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

Here is a conversation between a couple who both are software professionals.

Husband: Hey! What is your date of birth?
Wife Replied Angrily: It is 591062400
Husband after doing some calculations replied, "Got It".

What is the DOB of the wife?

Asked by Neha on 20 Feb 2025


A guard is positioned at the one side of the bridge saying ‘A’. His task is to shoot all those who try to leave from ‘A’ to the other side and say ‘B’. He also need to welcome the person who comes from another side ‘B’ to his side ‘A’. The guard comes out of his post every 1 hour and looks down the bridge for any people trying to leave. You are at side ‘A’ and wish to go to another side ‘B’. you also know that it would take 1:45 hr to cross the bridge. How will you cross the bridge?

Asked by Neha on 23 Apr 2024

You need to remove two matchsticks to make the below equation true. Can you do it ?

Equation Correction Riddle

Asked by Neha on 06 Feb 2026


A blonde put eyeliner on her head. Why?

Asked by Neha on 26 Sep 2025

A man walked into a pub and went straight towards the Barman. He asked for a dirty martini from the Barman. The Barman thought something and then pulled out a pistol from his drawer and aimed it directly at the man. Why did he do that?

Asked by Neha on 09 Nov 2023

A man was telling some of his war stories to his grandchildren.
"When the World War I was on the verge of end, I was awarded for my bravery for I had saved a group of my men." He coughed and then added, "When we were fighting in northern France, an enemy soldier threw a grenade at us. Before it could explode, I picked it up and threw it away. For my act of bravery, right before the war ended, A General gave me a sword engraved with the words "Awarded for Display of Bravery and Heroism in World War 1"."

Hearing this, one of the grandson spoke up. "Grandpa, this is not a true story. It can"t be true!"

The truth is that it was not. How did the grand children know it?

Asked by Neha on 22 Feb 2023


If eleven plus two equals one, what does nine plus five equal?

Asked by Neha on 28 Mar 2022

What runs around the whole yard without moving?

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021

The Judge knows that Alamgir was killed by his girlfriend Jasline, but the judge is unsure whether to punish her. Why?

Asked by Neha on 18 May 2025


A large water tank has two inlet pipes (a large one and a small one) and one outlet pipe. It takes 3 hours to fill the tank with the large inlet pipe. On the other hand, it takes 6 hours to fill the tank with the small inlet pipe. The outlet pipe allows the full tank to be emptied in 9 hours.

What fraction of the tank (initially empty) will be filled in 0.64 hours if all three pipes are in operation? Give your answer to two decimal places (e.g., 0.25, 0.5, or 0.75).

Asked by Neha on 08 Jan 2026

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Rubik’s Cube

The inventor of the Rubik’s Cube didn’t realize he’d built a puzzle until he scrambled it the first time and tried to restore it.