{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/puzzle--family-metarules","type":"mechanic","id":"puzzle--family-metarules","lang":"en","title":"Discovery of rules and metapuzzles","summary":"The player solves a problem by reconsidering how rules, controls or results are interpreted.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/puzzle--family-metarules/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/puzzle--family-metarules.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/puzzle--family-metarules.md","aliases":["Discovering rules and metapuzzles"],"tags":["Puzzles","Mechanics catalog"],"sourceIds":["source-6e7b7001a2074a1c","source-d99c3809fdf4654d"],"sources":[{"id":"source-6e7b7001a2074a1c","title":"Hempuli: Baba Is You","url":"https://www.hempuli.com/Baba/","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-d99c3809fdf4654d","title":"Baba Is You","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Make the decision about the method of reading, managing or checking itself."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Variants and applications\n\n<a id=\"family-metarules-variants\"></a>\n\n- Output of an unknown rule. Definition: Find a pattern using examples and check it on new cases. Conditional example: Find out what patterns an unknown checking mechanism accepts. <a id=\"variant-rule-induction\"></a>\n- Transfer the found rule. Definition: Apply a familiar principle in a new representation. Conventional example: Recognize the previous number law in a sound pattern. <a id=\"variant-rule-transfer\"></a>\n- Editing existing rules. Definition: Change the wording that defines the properties and interactions of objects. Conditional example: Make a wall passable by changing a rule. <a id=\"variant-rule-edit\"></a>\n- Change of victory condition. Definition: Control which state the system considers a decision. Conventional example: Reassign an object considered an output. <a id=\"variant-goal-edit\"></a>\n- Control reassignment. Definition: To change the mapping between input and action as part of a decision. Conventional example: Rearrange commands so that an impossible route becomes feasible. <a id=\"variant-control-remap\"></a>\n- Retrieval of secondary response. Definition: Obtain a new result from already solved problems using an additional rule. Conditional example: Take the indicated letters from ten answers. Terms: meta extraction. <a id=\"variant-answer-extraction\"></a>\n- Assembling a metatask from the results. Definition: Use solutions or elements of several problems as details of the next one. Conditional example: Add cards from completed levels into a general scheme. Terms: metapuzzle. <a id=\"variant-meta-assembly\"></a>\n- Transferring state between tasks. Definition: Change one level for the sake of an opportunity in another. Conditional example: Transfer the setting of a mechanism from the previous room. <a id=\"variant-cross-level-state\"></a>\n- Interface as a game object. Definition: Use menus, windows and presentation elements according to the rules provided. Conventional example: Drag the border of the game window to move an obstacle. <a id=\"variant-interface-puzzle\"></a>\n- Self-reference and recursive condition. Definition: Solve a problem whose condition or answer refers to its own structure. Conditional example: Write a description that correctly counts its elements. <a id=\"variant-self-reference\"></a>\n- Detection of the second layer of the problem. Definition: Find an additional way to interact or read after a visible solution. Conditional example: Drawings of completed levels form a new code. <a id=\"variant-hidden-layer\"></a>"},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"A wide catalog of mechanics for digital puzzles, paper logic problems and physical puzzles. Each position contains an action or rule and a conditional example of application."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"puzzle","id":"family-metarules","title":"Puzzles","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/puzzle/#family-metarules","categoryIds":["section-1"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Discovering rules and metapuzzles","description":"The player solves a problem by reconsidering how rules, controls or results are interpreted.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/adventure-baba-is-you-00.webp","width":850,"height":472,"game":"Baba Is You","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/736260/ss_908c8a4fd0ffec9f29341eb50eb7f074c105342f.1920x1080.jpg?t=1760102539","credit":"Hempuli Oy","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Words on the board also define the game’s rules","alt":"Words on the board also define the game’s rules","markers":[{"x":35,"y":70,"label":"A rule is formed from movable words"},{"x":13,"y":10,"label":"Another rule defines the win condition"}]},"tips":["Let players safely test hypotheses about how rules are interpreted."],"examples":[{"title":"Baba Is You","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original editorial design catalog consolidated from project discussions on 2026-10-20. Complete discussion item lists and contextual limitations are preserved; linked primary sources support specific techniques, not the entire classification. English translation was prepared with machine assistance and editorial review.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/puzzle"}}