History Main / LightAndMirrorsPuzzle

* Seen here as a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnuehPbgFpI product]].

* Weaponized in ''VideoGame/Command&Conquer3TiberiumWars'' by using the Viper fighter and Beam Artillery in conjunction. The Viper's special ability is to call on a nearby beam cannon to shoot at it, whereupon it uses its belly-mounted mirror to bounce the laser at a target, effectively doubling its range. This can be chained to other Vipers, until you have a beam cannon or two sitting at home bouncing its lasers off an entire network of Vipers.

* There are a couple of these in ''Franchise/DevilMayCry 3''. In a mild twist, you manipulate the light by smashing unnecessary mirrors with your sword.

* This is a staple of the ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'' series:

* Some landscapes in the ''Oxyd'' series have these. The light however is a laser and can open passages by destroying walls. It can also destroy your marble and lose you a life if you're not careful.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* The ''Series/TeenWolf'' episode Party Guessed features the use of mirrors to reflect the light of the full moon (specifically March's Worm Moon) to resurrect a dead alpha werewolf. Exactly who that dead alpha werewolf is shall remain a secret, though we will grumble for days on end until the stars fall from the sky about just how much pain and suffering this resurrected alpha werewolf caused on the precious, innocent teens of Teen Wolf.

* The TeenWolf episode Party Guessed features the use of mirrors to reflect the light of the full moon (specifically March's Worm Moon) to resurrect a dead alpha werewolf. Exactly who that dead alpha werewolf is shall remain a secret, though we will grumble for days on end until the stars fall from the sky about just how much pain and suffering this resurrected alpha werewolf caused on the precious, innocent teens of Teen Wolf.

[[folder: Games Consisting Entirely of this Puzzle]]

* ''Deflektor'' on the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}}
* ''Prism'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS.
* ''Laser Light'', a DOS game
* ''Lightspeed''
* ''Lumen'', an iOS game
* ''Mirror Magic'', an open source clone of Deflektor and Mindbender
* The Flash platformer ''Fireboy & Watergirl 2: The Light Temple'' introduces this mechanic, which is carried forward into later games in the series.
* ''Chromatron'' and ''Chromatron 2''
** These games up the ante by adding elements such as color filters, prisms and ''quantum entanglement''.
* ''[[http://www.khet.com/ Khet]]'', also known as Laser Chess, a board game
* ''[[http://www.vertigogaming.net/blog/?portfolio=the-rest-of-em Prisms of Light]]'', a Windows game made in Game Maker
* ''Laser'', which takes the puzzling to eleven with beamsplitters and whatnot. Given that when two beams collide, the one who came first - or was created first in the internal code! - has the right of way, you can generate puzzles bordering on MindScrew.

[[folder: Other Games]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In the film ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'', the heroes must reflect a beam of sunshine all the way down to the bottom of hell.
* ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' had one of these, essentially. [[spoiler:Using orbiting mirrors to thaw a frozen Gotham city.]] A scene very early in the movie had the Bat-signal reflected by several mirrors until it was visible in Bruce's study. That movie might have been ridiculous overall, but in this one case, ChekhovsGun was clearly visible on the mantlepiece.
* While not a puzzle, ''Film/TheMummy1999'' had the group enter a large, dim tomb. Evie angles a mirror on a stand to direct the sunlight above into several other mirrors positioned around the room, illuminating the room. The Series/MythBusters [[JustForFun/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.
* A scene from ''Film/{{Brick}}'' has Brendan using a piece of a broken mirror to reflect a beam of sunlight into a basement.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* ''Series/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. Something similar was used in the 2006 episode "Tooth and Claw," where a badly made telescope turns out to be designed to focus moonlight in some special way and then shine it through the Koh-i-Noor, which apparently [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Prince Albert had cut specifically for this purpose]], to zap a werewolf-alien before it kills Queen Victoria.

[[folder:Manga and Anime]]
* In ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', such a puzzle is the key to unlocking a mechanism that reveals a hidden treasure in the house of an ex-robber gone legit.

[[folder:Toys]]
* The Toa Inika in ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' were able to deflect Umbra's light form using shields of ice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Gabe from ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' did this in a tabletop game of Dungeons and Dragons, using a laser pointer and some 1'x1' art mirrors.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', there is a point-and-click Flash where Jane has to solve one by rotating a set of lanterns to reflect light off the mirrors on ancient obelisks to shine light into several deep pits.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' revolves around this, a game of 'Light Pinball'. The objective is using mirrors and prisms to split a beam of light into the colours of the rainbow and redirect them into like-coloured eyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Often an event in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Physics_Olympiad International Physics Olympiad]].
* Setting up an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_table optical table]], or adding more lasers to one, can easily be this.
[[/folder]]

This is cousin to the BlockPuzzle, and may sometimes be ThatOnePuzzle. Compare ReflectingLaser.

* The FanRemake of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone'' has a minor one of these where you have to reflect sunlight through an anti-magic gemstone.

* The FanRemake of KingsQuestII has a minor one of these where you have to reflect sunlight through an anti-magic gemstone.

* Three of these can be found in Vesplume Tower in ''InfiniteUndiscovery''.

* ''IcewindDale II'' has one in the Ice Temple.

* A staple of ''VideoGame/TheRoom'' games, usually involving crystals as the source of light, or as prisms.

* 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.

* There's a series of these in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'''s daily downloadable puzzles where you have to position mirrors so colored rays of light will be reflected a certain number of times before they hit same-colored ghosts. That puzzle series has a sequel in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheAzranLegacy'', with the same premise. Like its predecessor, it's a series of daily downloadable puzzles.

* The Flash game ''Fire Boy and Water Girl 2: The Light Temple''. In ''FB&WG 3: The Ice Temple'', you reflect beams of heat and cold to turn water into ice and back.

* The Flash platformer ''Fireboy & Watergirl 2: The Light Temple'' introduces this mechanic, which is carried forward into later games in the series.

* ''Reah: Face the Unknown'' contains such a puzzle in a fabric shop, using mirrors and a lens to light the fire in a vat of dye. You have to do it because the only person there doesn't know how. At one point, the player character comments on the fact that he can't see himself in any of the mirrors.

* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'', 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsDroidworks'' has two missions that play this straight. There's the "Laser-Powered Fusion Reactor" in the Phrik metal mine, which you have to fix twice in a row [[spoiler: (although it's implied that the assassin droid hiding there sabotaged them deliberately to bait you)]]; and later, a series of ''laser-and-angles'' puzzles are used to view the data crystals you collected from the previous missions. The mirror controls become more and more broken the farther you go.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' more or less subverts this in the "Discerning the Transmundane" quest. There is a "challenge" in which you must orient a set of lenses to shine light on a massive dwarven sphere to gain access to [[spoiler: an Elder Scroll]], but in fact all you have to do is press the leftmost button repeatedly until the next one to the left becomes usable, and rinse and repeat until you are on the last button.

* ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' had one of these, essentially. [[spoiler: Using orbiting mirrors to thaw a frozen Gotham city.]] A scene very early in the movie had the Bat-signal reflected by several mirrors until it was visible in Bruce's study. That movie might have been ridiculous overall, but in this one case, ChekhovsGun was clearly visible on the mantlepiece.

* ''Prism'' for the NintendoDS.

* It appears twice in ''DungeonSiege II'': The first one is for the main quest, and the other is for a side quest (albeit an important one).

This is cousin to the BlockPuzzle, and may sometimes be ThatOnePuzzle.

The basic idea of this trope was [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters tested by the Mythbusters]], albeit in the "used to light a room" sense. While it does provide some light for the room, it isn't something that can't be relied upon for being able to see through the dark. Without a stable light source, you'd have to constantly readjust the mirrors due to the changing positions of the sun. While with a stable light source it ''is'' possible to rebound the light off of several mirror, it quickly starts to weaken to the point of being unnoticeable the further it goes, requiring the mirrors be almost right up next to each other. So, while it ''is'' technically possible, it's highly improbable.

The basic idea of this trope was [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters tested by the Mythbusters]], albeit in the "used to light a room" sense. While it does provide some light for the room, it isn't something that can't be relied upon for being able to see through the dark. Without a stable light source, you'd have to constantly readjust the mirrors due to the changing positions of the sun. While with a stable light source it ''is'' possible to rebound the light off of several mirror, it quickly starts to weaken to the point of being unnoticeable the further it goes, pretty much requiring the mirrors be almost right up next to each other. So, while it ''is'' technically possible, it's highly improbable.

* This is the recurring thematic puzzle in the Spirit Temple in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' (but only for Adult Link, since Child Link is unable to use the Mirror Shield), the Earth Temple in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' (with mirrors that always reflect "forward", and notably both you and your EscortMission 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), and the Stone Tower Temple in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' (where you have to use the Mirror Shield to store light in special mirrors and eventually direct them onto a sun target. For added difficulty, the light is only stored in the mirror for as long as you shine light on it (and won't shine until you stop), so if you're too slow, you have to go back and start over again).

* The remake of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' has a minigame called "Force Bolt Flurry," which can be played by anybody with magical skill and knowledge of the appropriate spells. It's pretty much a Light and Mirrors Puzzle with Force Bolts instead of light, and with the added challenge of preventing your opponent from reflecting his Force Bolts into your territory.

* One of the safes in ''VideoGame/{{Safecracker}}: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure'' is unlocked by setting a laser beam to a specific wavelength, and shining it on a sensor in the middle of the door.