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

One fine day, an intellectual man came to the emperor's court with the aim of testing Birbal's wittiness. In order to do this, he challenged Birbal to answer his question and hence prove that he was as intelligent and witty as he was said to be.
He asked Birbal, Do you want me to ask one difficult question or a hundred easy ones?
Since both Akbar and Birbal had had a tough day and were eager to leave, Birbal hastily told the intellectual to ask him a single difficult question.
Intellectual: OK. Tell me what came first into the world, the egg or the chicken?
Of course, the chicken, Birbal replied with a smile.
This time with a note of victory in his voice, the intellectual asked Birbal, How will you demonstrate that?
What did Birbal say?

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Can you decipher the following common phrase?

T M C
A U O
H S M
W T E

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How many minutes are there in Feb 2017?

Note: The shortest answer is the correct answer.

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If in a car race, the man who came two places in front of the last man finished one ahead of the man who came fifth, how many contestants were there?

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If,

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3 / 9 = 7
8 / 2 = 6

Then

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Joseph organises an exotic office New year party at the beach to his important fellow employees.

Following are the important people that will come to the party

1. Joseph

2. Joseph 2 girlfriends- Carol Vanstone and Tracey Hughes

3. The sales head Clay Vanstone.

4. Clay Vanstone 2 associates.

5. Mr. Jeremy and his Secret Tab.

They all need to cross a small river to reach the beach, however, Joseph has got just one boat.

There are few rules for crossing the river.

1. The capacity of the boat is limited to just two people.

2. Clay Vanstone associates will not stay with Joseph without Clay Vanstone.

3. Carol Vanstone and Tracey Hughes will not stay with the Clay Vanstone without Joseph.

4. Mr. Jeremy would never leave the Secret Tab alone.

5. Secret Tab counts as a person.

6. Only Joseph, Clay Vanstone or Mr. Jeremy can drive the boat.

7. The two girlfriends Carol Vanstone and Tracey Hughes will not stay with the Clay Vanstone without Joseph.

8. No Associates would stay with Joseph without their Clay Vanstone.

9. Mr.Jeremy will not leave the Secret Tab alone.

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I am eight letters long - "12345678"
My 1234 is an atmospheric condition.
My 34567 supports a plant.
My 4567 is too appropriate.
My 45 is a friendly thank-you.
My 678 is a man's name.

What word am I?

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That attorney is my brother, testified the accountant.

But the attorney testified he didn't have a brother.

Who is lying?

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The king of Octopuses has servants who have six, seven or eight legs. The distinguishing characteristics of the servants is that the one with seven legs always lie but the one with either six or eight legs speak the truth always.

One day, four servants meet and converse:

The black one says, 'We have 28 legs altogether.'

The green one says, 'We have 27 legs altogether.'

The yellow one says, 'We have 26 legs altogether.'

The red one says, 'We have 25 legs altogether.'


Can you identify the colour of the servant who is speaking the truth?

Servants with multiple legs

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Can you think of a smallest +ve number such that if we shuffle the digits of the number, the new number becomes double the original number?

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Crossword

The day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper,” the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring 7 other clues to have dual responses.