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

Can you count the number of triangles inside a triangle?

Triangles in a Triangle Riddle

Asked by Neha on 26 Mar 2026


You and your two friends are working in a multinational company. How can you three find out the average salary of you all without disclosing your own salary to the other two?

Asked by Neha on 26 Nov 2025

Find the combined weight of the Cat, Dog and Rabbit in the given picture.

 Weight of Animals

Asked by Neha on 17 Jan 2024


The sum of a mother, her baby and her dog's weight is 170 Kg. How much does the baby weigh if the mother weighs 100 kg more than the combined weight of the baby and the dog, and the dog weighs 60 per cent less than the baby?

Asked by Neha on 01 Feb 2025

A man lives on the fifteenth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator, or if it was raining that day, he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up five flights of stairs to his apartment. Can you explain why he does this?

Asked by Neha on 09 Apr 2024

When 99 is considered higher than 100?

Asked by Neha on 26 Feb 2021


Irene killed hundreds of people mercilessly and yet the police were not able to put her behind the bars. Why?

Asked by Neha on 05 Feb 2024

There is an English word that can be used up to four times in a row without modifying the spelling and form a valid grammatical sentence.

Do you know what word is that?

Asked by Neha on 18 Aug 2024

In the given picture, in how many ways can you read the word "Tiger"?

Read Word Tiger

Asked by Neha on 21 May 2023


John went to meet his friend Jacob, but when he was about to reach the main gate, John notices that Jacob had a mighty dog who was fastened to the tree. The chain is long enough that it allows the dog to reach the main gate.

How can the John reach the main gate?

Dog and Visitor Riddle

Asked by Neha on 06 Apr 2021

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.