily.



* ''Videogame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'' has a sphinx as the boss of the third level. It asks you a series of questions, and if you answer them wrong, it kills you.

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* ** ''Videogame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'' has a sphinx as the boss of the third level. It asks you a series of questions, and if you answer them wrong, it kills you.
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope


* An Omake in ''Manga/{{Yaiba}}'', the racers of the Chiki Chiki Gran Prix must, as their first challenge, answer a single riddle from the Sphinx (depicted as a living counterpart of the statue). Unfortunately for the Sphinx, Yaiba is truly an IdiotHero of staggering proportions, keeping the guardian awake the entire night in an attempt to solve his riddles, much to the Sphinx's frustration. Eventually, he gets to pass ([[UpToEleven barely]]) by answering the following riddle: "What's the first letter of the alphabet?".

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* An Omake in ''Manga/{{Yaiba}}'', the racers of the Chiki Chiki Gran Prix must, as their first challenge, answer a single riddle from the Sphinx (depicted as a living counterpart of the statue). Unfortunately for the Sphinx, Yaiba is truly an IdiotHero of staggering proportions, keeping the guardian awake the entire night in an attempt to solve his riddles, much to the Sphinx's frustration. Eventually, he gets to pass ([[UpToEleven barely]]) (barely) by answering the following riddle: "What's the first letter of the alphabet?".
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* ''Anime/Ulysses31'': The 31st century space version of [[Literature/TheOdyssey Ulysses]] bumps into a space version of the Sphinx in one episode. It naturally asks him the standard RiddleOfTheSphinx, though this time the Shpinx has a daughter and she wants to keep Ulysses for herself, so she submits him to further challenges hoping he loses and becomes her slave/lover.
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** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'': An Egyptian sphinx appears in various Kingdoms, where it guards passageways. He only lets Mario get past it if he answers a questions. It travels among Kingdoms with a giant sail and will grant Mario a Power Moon if he spots him with the binoculars. It admits the that questions Mario answers aren't much riddles at all.

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** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'': An Egyptian sphinx appears in various Kingdoms, where it guards passageways. He only lets Mario get past it if he correctly answers a series of questions. It travels among between Kingdoms with a giant sail and will grant Mario a Power Moon if he spots him with the binoculars. It admits the that questions Mario answers aren't much riddles at all.
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** Dracosphinxes subvert this; these monsters have the heads, fiery breath, avarice and treachery of red dragons, so if they engage other creatures in a game of riddles, it's a ruse to get them to lower their guard so the dracosphinx can make a sudden attack.
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[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* In the second segment of ''Animation/PleasantGoatFunClass: Sports are Fun'' episode 22, Weslie, dressed as a sphinx, guards a treasure chest and has the other goats answer the question of what events are featured in the Ironman Triathlon to obtain the treasure. The other goats get the answer wrong twice before Weslie gives the correct answer.
[[/folder]]
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* ''VideoGame/BoardGameOnline'': A Sphinx is a possible obstacle in the archaeology dig and [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime dungeon crawl]] events. It will pose you a trivia question, and you have to answer correctly to advance towards the artifact at the end. Answer wrongly, and you'll either be knocked out (making you incapacitated) or killed if the Sphinx is on the last level. You can also use TruthSerum to automatically say the correct answer.
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* ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'': Max and Isaac find a sphinx-like creature that tells them to answer correctly two of his three riddles. The first one seems to be the classic RiddleOfTheSphinx but the answer was "that guy" (a random passerby monster). Later on we see Isaac faling the last riddle and so he can't cross the Sphinx's bridge magical barrier... but since the "bridge" is only a plank over a small stream, he just casually walks over it.

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* ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'': Max and Isaac find a sphinx-like creature that tells them to answer correctly two of his three riddles. The first one seems to be the classic RiddleOfTheSphinx but the answer was "that guy" (a random passerby monster). Later on we see Isaac faling faoling the last riddle and so he can't cross the Sphinx's bridge magical barrier... but since the "bridge" is only a plank over a small stream, he just casually walks over it.

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