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

You have a thousand Re. 1 coins with you. You have ten bags with you and you can put any number of coins in each of the bags. The condition is that if someone asks you for any amount between 1 and 1000, you must be able to give that amount by just giving the bag (you are not allowed to open the bag and give coins).

How will you do it?

Asked by Neha on 12 May 2024


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

On 26-01-2022, Juli was murdered at her house in a city in India in the afternoon. There were three suspects in the murder and the following are the statements that were given by them:

John: I visited my village that day.
Jacob: I was out to deposit my house tax in the municipality office at that time.
Jonny: I was at a friend's place having lunch at that time.

Can you find out who is the murderer?

Asked by Neha on 15 Dec 2023


Can you divide numbers from 1 to 9 (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) into two groups so that the sum of the numbers of each group is equal?

Note: 9 cannot be turned over to make it 6.

Asked by Neha on 19 Jul 2023

When can we add 2 to 11 and get 1 as the correct answer?

Asked by Neha on 16 Oct 2023

Here is what you have to do. You have to throw a ball as hard as you can but it must return back to you even if it does not bounce at anything. Also, you have nothing attached to the ball. There is no one on the other end to catch that ball and throw it back at you.

How will you do it?

Asked by Neha on 25 Mar 2024


Two natural numbers have a sum of less than 100 and are greater than one.

John knows the product of the numbers and Jacob knows the sum of numbers.

The following conversation takes place between them:
John: 'I am not aware of those numbers.'
Jacob: 'I knew you wouldn't be. I am not aware myself.'
John: 'Now I know them!'
Jacob: 'Now I know them, too!'

What are the two numbers?

Asked by Neha on 07 Feb 2026

At the local model boat club, four friends were talking about their boats.

There were a total of eight boats, two in each colour, red, green, blue and yellow. Each friend owned two boats. No friend had two boats of the same colour.

Alan didn't have a yellow boat. Brian didn't have a red boat but did have a green one. One of the friends had a yellow boat and a blue boat and another friend had a green boat and a blue boat. Charles had a yellow boat. Darren had a blue boat, but didn't have a green one.

Can you work out which friend had which coloured boats?

Asked by Neha on 15 Jan 2024

Place the numbers from 1 to 9 in the circles in a manner that each side of the triangle sums up to 17.

Nine Numbers Riddle

Asked by Neha on 21 Jun 2021


What does the following BrainBat signifies?

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ.

Asked by Neha on 21 Jan 2021

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Amazing Facts

Crossword

The day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper,” the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring 7 other clues to have dual responses.