Solving brain teasers while waiting in line for COVID tests

2,1,5,7,17,31,

what number should come next in this series? 

Let's solve the riddle as we wait in line to take nucleic acid tests!

Waiting in line is usually boring. But not, at least at Tsinghua University’s nucleic acid testing site. 

Like in most testing sites, the area where TsinghuaRen queue up for their covid tests is marked with lines every two meters, to maintain a safe physical distance among those in the line. However, these demarcation lines are anything but ordinary.

They are eye-catchy stickers filled with head-scratching puzzles, riddles and other brain teasers, not to mention some inspirational quotes, thanks to Zhang Yujia, a doctoral student from the Department of Precision Instrument who, together with her team, designed them. 

With a new brain teaser to solve or a new quote to read in every two meters, standing in line to take covid tests for TsinghuaRen on campus has become nothing but a refreshing experience, as the waiting time in line now seems to pass more quickly.

Zhang says she drew inspiration for those engaging demarcation lines from “Poetry lines” designed by a high school student. “Why don’t we create our own Tsinghua demarcation lines to help students kill time in a rather amusing way?” she told herself. 

Soon afterward, her classmates also joined in planning and designing content for the demarcation lines.

To make these “two-meter lines” more intriguing, Zhang Yujia and her teammates carefully selected designs, colors and fonts. 

What stands out about the demarcation lines is their patterns. "In order to reflect the characteristics of Tsinghua, I drew some landmark buildings and plants commonly found on campus,” she said. “But it still didn’t seem to make the lines lively enough. So, I added drawings of some small animals found on campus to make their whole design livelier," Zhang shares.

Her team then researched and included mind-stimulating brain teasers, such as graphic reasoning, riddles and puzzles, as well as some inspiring and encouraging messages.

Zhang says, "What we have done is meaningful. The lines remind everyone to maintain a safe distance from others, but also offer them some recreation and learning while they wait in line to take nucleic acid tests. Our way is also novel and interesting in that it also helps improve people’s mental health.”

- Read more about THU -

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Special｜Solving brain teasers while waiting in line for COVID tests

Writer: Li Ruojia

Editors: Sangeet Sangroula, Liu Shutian

Designer: Xia Yifei