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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LogantheBard" data-source="post: 5488670" data-attributes="member: 70039">I'm planting a chessboard puzzle in a dungeon I plan on running with the party, and I'm not sure how to punish them for taking too long to figure it out.The puzzle concerns Queen's Domination on an 8x8 board.  Here's a definition from Wikipedia.Domination:Given an n×n board, the domination number is the minimum number of queens (or other pieces) needed to attack or occupy every square. For n=8 the queen's domination number is 5.  To solve the puzzle, the party must place themselves as the queens, and dominate the board.  There are 2 unique solutions (solutions that differ only because of symmetry or rotation are the same solution).  One leads to a treasure vault, one leads further into the dungeon.My problem is this:  My players are very analytical, and will draw out a board and discuss the puzzle until they have a solution.  Their players won't budge until they've got a solution.  They won't trial and error and risk their players.  How do I make the encounter somewhat dangerous?  If they activate the trap standing in the wrong place, they will take damage.I want to instill a sense of urgency on the group, but I don't know how.  Do I make the room only the board, and have the damage occur every real life minute? I'm at a loss.</blockquote>