Magic with Cards

I ask Joseph to pick any 5 cards out of a deck with no Jokers.

He can inspect then shuffle the deck before picking any five cards. He picks out 5 cards then hands them to me (Jack can't see any of this). I look at the cards and I pick 1 card out and give it back to Joseph. I then arrange the other four cards in a special way, and give those 4 cards all face down, and in a neat pile, to Jack.

Jack looks at the 4 cards i gave him, and says out loud which card Joseph is holding (suit and number). How?

The solution uses pure logic, not sleight of hand. All Jack needs to know is the order of the cards and what is on their face, nothing more.




Similar Riddles

One day, I thought of ways that can be used for creating a palindrome. So I decided that I will turn into a larger number by adding the reversed digits to the original number and keep doing it till I finally obtained a palindrome.

I am not sure if this process will always result in a palindrome eventually but I was able to produce a four-digit palindrome. Can you guess my starting number?

Asked by Neha on 17 Apr 2024


In a supermarket, there is an intelligent glass pane before a refrigerating unit. This glass pane allows cherries and apples through it but does not allow grapes and Orange to pass through it.

Can you identify the rule that the glass pane is following?

Asked by Neha on 18 Jul 2024

There are three boxes which are labeled as Rs100, Rs150, and Rs200. One box contains two notes of Rs. 50. The second box contains one note of Rs50 and one note of Rs100 The third box contains two Rs. 100 notes. All boxes are labeled incorrectly.

What is the minimum number of boxes you must check in order to label all boxes correctly?

Asked by Neha on 02 Feb 2021


One day, Birbal got late for a function and Akbar was highly disappointed.
Please forgive me Jahanpanah. I arrived late because my child was crying and I had to calm him down, explained Birbal.
Does it take this long to placate a child? questioned the emperor. I feel that you have no idea about how to raise a child. I order you to act like a child and I will act like your father to show you how you should have dealt with your child. Come on! Ask me all that he asked from you.
Father, I want a cow, said Birbal.
The emperor quickly ordered one of the servants to bring a cow to the kingdom.
I want to drink its milk, now, now, now! said Birbal, imitating the voice of his child.
Akbar asked his servants to milk the cow and give to Birbal.
The servants quickly milked the cow and offered the milk to Birbal. He sipped in a little and then gave the bowl to the emperor.
As Birbal put up the next demand that was put up by his child a few hours ago, the emperor was stunned and left the room.
What did Birbal say?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

The doctor advised his patient to take a tablet after every fifteen minutes. He gave him five tablets in total.

How much time will he take to have all the five tablets?

Asked by Neha on 01 Aug 2023

I have a clock(12-hour format) and both the needles of the clock overlap at 12:00.
After how much time, they will overlap again?

Asked by Neha on 06 Jan 2024


Which five letter word can be added at the end of below word to form a
valid word?

> Pin
> Check
> Boiling
> View

Asked by Neha on 13 Aug 2021

A thief enters a store and threatens the clerk, forcing her to open the safe. The clerk says, “The code for the safe is different every day, and if you hurt me you’ll never get the code.” But the thief manages to guess the code on his own. How did he do it?

Asked by Neha on 14 Jun 2025

Replace the (?) with the correct mathematical signs to make the expression equal to 59.

18 ? 12 ? 4 ? 5 = 59

Asked by Neha on 06 Mar 2024


What has six faces, but does not wear makeup, has twenty-one eyes, but cannot see? What is it?

Asked by Neha on 26 Mar 2022

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

No Solution

In 2007, a puzzle was released and $2 million prizes were offered for the first complete solution. The competition ended at noon on 31 December 2010, with no solution being found. Wiki