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 does the rebus below mean?

TEN BADTION

Asked by Neha on 01 Jun 2026


They are three errirs in this question. Can you find them?

Asked by Neha on 13 May 2025

One evening there was a murder in the home of a married couple, their son and daughter. One of these four people murdered one of the others. One of the members of the family witnessed the crime.

The other one helped the murderer.

These are the things we know for sure:

1. The witness and the one who helped the murderer were not of the same sex.

2. The oldest person and the witness were not of the same sex.

3. The youngest person and the victim were not of the same sex.

4. The one who helped the murderer was older than the victim.

5. The father was the oldest member of the family.

6. The murderer was not the youngest member of the family.

Who was the murderer?

Asked by Neha on 20 Sep 2025


John Went to the nearby store in a Mall to buy something for her home. Below is the conversation between the two:

John: How much for the one?
Shopkeeper: It is $2
John: How much for the Eleven?
Shopkeeper: It is $4
John: How much for the Hundred?
Shopkeeper: It is $6.

What is John buying?

Asked by Neha on 01 Dec 2025

Which number comes next in the number series?

2, 9, 30, 93, ?

Asked by Neha on 01 May 2026

I taste better than I can smell. Who am I?

Asked by Neha on 30 Dec 2023


You are given with the following sum. Each of the letters can be decoded as a digit. If we tell you that D = 5, then can you solve it entirely?

DONALD
+GERALD
=ROBERT

Asked by Neha on 29 Jun 2021

Kohli and Dhoni decided to have a paintball match.
Kohli told Dhoni, "Sir it is not right as you got thrice the paintballs I have".

Dhoni instantly gives Kohli 10 hit paintballs.
Kohli replied, "Sir, I believe you still have twice the paintballs than I have".

Dhoni gives "?" more paintballs to Kohli.
Kohli replied, "Sir it is even now, Let us have a match".

What is "?".

Asked by Neha on 02 Mar 2026

In four steps you need to move the word 'cold' From 'warm' by replacing one alphabet at a time such that every word formed at each step is acceptable in English Dictionary.

Asked by Neha on 23 Aug 2024


What Time Should the last watch show in the below figure?

Time in the Clock

Asked by Neha on 21 Sep 2024

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Gamers

In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.