A chess tournament is taking place on knock-out terms (the one who loses the match is out of the game).
(a) If 10 matches are played in total, how many players participated?
(b) If 20 players took part in the tournament, how many matches were played?

Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, "Why are you smiling?"

How did he know his companion was smiling?

A man escapes from jail using help from his girlfriend. The investigators suspect four girls of being the man's girlfriend.

Out of those four girls, one is his girlfriend who is lying. Two of the girls are completely innocent and are speaking the truth. One of the girls is the man's sister who is helping the girlfriend lie. Following are the statements from all four of them:

Ariana: "Myrna is his girlfriend."
Jane: "Angelina is lying."
Angelina: "Ariana is lying."
Myrna: "Jane is not his sister."

Can you find out who is the man's sister among them?

Five thieves looted a bank and they ran away in a car. The bank staff informed the police and they began the search of their car in their jeep. They found them on a road and chased them eventually catching them. The light that is used to fill the number plate was broken on the thieves' car. Also, the headlights of the jeep police were not working. How were the police able to catch the thieves then?

Kohli and Dhoni decided to have a paintball match.
Kohli told Dhoni, "Sir it is not right as you got thrice the paintballs I have".

Dhoni instantly gives Kohli 10 hit paintballs.
Kohli replied, "Sir, I believe you still have twice the paintballs than I have".

Dhoni gives "?" more paintballs to Kohli.
Kohli replied, "Sir it is even now, Let us have a match".

What is "?".

Queen Elizabeth organised a royal party.

To Avoid uninvited guest royal family set a password.
Jack (an uninvited person) plan to enter the party. He stand nearby the door.

First guest comes, the security person said 'twelve' and guest replied with six.
Second guest comes , the security person said 'six' and guest replied with 'three'.

Jack thought is enough and he walked to the entry point. The security person said 'eight' , Jack replied smilingly 'four'.
He was immediately thrown out of the party. why ?

There are 2 sand hourglasses.

The small one can measure 5 hours and the large one can measure 7 hours.

How can we measure 16 hours with 2 sand hourglasses running together ?

You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How is that possible?

I know a 5-digit number having a property that With a 1 after it, it is three times as large as it would be with a one before it.

Guess the number?

Imagine a box with two cogwheels, one big with 24 teeth and one small with 8 teeth. The big one is firmly attached to the center of the box which means it does not turn or move while the small one rotates around the big one.

How many times do you think that the smaller wheel will turn compared to the box when it turns once around the big one?