Linear Thinking Riddle

There are four people in a house. A fireman, an athlete, an old woman, and a drunk guy. The house catches fire and before the fact is known, it is too late. All they know is that the entire house is in flames and it will collapse exactly after twelve minutes. Now they can move out of the house but for that, they will have to pass the hallway which is entirely blazing with flames. Thus to move, one must carry a fire extinguisher to keep the flames away. Seeking the burnt wooden floor, only two people can run through that hallway at one time. But for others to go, one must return back with the fire extinguisher. The fireman is trained for such tasks and can run through the hallway in a minute. The athlete can make it in a couple of minutes. The old woman can run slowly and will cover the hallway in four minutes. The drunk guy will take five minutes to run through it. If all of them can make it through the hallway in twelve minutes, all of them will be saved. When two move together, they will run at the speed of the slower ones.

How will all four of them manage to run to safety?




Similar Riddles

The following alphametic has only one solution. Can you find it?
ENLIST + SILENT + LISTEN = ANAGRAM

PS: You may start the number from 0.

Asked by Neha on 12 Jun 2023


What work can one never finish?

Asked by Neha on 12 Jan 2024

How can you leave a room with two legs and return with six legs?

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021


A shepherd had 18 sheep, out of which, all but ten died.

Can you tell us how many sheep was he left with?

Asked by Neha on 10 Mar 2024

Four people need to cross a rickety bridge at night. Unfortunately, they have only one torch and the bridge is too dangerous to cross without one. The bridge is only strong enough to support two people at a time. Not all people take the same time to cross the bridge. Times for each person: 1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the bridge?

Asked by Neha on 24 Aug 2023

If,
9 * 8 * 7 = 65
8 * 7 * 6 = 50
7 * 6 * 5 = 37

Find
6 * 5 * 4 = ?

Asked by Neha on 05 Jul 2024


Cristina leaves home and then she makes exactly 3 left turns and returns home where she found 2 girls wearing the mask.

Who are these two masked girls?

Asked by Neha on 01 Mar 2021

There once were seven dwarfs who were all brothers. They were all born two years apart. The youngest dwarf is seven years old. How old is his oldest brother?

Asked by Neha on 13 Jun 2025

John is 45 years older than his son Jacob. If you find similarities between their ages, both of their ages contain prime numbers as the digits. Also, John's age is the reverse of Jacob's age.

Can you find their ages?

Asked by Neha on 11 Sep 2024


An evil man kidnapped someone and made them take one of two pills. One was harmless, but the other was poisonous. Whichever pill the victim took, the kidnapper took the other one. The victim took their pill with water and died. The kidnapper survived. How did the kidnapper get the harmless pill?

Asked by Neha on 27 Jun 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Rubik’s Cube

The inventor of the Rubik’s Cube didn’t realize he’d built a puzzle until he scrambled it the first time and tried to restore it.