---
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
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
---
# Discovery of rules and metapuzzles

id: puzzle--family-metarules
type: mechanic
key: mechanic/puzzle--family-metarules
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/puzzle--family-metarules/

The player solves a problem by reconsidering how rules, controls or results are interpreted.

## At a glance

![Words on the board also define the game’s rules](https://gamemechanics.pro/images/mechanics/adventure-baba-is-you-00.webp)

[Baba Is You](https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/) · Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.

1. A rule is formed from movable words
2. Another rule defines the win condition

- Let players safely test hypotheses about how rules are interpreted.

- [Baba Is You](https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/)

## How it works

Make the decision about the method of reading, managing or checking itself.

## Variants

### Variants and applications

<a id="family-metarules-variants"></a>

- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>

## Context and limits

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.

## Connected materials


## Sources and 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.

- [Hempuli: Baba Is You](https://www.hempuli.com/Baba/) (id: source-6e7b7001a2074a1c)
- [Baba Is You](https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/) (id: source-d99c3809fdf4654d)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors