Boxes Of Balls Riddle
The first box has two white balls. The second box has two black balls. The third box has a white and a black ball.
Boxes are labeled but all labels are wrong!
You are allowed to open one box, pick one ball at random, see its color and put it back into the box, without seeing the color of the other ball.
How many such operations are necessary to correctly label the boxes?
Boxes are labeled but all labels are wrong!
You are allowed to open one box, pick one ball at random, see its color and put it back into the box, without seeing the color of the other ball.
How many such operations are necessary to correctly label the boxes?
Hint:
Just One!
Because we know all labels are wrong.
So the BW box must be either BB or WW. Selecting one ball from BW will let you know which.
And the other two boxes can then be worked out logically. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Because we know all labels are wrong.
So the BW box must be either BB or WW. Selecting one ball from BW will let you know which.
And the other two boxes can then be worked out logically. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Captured By The Riddler
In the land of Geopolizza, three men were captured by the infamous Riddler. So, the Riddler buries the three men, named 1, 2 and 3 in such a manner, that 1 is in the front, 2 in the middle and 3 in the back. They are buried neck deep, and cannot move, not even their heads. He shows them 5 caps, two of which are red and 3 of them are white. He then switches off the lights and places a hat on top of their heads. The situation is such that no one can see their hat color, 1 is facing the wall and cant say anything, 2 can see 1 and 3 can see both 1 and 2. Then he tells the rules of his game: "If either of you three can tell the correct color of your head, I will let all of you go. However, if any of you answer wrong, all 3 of you will instantly die. Time is 3 minutes."
Upon 2 and half minutes passing, A shouts the answer and all 3 are released free. How did he know the correct answer ?
Upon 2 and half minutes passing, A shouts the answer and all 3 are released free. How did he know the correct answer ?
Hint:
P3 can only be certain of his cap if 1 & 2 are both white. Since he is not certain then 1 & 2 must be either white/red or red/red. 2 knows this but the only combination that he will be able to know the colour of his own cap is if he sees that 1 is wearing a white cap. 1 knows this but as 2 remains uncertain then 1 must be wearing a red cap. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Losing A New York Bet
You are hanging around in NYC when a person approaches you.
"Leaving the bald people aside, I can bet a hundred bucks that there are two people living in NYC who have same number of hairs on their heads," he says to you.
You say that you will take the bet. After talking to the man for a couple of minutes, you realize that you have lost the bet.
What did the person say to you that proved his statement ?
"Leaving the bald people aside, I can bet a hundred bucks that there are two people living in NYC who have same number of hairs on their heads," he says to you.
You say that you will take the bet. After talking to the man for a couple of minutes, you realize that you have lost the bet.
What did the person say to you that proved his statement ?
Hint:
This problem can be best solved using the pigeonhole principle.
The argument will go like this:
Assume that all the non-bald people in NYC have different number of hairs on their head. The population is about 9 million and let us assume that there are 8 million among them who are not bald.
Now, those 8 million people need to have different number of hairs. On an average, people have just 100, 000 hairs on their head. If we keep on assuming that there is someone with just one hair, someone with two, someone with three and so on, there will be 7, 900, 00 other people left who will have more than 100, 000 hairs on their head and need different number of hairs.
Now, as per this assumption, if we keep increasing one hair for each person, to make everybody hair different in numbers, we will come across someone with 8, 000, 000 hairs. But that is practically impossible (even 1, 000, 000 is impossible). Thus there must be two people who are having same number of hairs. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The argument will go like this:
Assume that all the non-bald people in NYC have different number of hairs on their head. The population is about 9 million and let us assume that there are 8 million among them who are not bald.
Now, those 8 million people need to have different number of hairs. On an average, people have just 100, 000 hairs on their head. If we keep on assuming that there is someone with just one hair, someone with two, someone with three and so on, there will be 7, 900, 00 other people left who will have more than 100, 000 hairs on their head and need different number of hairs.
Now, as per this assumption, if we keep increasing one hair for each person, to make everybody hair different in numbers, we will come across someone with 8, 000, 000 hairs. But that is practically impossible (even 1, 000, 000 is impossible). Thus there must be two people who are having same number of hairs. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Brightening The Day Riddle
I beam, shine and sparkle white,
I brighten the day with a single light.
I charm and enchant one and all,
I can counter the darkest pall.
What am I?
I brighten the day with a single light.
I charm and enchant one and all,
I can counter the darkest pall.
What am I?
Hint:
Elephant Socks Riddle
Hint:
5 Houses Riddle
There are 5 houses that have 5 occupants. Each occupants house is differently colored. The houses also have different choice of beverages, different cigarette brands, and a unique pet. Your goal is to figure out which occupant owns the fish....
Here's more information:
An Englishman resides in a red house.
The Dane drinks tea.
Dogs are kept by the Swede.
The green house is left to the white house.
The occupant of the green house drinks coffee.
The birds are kept by the Pall Mall smoker.
The horse keeper and the Dunhill smoker live next to each other.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives right next to the blue house.
The blend smoker's neighbor drinks water.
Here's more information:
An Englishman resides in a red house.
The Dane drinks tea.
Dogs are kept by the Swede.
The green house is left to the white house.
The occupant of the green house drinks coffee.
The birds are kept by the Pall Mall smoker.
The horse keeper and the Dunhill smoker live next to each other.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives right next to the blue house.
The blend smoker's neighbor drinks water.
Hint:
The 2 Barbershops
There is a small town on the East Coast that has 2 barbershops each with a single barber, and on opposite sides of town. The barbershop in the good part of town is immaculate. The floors and windows are washed and the air is fresh. The barber is very friendly, always smiling, he has shined shoes, a nice head of hair, and a clean dress shirt. The barbershop in the bad part of town is a mess. The entire barbershop is covered with a layer of dirt, and the air smells of trash. The barber always has a frown on his face. His skin is oily, his hair is ragged, and there are always stains visible on his shirt.
A man comes into town and hears of both barbershops and the man decides to go to the dirty barbershop in the bad part of town. Why does he do this?
A man comes into town and hears of both barbershops and the man decides to go to the dirty barbershop in the bad part of town. Why does he do this?
Hint:
The clean-cut barber must have his hair cut by the dirty barber and the dirty barber by the clean-cut barber. So its obvious that the dirty barber gives a better haircut. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Confusing Style Riddle
I am white and I am black. I am fast and I am not fat. I confuse many people with my style. Who am i?
Hint:
You'll See Me Riddle
Youll see me when the sun is high and also late at night,
Im in the songs of holidays, when the snow is white,
Kings and Queens and royalty, are all found in me,
Im the largest of them all, with just one you see,
Step by step with pounding feet, Im tribes of angry men,
Im above your hands right now, for help or to go again,
Youll use me in the kitchen, or add a little more,
Ill be in the years to come, and the days of yore.
What am I?
Im in the songs of holidays, when the snow is white,
Kings and Queens and royalty, are all found in me,
Im the largest of them all, with just one you see,
Step by step with pounding feet, Im tribes of angry men,
Im above your hands right now, for help or to go again,
Youll use me in the kitchen, or add a little more,
Ill be in the years to come, and the days of yore.
What am I?
Hint:
The Number Twelve (12).
Noon and midnight are both 12 oclock and the Twelve Days of Christmas is a popular Christmas carol.
There are twelve face cards in a standard 52-card deck and twelve is the largest number with one syllable.
There are twelve steps in Alcoholics Anonymous, a troy pound is 12 ounces, there were 12 tribes of Israel and a popular movie was called, Twelve Angry Men (12 members of the jury). There are twelve function keys on your keyboard. F1 often shows a help screen and F5 reloads pages in your browser.
Many recipes measure items by the dozen, adding one more for a bakers dozen. There are twelve months in a year.
Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Noon and midnight are both 12 oclock and the Twelve Days of Christmas is a popular Christmas carol.
There are twelve face cards in a standard 52-card deck and twelve is the largest number with one syllable.
There are twelve steps in Alcoholics Anonymous, a troy pound is 12 ounces, there were 12 tribes of Israel and a popular movie was called, Twelve Angry Men (12 members of the jury). There are twelve function keys on your keyboard. F1 often shows a help screen and F5 reloads pages in your browser.
Many recipes measure items by the dozen, adding one more for a bakers dozen. There are twelve months in a year.
Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Socks In The Sock Drawer
You have a sock drawer. It has 4 black socks, 8 brown socks, 2 white socks and 8 tan socks. You need to pull out a matching pair of socks in the dark. There is no light and you couldnt see the socks. How many socks you should pull out in the dark to get one matching pair of socks?
Hint:
FIVE. You have only four different colors of socks. If you pick 5, you can surely get one pair of matching socks. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
The Egg Yolk Riddle
Hint:
A Walk In The Desert Riddle
Four men walk into the desert. Suddenly all four are simultaneously knocked out. They awake buried to their heads in the sand unable to look anywhere but straight ahead. They are positioned so that each man sees another's head before him. However between the first and second man there is a separating wall.
So the first man sees only desert. The second man sees only wall. The third man sees another's head and a wall. The fourth man sees two heads and a wall. On top of each mans head is a hat. The underside of each cap is black, but the outside of each cap is either blue or white. Before any of the men can speak, their captors tell them if they speak, they die. However, if any of them can guess the color of their cap on the first try they go free. The captors tell them that there are two blue caps and two white caps.
Being an omniscient observer of the situation, we know that the order of the caps are: blue, white, blue, white. So knowing the perspective of each man in the sand, and that they can only see the color of caps/wall/desert in front of them, which of the four men knows for certain the color of his own cap. More importantly: why?
So the first man sees only desert. The second man sees only wall. The third man sees another's head and a wall. The fourth man sees two heads and a wall. On top of each mans head is a hat. The underside of each cap is black, but the outside of each cap is either blue or white. Before any of the men can speak, their captors tell them if they speak, they die. However, if any of them can guess the color of their cap on the first try they go free. The captors tell them that there are two blue caps and two white caps.
Being an omniscient observer of the situation, we know that the order of the caps are: blue, white, blue, white. So knowing the perspective of each man in the sand, and that they can only see the color of caps/wall/desert in front of them, which of the four men knows for certain the color of his own cap. More importantly: why?
Hint:
The third man. This is because he knows there are only two of each color cap. If the man behind him (the fourth man) saw two caps that were the same color in front of him, he would know that his own must be the opposite. However, because the caps alternate in color. The fourth man has only a 50% chance of getting his hat color correct, so therefore he stays quiet. The third man realizes that the fourth man is quiet because he must not see two caps of the same color in front of him, otherwise the fourth man would say the opposite of the caps in front of him. Therefore, the third man presumes his own cap must be the opposite of the mans in front of him, and his presumption is correct. Under this same logic, after the third man speaks his color hat, the second man, even though he sees only wall, would be the next to go free, because he knows his cap must be the opposite of whichever color the third mans cap was. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Shedding Tears Riddle
Hint:
Used With A Brush Riddle
You often use it with a brush
But not the kind used on your hair
Add it nicely to some canvas
So that people will stop and stare
What am I?
But not the kind used on your hair
Add it nicely to some canvas
So that people will stop and stare
What am I?
Hint:
Naming The Wizard Riddle
Hint:
Add Your Riddle Here
Have some tricky riddles of your own? Leave them below for our users to try and solve.