History Main / LightAndMirrorsPuzzle

* The Luminous Labyrinth in ''[[SaGaFrontier [=SaGa=] Frontier]]'' which characters must solve to obtain the gift of light magic. Uniquely, it also adds color filters into the mix. You have to hit the exit portal with a certain color of light to escape; hitting it with another color will either give you an item or start a random battle. Simply finding the right color for a single laser beam will open a safe in ''Safecracker''.

* ''DoctorWho,'' "The Five Doctors": The First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan are in a building with reflective walls and a Dalek. They do something that includes sneaking up behind it, dropping to the floor, and by so doing maneuvering it to fire its death beam so the beam bounces off the mirrors and hits the Dalek.

* This occurs throughout Woohoo Hooniversity in ''MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga''. The player never gets to directly manipulate the mirrors. Instead, they align themselves as you complete the SolveTheSoupCans puzzles.

** And ''Portal 2'' is going to have [[spoiler:crates that redirect a laser beam, allowing you to destroy turrets and activate laser-sensitive switches.]]

* Setting up an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_table optical table]], or adding more lasers to one, can turn into an exercise in this.

[[AC: Video Games consisting Entirely of this Puzzle]]

* ''[[http://www.khet.com/ Khet]]'', a board game

* ''Chromatron'' and ''Chromatron 2''
** These games up the ante by adding elements such as color filters, prisms and ''quantum entanglement''.

[[AC: Other Video Games]]

[[AC: Non-Video Game Examples]]

* In RealLife, this is often an event in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Physics_Olympiad International Physics Olympiad]].

[[AC: Video Game Examples]]

* ''BeyondGoodAndEvil'' has one of these it its [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final dungeon]]. The design of the room gives it a few shades of WombLevel, as well.

* Some games are entirely made out of these kinds of puzzles:
** ''Deflektor'' on the {{Commodore 64}}
** ''[[http://www.khet.com/ Khet]]'', a board game
** ''Prism'' for the NintendoDS.
** ''Chromatron'' and ''Chromatron 2''
*** These games up the ante by adding elements such as color filters, prisms and ''quantum entanglement''.
** ''Laser Light'', a DOS game
** ''Lightspeed''
** ''Mirror Magic'', an open source clone of Deflektor and Mindbender
** The Flash game ''Fire Boy and Water Girl 2: The Light Temple''.

[[AC: Non Video Game Examples]]
* TruthInTelevision, as this is commonly an event at real life Physics Olympiad competitions.

* The Toa Inika in ''{{Bionicle}}'' were able to deflect Umbra's light form using shields of ice.

** Heck, in Wind Waker, both you and your Escort Mission have reflective items. At times, you must use your shield to bounce light onto her mirror, to illuminate a third mirror, which reflects light onto a series of other mirrors...

* A version of this appears in Uncharted 2 of the ''{{Uncharted}}'' series. Of course, like many aspects of that particular game, while mirrors are re focused, there is also an emphasis on platforming within the puzzle.
* The Luminous Labyrinth in ''SaGaFrontier'' which characters must solve to obtain the gift of light magic. Uniquely, it also adds color filters into the mix. You have to hit the exit portal with a certain color of light to escape; hitting it with another color will either give you an item or start a random battle. Simply finding the right color for a single laser beam will open a safe in ''Safecracker''.

* TruthInTelevision, as this is commonly an event at real life Physics Olympiad competitions.

* Television example: An episode of ''The Magic School Bus'' revolved around this, a game of 'Light Pinball'. The objective was, using mirrors and prisms, to split a beam of light into the colours of the rainbow and redirect them into like-coloured eyes.
* The Toa Inika in ''{{Bionicle}}'' were able to deflect Umbra's light form using shields of ice.

* {{Medievil}} 2 features a vampire boss who must be defeated with mirrors, both by directing sunlight at and by [[PlayingTennisWithTheBoss reflecting his attacks back at him]].

* Rare non-videogame example: In the film ''Film/{{Legend}}'', the heroes must reflect a beam of sunshine all the way down to the bottom of hell.

* ''DoctorWho,'' "The Five Doctors": The First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan are in a building with reflective walls and a Dalek. They do something that includes sneaking up behind it, dropping to the floor, and by so doing maneuvering it to fire its death beam so the beam bounces off the mirrors and hits the Dalek.

* Some of the recent SpyroTheDragon games use these as a SolveTheSoupCans puzzle - you're even forced to [[FetchQuest collect the mirrors]] from around the area before starting the puzzle.
* A minor computer game called "Hyperman" had one of these puzzles needed to melt a block of ice and get a key item.
* Used a couple of times in {{Nancy Drew}} games to activate mechanisms or open doors.

* Duck Tales 2 has an extremely simple one where a mirror only needs to be dragged to the left so it reflects the beam of sunlight which breaks the floor.
* The first dungeon in GoldenSun has a puzzle in which beams of light must be cast onto certain tiles to unlock a portal. The second game has another similar one in which you must open up holes in the ground so that beams of sunlight can hit mirrors that aim it at an extremely photosensitive boss, weakening it.
* Batman and Robin had one of these, essentially. [[spoiler: Using orbiting mirrors to thaw a frozen Gotham city.]]
* While not a puzzle, The Mummy had the group enter a large, dim tomb. Rick O'Connel pulls his revolver and shoots a mirror, causing light to reflect and illuminate the room.
** The {{Mythbusters}} [[TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters tested]] this. While you can light a room this way, the constantly moving sun means it won't last long, and it is nowhere near the movie's level of light.
* In another case of not-a-puzzle, a scene from {{Brick}} has Brendan using a piece of a broken mirror to reflect a beam of sunlight into a basement.

* Gabe from PennyArcade did this in a tabletop game of Dungeons and Dragons, using a laser pointer and some 1'x1' art mirrors.

* The final puzzle of the IF game [[http://wurb.com/if/game/2163 The Erudition Chamber]] involves this.

** This was the recurring thematic puzzle in the Spirit Temple in ''Ocarina of Time'', and the Earth Temple in ''Wind Waker'' (with mirrors that always reflect "forward"). It was also the method for destroying the King of Ikana Castle in ''Majora's Mask''.

* The Reflector in ''RatchetAndClank: Up Your Arsenal'' is normally used for these. Different from most other examples in that it incorporates a field that absorbs the beam, and an emitter that can be pointed anywhere.

* In ''[[KingsQuest King's Quest VII]]'', Valanice must complete such a puzzle in the temple to get an important item: [[spoiler: half of the "key" that opens the door to the next section.]]

* The ''[[HalfLife Half-Life]]'' mission pack ''Opposing Force'' had a variant early on where rather than moving the mirrors you had to break one of them.

This is cousin to the BlockPuzzle, and may sometimes be ThatOneLevel, although some people actually ''like'' these things.

* One of the {{Boss Battle}}s in ''ZackAndWiki: The Quest for Barbados' Treasure''. [[spoiler:You need to place a mirror in the hands of the frozen rival captain as part of the sequence, so she can fill in for a broken pedestal.]]

* Television example: An episode of ''The Magic School Bus'' revolved around this, a game of 'Light Pinball'. The objective was, using mirrors and prisms, to split a beam of light into the colours of the rainbow and redirect them into like-coloured eyes.

Simply put, this puzzle involves a room that contains a light source and a number of mirrors, and requires the player to position the mirrors in a way so that the light will bounce off them in succession and hit a target. May also happen with a laser or magic beam. (Additional complications can include the beam killing the player if they touch it, so the player may also need to ensure that they have safe passage through it.)

This is cousin to the BlockPuzzle, and may be the reason for the ScrappyLevel, although some people actually ''like'' these things.

*** The final puzzle room of the Earth Temple was possibly the crowning example for the Zelda series, bouncing twin beams of light through a giant room... It is also one of this troper's favorite Zelda puzzles.

* The Reflector in ''RatchetAndClank: Up Your Arsenal'' is normally used for these.

* ''{{Runescape}}'' has a very large and very difficult 3d one. It's difficult partly because of its construction and partly because the "Temple of Light" is [[FakeDifficulty full of monsters]].

*** The worst part is that even if you're immune to damage with prayer, their attacks still automatically close all menus, meaning you have to click through the menus to rotate the mirror in the second or two between each attack. FakeDifficulty indeed.

* JadeEmpire features an insultingly easy light puzzle in the Great Southern Forest, involving focusing different colours of light through a lens in order to open a portal to another dimension.

* The final puzzle of ''Shivers 2'' involves opening up the MacGuffin talisman, an ancient native american artifact, to find... a laser-and-mirror puzzle inside. The player can choose to avoid this puzzle, getting the second-best ending instead.
* Similar to the JadeEmpire example, MassEffect 2 also has one of these in a side quest that's almost harder to find than the puzzle is to solve.
* The final puzzle of the IF game [[http://wurb.com/if/game/2163 The Erudition Chamber]] involves this. I believe there are technically multiple ways to approach it which may altogether circumvent the puzzle, but I haven't discovered them yet...

* Oddly subverted in DragonQuestIX, where the mirrors were already in the correct positions and the player needed only to turn on the lights (as simple as walking up to them and pressing "on", no less).

* Similar to the JadeEmpire example, MassEffect 2 also has one of these. It's extremely easy.
** Where was that puzzle?