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 woman who works in a sweet shop has a measurement of 32-26-36, is 5"4" tall, and wears size "6" shoes. What do you think she weighs?

Asked by Neha on 28 Apr 2026


When I asked a girl's name she told me her name is the date '07/09/2001'.

I thought for a few seconds and then I got her name. Do you?

Asked by Neha on 02 Dec 2025

An ant is travelling on a 1-meter-long rope at 1 cm/second but also the entire rope is being stretched by an extra 1 meter/second. Is it possible for the ant to reach at the end of the rope?

Asked by Neha on 31 May 2026


That attorney is my brother, testified the accountant.

But the attorney testified he didn't have a brother.

Who is lying?

Asked by Neha on 14 Dec 2020

What does man love more than life, hate more than death or mortal strife; That which contented men desire; the poor have, the rich require; the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves?

Asked by Neha on 15 Mar 2025

John was so frustrated to be the suspect of being a sleeper terrorist that he shoot himself right between the eyes with a revolver in his toilet. The revolver and the bullets were accurate. Minutes later John walks out of the toilet unharmed.
How can this be possible?

Asked by Neha on 15 Nov 2023


Things are just as they seem, right? Well, check again.
Can you count the number of tigers in this picture ?

Count The Tigers

Asked by Neha on 21 May 2021

The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The greenhouse is on the immediate left of the white house.
5. The greenhouse’s owner drinks coffee.
6. The owner who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The owner living in the centre house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The owner who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes blue masters drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who drinks water.
Now, the question is…Who owns the fish?

Asked by Neha on 12 Sep 2025

I never was there, I am always to be.
You have never ever seen me, not ever you will.
Yet I am the confidence of everyone.

Who Am I?

Asked by Neha on 01 Feb 2024


You’ll find me on Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. But never Neptune, or Venus. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 15 Aug 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Challenging

There is a cryptic organization called Cicada 3301 that posts challenging puzzles online, possibly to recruit codebreakers and linguists.