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

A patient was diagnosed with some ailment. He was given five different tablets to take at night at an interval of 15 minutes.

How long will it take the patient to consume all the five tablets?

Asked by Neha on 02 Jul 2024


The ages of a father and son add up to 66.
The father's age is the son's age reversed.
How old could they be?
(3 possible solutions).

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

Can you find the odd one out from the below words ?

First Second Third Forth Fifth Sixth Seventh, Eighth Nine Ten Eleven Twelve.

Asked by Neha on 14 Apr 2023


There are three identical triplets sisters. Demi is the oldest of them all and she always speaks the truth. Diana is the next one who is a liar always. Drew, the youngest of them all speaks both truth and lies randomly.

On a rainy day, a family friend Victor visited them. Since there were starkly identical, he was not able to recognize them. Thus to clarify, he asked one question to each one of them.

He started with the one standing on the left and asked, 'Which sister is in the middle of you three?' She answered, 'That's Demi.'

Then, he asked the one standing in the middle, 'What is your name?' She answered, 'I am Drew.'

Finally, he asked the one standing on the right, 'Who is standing in the middle?' She answered, 'She is Diana.'

Victor was left baffled. He asked the questions three times and received different answers every time.

Can you tell who was who?

Asked by Neha on 19 May 2023

John was a very careless driver, so his owner Jacob gave him an offer that he will get an incentive of Rs.30 for every bottle box he delivered without breaking it and he will be charged Rs.90 for every bottle box he broke. Jacob gave John 100 bottles-box to deliver. After delivery, Jacob paid John Rs.2400. How many bottles-box did John break?

Asked by Neha on 28 Sep 2023

On a magical land of Mexico , all the animal in the land are rational.

There are 10 tigers and one goat.
Tiger can eat goat but since it's a magical land , the tiger who eats the goat , turns into goat and then can be eaten by the remaining tiger(s).

If we leave them for some time then how many goat and tiger will be there , when we come back ?

Asked by Neha on 31 May 2021


Thirty friends were on a hiking trip when they decided to enjoy the bonfire. They assembled for it and agreed to play a game. For that, they divided themselves into five teams with seven members each, forming five rows.

How did they manage to achieve this formation?

Asked by Neha on 07 Oct 2024

After a heavy Thanksgiving meal, the night watchman went to work. In the morning, he told his boss he had dreamed that a saboteur planted a bomb in the factory and that he felt it was a warning. The boss promptly fired him. Worker confused, Why boss fire him?

Asked by Neha on 28 Dec 2025

There are nine dots in the picture that has been attached with this question. Can you join all the dots by drawing four straight lines without picking up your pen?

Dots on Lines

Asked by Neha on 11 Nov 2023


Why is the Hole below a Lock?

Hole in Lock

Asked by Neha on 23 Jul 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.