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

What can you see in the middle of March and April that you can never see in any other month?

Asked by Neha on 13 Oct 2021


What is represented by this rebus?

once
time

Asked by Neha on 18 Oct 2026

Can you discover the missing number in this series?

37, 10, 82
29, 11, 47
96, 15, 87
42, ?, 15

Asked by Neha on 14 Nov 2024


Look at me. I can bring a smile to your face, A tear to your eye, Or even a thought to your mind. But, I can't be seen. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 17 Apr 2026

You have $100 with you and you have to buy 100 balls with it. 100 is the exact figure and you can't go below or above the numbers and you have to use the entire $100. If there is no kind of tax applied how many of each of the following balls will you be able to buy:

Green Balls costing $6
Yellow Balls costing $3
Black Balls costing $0.10

Now, how many of each must you buy to fulfil the condition given?

Asked by Neha on 30 Jul 2023

If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 07 Mar 2025


The captain of a ship was telling this interesting story: "We travelled the sea far and wide. At one time, two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One was looking west and the other one east. And at the same time, they could see each other clearly." How can that be possible?

Asked by Neha on 26 Mar 2024

John was piloting a plane behind a car but was never able to overtake it. Why?

Asked by Neha on 04 Dec 2023

A number can be multiplied by multiple of nine
i.e 9 18 27 36 45 ...

and the resulting number consist of only one digit.

Can you identify the number ?

Asked by Neha on 07 May 2023


Before the start of the car race, John and Jacob have the same amount of fuel in their car. With this fuel, John can drive for 4 hours while Jacob can drive five hours.
After a time they realize that the amount of fuel left in John's car is 1/4th of the fuel in Jacob's.

For how long they are racing?

Asked by Neha on 30 Jan 2026

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Word ladder puzzle

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