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

Count The number of F's in the paragraph below:

"FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS"

Test your Eye

Asked by Neha on 25 Mar 2021


I am a word of 12 alphabets.

* Alphabets 12, 4, 7, 2, 5 : Eastern beast of burden
* Alphabets 1, 8, 10, 9 are street made famous by Sinclair Lewis.
* Alphabets 11, 3, 6 are past.

On whole it means a person suffering from delusions of greatness.

What Is it ?

Asked by Neha on 05 Jul 2021

On my way to St. Ives I saw a man with 7 wives. Each wife had 7 sacks. Each sack had 7 cats. Each cat had 7 kittens. Kittens, cats, sacks, wives. How many were going to St. Ives?

Asked by Neha on 26 Oct 2024


Can you make the below equation true by using any three numbers from "1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15"?

( ) + ( ) + ( ) = 30

Asked by Neha on 18 Dec 2025

A Japanese ship is sailing in the Indian Ocean. The captain of the ship feels tired and decides to take shower to be rejuvenated. He goes to take the shower after keeping his diamond-studded Rolex watch and gold chain on the table.
When he comes back after 15 minutes, he finds them missing. There are 4 crew members on the ship and he calls them one by one to ask them what they were doing in that duration.

Following are the answers:
1. Crew 'A' who is the cook replies that he was cooking mutton for the crew members.
2. Crew 'B' who is a housekeeper tells that he was sleeping in his room.
3. Crew 'C' who is the engineer says that he was checking on the generator.
4. Crew 'D' who is another housekeeper says that he was correcting the hoisted flag that was put upside down.

It took only a couple of seconds for the captain to find the thief. Can you find the thief too?

Asked by Neha on 03 Jan 2024

Five lovely ladies(Sophia, Isabella, Madison, Emma and Olivia) planned a picnic.

They each buy one thing each for the picnic.

Sophia, Emma and Olivia got a drink : orange-Juice, apple-juice, and mango-juice.
Olivia got the drink with the same letter as the one in her first name.
Emma loves mango-juice.
The other two bring some food : chocolates and pizza.
Also Madison is allergic to cheese.

So which ladies bought what ?

Asked by Neha on 24 May 2021


Mr Black, Mr Gray, and Mr White are fighting in a truel. They each get a gun and take turns shooting at each other until only one person is left. Mr Black, who hits his shot 1/3 of the time, gets to shoot first. Mr Gray, who hits his shot 2/3 of the time, gets to shoot next, assuming he is still alive. Mr White, who hits his shot all the time, shoots next, assuming he is also alive. The cycle repeats. If you are Mr Black, where should you shoot first for the highest chance of survival?

Asked by Neha on 18 Feb 2025

Our product and our sum always give the same answer. Who are we?

Asked by Neha on 11 Oct 2021

Jim and Sarah are in a long-distance relationship. Jim buys an engagement ring for Sarah and wants to mail it to her. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure the ring will be received is to place a lock on the package. Jim has locks and Sarah has locks, but neither has keys for each other’s locks. How can they make sure the ring isn’t stolen?

Asked by Neha on 17 Jun 2025


A kind heart person buy packed food at 3$/packet from United states and sells them at 1$/packet at Africa. After some time he becomes a millionaire.

How come the guy become millionaire ?

Asked by Neha on 30 Jan 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.