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

In a chess board, the queen piece can move horizontally, vertically and diagonally freely. The picture represents the same.Can you place 8 queens on the board in a manner that none of the queens can attack each other?

Chess Board Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 10 Oct 2025


Okay before we begin with the puzzle, do keep in mind that you have to answer it quickly.

You are participating in a car race. Seeking the perfect moment, you overtake the second person in the race. What positions are you in now?

Asked by Neha on 22 Dec 2025

Tell me the Hindi name of a Vegetable which if we remove 1st word will become a precious Stone and by removing the last word it will become a sweet eatable.

Asked by Neha on 16 Apr 2025


You are given four tennis balls and asked to arrange those balls in a manner that the distance between each one of them is exactly equal. How will you do it?

Tennis Balls Riddle

Asked by Neha on 22 Mar 2026

If you had a pizza with crust thickness 'a' and radius 'z', what's the volume of the pizza?

Asked by Neha on 30 May 2024

James Bond is caught up in a mysterious scenario where the evil villain has him blindfolded. He somehow breaks through the handcuffs but is unable to get the blindfold off. Upon searching, he comes across a bow and 3 arrows. He can hear the villain speak, and thus tries to take a shot at him. He launches the first arrow, it misses the villain. He then launches the second arrow and it misses by a greater margin.

What is the probability that this third shot our James bond takes will be worse than the second shot?

Asked by Neha on 21 Jun 2023


Can you find a seven digit number which describes itself. The first digit is the number of zeros in the number. The second digit is the number of ones in the number, etc. For example, in the number 21200, there are 2 zeros, 1 one, 2 twos, 0 threes and 0 fours.

Asked by Neha on 23 Jul 2021

A research team went to a village somewhere between the jungles of Africa. Luckily for them, they reached the day when quite an interesting custom was to be performed. The custom was performed once a year as they confirmed and was performed in order to collect the taxes from every male of the region.

The taxes were to be paid in the form of grains. Everyone must pay pounds of grain equaling his respective age. This means a 20-year-old will have to pay 20 pounds of grain and a 30-year-old will pay 30 pounds of grain and so on.

The chief who collects the tax has 7 weights and a large 2-pan scale to weigh. But there is another custom that the chief can weigh only three of the seven weights.

Can you find out the weights of the seven weights? Also, what is the maximum age of the man that can be weighed for the payment of taxes?

Asked by Neha on 12 Jan 2025

Suppose we lay down two cups in front of you. One of the cups is filled with tea and the other one with coffee. Now we ask you to take a spoonful of tea and mix it with the coffee. At this moment, the coffee cup has a mixture of tea and coffee. You have to take that mixture (spoonful) and add it back to the tea.

Can you now tell if the cup of coffee has more tea or the cup of tea has more coffee?

Asked by Neha on 30 Mar 2024


I am a type of vehicle that has two wheels and is powered by humans. What am I?
Hint 1: You can ride me for exercise.
Hint 2: I am environment-friendly.

Asked by Neha on 01 Oct 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