Riddle-Game

Riddle-Game was an ancient game of the Hobbits, used as a means of settling disputes. The players continued to ask each other riddles until one failed to provide a correct answer.
== History ==
The origins of the game are not known, save that it was very ancient and its rules were agreed by the Authorities and respected as sacred. According to Frodo, riddles of similar folk were asked by other folk besides hobbits, although Bilbo and Gollum knew the same ones.
The most famous riddle-game was the one in which Bilbo Baggins and Gollum competed. If Gollum failed to answer a riddle, he would show Bilbo out of the Misty Mountains. However, if Bilbo lost, Gollum would eat him. The two exchanged several riddles, and Gollum's knowledge of the answers suggested to Gandalf years later that he had possibly been a hobbit once. At last, strapped for riddles to ask the loathsome creature, Bilbo, touching the ring he had found in the tunnels, asked "What have I got in my pocket?".
Gollum assumed it to be a riddle, and while he had the right to reject it, his attempt to answer bound him to the rules of the game. Knowing it was an improper question, he was given three guesses, but he guessed incorrectly nonetheless. Reneging on his promise, Gollum plotted to use his "Precious" to murder and eat Bilbo, but when he found it missing, he too late guessed the right answer to Bilbo's "riddle".
== Other riddles ==
Riddles also appear in The Lord of the Rings. Théoden described a poem recited by Gandalf as a riddle, and Gollum yet again provides a riddle.