Twenty questions is what is called "a parlor game." They were very popular in the 19th century as after-dinner activities.
The traditional Victorian opening, as I understand it, which didn't count as a question, was "Animal, Mineral or Vegetable?" A hundred years later, that's not a very good opening. What we started using when I was in college and I've passed on to my kids as a better starting place is "Is it or was it ever alive?" That one counts as a question.
In the late 1960's or early 1970's, when computers still used punch cards, many computers had a Twenty Questions game that built itself bigger as new answers were provided by those who stumped the boolean logic already in there. There are many online games of that nature now that people can play.
The Wikipedia entry is well done and has references to the game appearing in A Christmas Carol by Dickens, in "A Goofy Movie," on "Family Guy" and other places.
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