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

Identify the hidden meaning behind this picture?

Picture Riddle

Asked by Neha on 17 Feb 2023


What do you see in the given picture?

Are you Intelligent ?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

A beggar on the street can make one cigarette out of every 6 cigarette butts he finds. After one whole day of searching and checking public ashtrays the beggar finds a total of 72 cigarette butts. How many cigarettes can he make and smoke from the butts he found?

Asked by Neha on 29 May 2024


The host of a game show offers the guest a choice of three doors. Behind one is an expensive car, but behind the other two are goats.
After you have chosen one door, he reveals one of the other two doors behind which is a goat (he wouldn't reveal a car).

Now he gives you the chance to switch to the other unrevealed door or stay at your initial choice. You will then get what is behind that door.

You cannot hear the goats from behind the doors, or in any way know which door has the prize.

Should you stay, or switch, or doesn't it matter?

Asked by Neha on 06 May 2023

Thirty friends were on a hiking trip when they decided to enjoy the bonfire. They assembled for it and agreed to play a game. For that, they divided themselves into five teams with seven members each, forming five rows.

How did they manage to achieve this formation?

Asked by Neha on 07 Oct 2024

What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence?

Asked by Neha on 10 Jul 2025


The pound is not a finish.

We are sharing a few instructions below, which you have to use in any suitable order to modify the above sentence such that the end sentence is a scientific fact.

- Eliminate a letter and supplement another in its place.
- Take away one word.
- Remove one letter from one word.
- Get rid of two letters from one word.
- Swap a word with its antonym.

Asked by Neha on 03 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

Which is the rope you never skip with?

Asked by Neha on 01 May 2024


With the help clues provided in the image, can you find the 5 digit key?

Find the Key

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Challenging

There is a cryptic organization called Cicada 3301 that posts challenging puzzles online, possibly to recruit codebreakers and linguists.