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

Spot the 3 Differences in the given Picture.

Spot the 3 Differences

Asked by Neha on 20 Sep 2026


What number does the below three word/phrase identify and why?
1. Deck
2. Year
3. Singing in the Rain

Asked by Neha on 21 Feb 2024

Rearrange the letters in "new door" to make one word.

Asked by Neha on 12 Dec 2023


A man is walking down a road with a basket of eggs. As he
is walking he meets someone who buys one-half of his eggs
plus one-half of an egg.
He walks a little further and meets another person who buys
one-half of his eggs plus one-half of an egg.
After proceeding further he meets another person who buys
one-half of his eggs plus one half an egg. At this point, he
has sold all of his eggs, and he never broke an egg.
How many eggs did the man have to start with?

Asked by Neha on 06 Dec 2023

You order chicken wings at KFC in the boxes of 6, 9 and 20. What is the largest number of wings that you cannot obtain by buying in any combination of the boxes?

Asked by Neha on 10 Jul 2021

Can you solve the below tricky visual equation?

Visual Equation

Asked by Neha on 29 Jun 2024


There is a bag which have 21 blue balls and 23 red balls. You also have 22 red balls outside the bag. Randomly remove two balls from the bag. * If they are of different colors, put the blue one back in the bag. * If they are the same colour, take them out and put a red ball back in the bag. Repeat this until only one ball remains in the bag. What is the color of the sole ball left in the bag ?

Asked by Neha on 13 Mar 2026

The sum of a mother, her baby and her dog's weight is 170 Kg. How much does the baby weigh if the mother weighs 100 kg more than the combined weight of the baby and the dog, and the dog weighs 60 per cent less than the baby?

Asked by Neha on 01 Feb 2025

What is the centre of gravity?

Asked by Neha on 10 Nov 2023


1 rabbit saw 9 elephants while going to the river. Every elephant saw 3 monkeys going toward the river. Each monkey had 1 parrot in each hand. How many animals are going towards the river?

Asked by Neha on 30 Aug 2025

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