Prisoner to be freed

The warden meets with 23 new prisoners when they arrive. He tells them, "You may meet today and plan a strategy. But after today, you will be in isolated cells and will have no communication with one another.

"In the prison is a switch room, which contains two light switches labeled 1 and 2, each of which can be in either up or the down position. I am not telling you their present positions. The switches are not connected to anything.

"After today, from time to time whenever I feel so inclined, I will select one prisoner at random and escort him to the switch room. This prisoner will select one of the two switches and reverse its position. He must flip one switch when he visits the switch room, and may only flip one of the switches. Then he'll be led back to his cell.

"No one else will be allowed to alter the switches until I lead the next prisoner into the switch room. I'm going to choose prisoners at random. I may choose the same guy three times in a row, or I may jump around and come back. I will not touch the switches, if I wanted you dead you would already be dead.

"Given enough time, everyone will eventually visit the switch room the same number of times as everyone else. At any time, anyone may declare to me, 'We have all visited the switch room.'

"If it is true, then you will all be set free. If it is false, and somebody has not yet visited the switch room, you will all die horribly. You will be carefully monitored, and any attempt to break any of these rules will result in instant death to all of you"

What is the strategy they come up with so that they can be free?




Similar Riddles

If one and a half boys, eat one and a half burgers in one and a half hours.

How many burgers can 9 boys eat in 3 hours?

Asked by Neha on 20 May 2023


What does the following represent?

N N N N N N N

A A A A A A A

C C C C C C C

Teaser Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 04 Mar 2021

Detective Rockford was jogging near the beach at 4:30 am.
He hears a sound near the shack "No Michael, Please Do not shoot me".
Next instance he heard the sound of gunfire. Rockford rushes to the shack where he finds women lying dead and a gun in close proximity of three "Doctore Lawyer and a Teacher".

Rockford immediately knew that the Lawyer has committed the crime. How?

Asked by Neha on 05 Apr 2023


The great emperor Akbar once ruled India. He was well known for his intelligence. But along with that, he was known for the Nine Gems in his court. One of the nine gems was Birbal, a quick witted and extremely intelligent man. The stories of his wit were widely popular.

Once a king ruling in a distant land heard of Birbal. To check his wit, he sent an invitation and called him to visit his land. Akbar allowed Birbal to go and he took off on the journey.

Upon reaching that kings kingdom, he was welcomed with flowers. He was then escorted to the palace of the king. Upon entering the palace, Birbal found that there were six people sitting in front of him adorning the same robe. They were also lookalike and it was hard to judge who the real king was.

After a couple of minutes, Birbal approached one of them and bowed in front of him greeting him.

That was the real king. How did Birbal know who was the real king ?

Asked by Neha on 10 May 2021

There is a number which when you multiply by 3 and subtract 2 from the result, then the resulting number is the reverse of the actual number.

What is the smallest number that stands true on the statement?

Asked by Neha on 20 Aug 2023

They do not possess flesh or feathers or scales or bone
But still, they are blessed with fingers and thumbs of their own.

Asked by Neha on 08 Nov 2023


If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?

Asked by Neha on 08 May 2023

Replace the question mark with the correct number in the below-given picture?

Number Riddle

Asked by Neha on 08 Sep 2023

It has a long neck, A name of a bird, Feeds on cargo of ships, It's not alive,

What is it?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


A bank customer had $100 in his account. He then made 6 withdrawals. He kept a record of these withdrawals, and the balance remaining in the account, as follows:

Withdrawals Balance left
$50 $50
$25 $25
$10 $15
$8 $7
$5 $2
$2 $0
----- -----
$100 $99

Why are the Totals not tallying?

Asked by Neha on 14 Dec 2023

Hot Articles

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.