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 discover the missing number in this series?

37, 10, 82
29, 11, 47
96, 15, 87
42, ?, 15

Asked by Neha on 14 Nov 2024


Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Asked by Neha on 04 Aug 2021

Can you replace the X (both small and big x) with the numbers between 1 to 19 such that all the rows of 3 numbers between X (big x) sum to 23?

Replace Shaped Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 05 Oct 2025


What you cannot hold but it is yours?

Asked by Neha on 28 Dec 2024

What mathematical symbol can be put between 5 and 9, to get a number bigger than 5 and smaller than 9?

Asked by Neha on 20 Sep 2021

Jenifer and Jesica are having a conversation.

Jenifer: I am definitely not over 30.
Jesica: I am 28 and you are surely 5 years older to me at least.
Jenifer: No, you are at least 29.

You are told that both of them are lying throughout in the conversation. Can you find their respective ages?

Asked by Neha on 18 Jul 2021


I have feet, but no legs. Which animal Am I?

Asked by Neha on 18 Apr 2023

This is a most unusual paragraph. How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so ordinary, you'd think nothing was wrong with it. Actually, nothing IS wrong with it. But it is not as ordinary as you might think. If you think about it for a bit, you will find out why it is truly so unusual. So what is it? What is so unordinary about this paragraph?

Asked by Neha on 02 May 2022

There are three houses in a straight row. One is red, one is blue, and one is white. The red house is left of the middle. The blue house is right of the middle. Where's the white house?

Asked by Neha on 25 Jul 2021


A worker is to perform work for you for seven straight days. In return for his work, you will pay him 1/7th of a bar of gold per day. The worker requires a daily payment of 1/7th of the bar of gold. What and where are the fewest number of cuts to the bar of gold that will allow you to pay him 1/7th each day?

Asked by Neha on 05 Mar 2024

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has crushed all human records in the puzzle game “2048,” achieving a high score of 839,732 and beating the game in only 973 moves without using any undo.