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

You enter your friend's room. He is not in his room. Although you see that on the bed there are two dogs, five cats, two giraffes and three pigs. Also, a couple of chickens and ducks are flying in the room.

Calculate the number of legs standing on the floor.

Asked by Neha on 21 Nov 2025


Imagine a box with two cogwheels, one big with 24 teeth and one small with 8 teeth. The big one is firmly attached to the center of the box which means it does not turn or move while the small one rotates around the big one.

How many times do you think that the smaller wheel will turn compared to the box when it turns once around the big one?

Magical Wheels

Asked by Neha on 22 Sep 2024

John said, "If yesterday was tomorrow, today would be Friday."

When did John make this statement?

Asked by Neha on 09 Apr 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

In a kingdom, King George did not allow any citizen to visit the world outside. Also, only a person with proper paperwork was allowed to enter or he was sent back. A wooden bridge was what connected the kingdom to the world. The king had appointed a sharpshooter who would check the every five minutes on the bridge to check. After checking, he would go back to his hut and return exactly after five minutes again. The bridge took 9 minutes to cross.

A merchant was able to escape the kingdom without harming the shooter. How?

Asked by Neha on 04 May 2024

A Car driver was heading down a street in Washington. He went right past a stop sign without stopping, he turned left where there was a 'no left turn' sign and he went the wrong way on a one-way street. Then he went on the right side of the road past a cop car. Still, he didn't break any traffic laws. Why not?

Car Driver Going Wrong

Asked by Neha on 03 Mar 2021


There were three women in all the swimming costumes!
One was happy and the other two were sad!
The happy one was crying and the sad ones were smiling.
Why was this?

Asked by Neha on 20 Jan 2025

What word is identified by the below rebus?

Your Your Your Your Your
Your Your Your Your Your

Asked by Neha on 27 Jul 2023

What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?

Asked by Neha on 14 Feb 2022


A mules travels the same distance daily.
I noticed that two of his legs travels 10km and the remaining two travels 12km.
Obviously two mules legs cannot be a 2km ahead of the other 2.

The mules is perfectly normal. So how come this be true ?

Asked by Neha on 08 May 2021

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Word ladder puzzle

The word ladder puzzle was invented by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.