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

Two old friends, Jack and Jill, meet after a long time, and discussing as:

Jack: Hey, how are you, man?

Bill: Not bad, got married and I have three kids now.

Jack: That's awesome. How old are they?

Bill: The product of their ages is 72 and the sum of their ages is the same as your birth date.

Jack: Cool..But I still don't know.

Bill: My eldest kid just started taking piano lessons.

Jack: Oh, now I get it.

How old are Bill's kids?

Asked by Neha on 23 Dec 2020


John was drowned by he was not wet. How?

Asked by Neha on 16 May 2025

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


There was a competition where the contestants had to hold something. At the end of the event, the winner was a person who had no hands or feet. What was it that the contestants had to hold?

Asked by Neha on 20 Jun 2025

Transform the word THINK into BRAIN while changing only one letter at a time in a manner that each of the word in the process is a real word!!!

Asked by Neha on 16 Feb 2023

Jessica is telling her friends this story and asks them to guess if it’s the truth or a lie: “There was a man sitting in a house at night that had no lights on at all. There was no lamp, no candle, and no other source of light. Yet, he sat in the house and read his book happily.” Her friends say she’s lying, but Jessica corrects them and says she’s telling the truth. Jessica’s story is true—but how?

Asked by Neha on 25 Jun 2025


What has lots of eyes, but can’t see?

Asked by Neha on 20 Feb 2022

What does this rebus means ?

Rebus For Kids

Asked by Neha on 02 Apr 2025

A man wants to cross the pit of fire which is 25 feet in length and he has 2 planks(fire resistant) 19 feet in length. How can he cross the pit of fire alive?

Asked by Neha on 02 Oct 2025


Krish is 45 years old and his mother Crishtina is 73 years old.

Can you find out how many years ago, his mother was three times his age?

Asked by Neha on 18 Mar 2024

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has crushed all human records in the puzzle game “2048,” achieving a high score of 839,732 and beating the game in only 973 moves without using any undo.