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

If you had a pizza with crust thickness 'a' and radius 'z', what's the volume of the pizza?

Asked by Neha on 30 May 2024


What famous saying does this rebus mean?

COME SERVED <---
COME SERVED
COME SERVED
COME SERVED
COME SERVED

Asked by Neha on 09 Sep 2023

John was running from 40 thieves. John has got 3 gold boxes which weigh as 4kg, 2kg, and 1kg respectively. A witty man asked John to stay with him for seven days in exchange for 1kg gold per day. John needs to stay there for seven days and also do not want to give the witty man any advance. How can John pay for his seven days stay?

Asked by Neha on 14 Jul 2023


There was a man he lives in a hotel each morning he presses the first floor button each evening if there is a person in the elevator he asks him to press the 10 floor button if there is no one in the elevator he takes the stairs why.

Asked by Neha on 17 Mar 2022

There is a box. The area of its top is 240 square units, the area of the front is 300 square units and the area of the end is 180 square units.

Can you calculate the dimensions of this box with the given data?

Asked by Neha on 19 Apr 2025

I am the largest in my family of fifty.
The youngest of our family lives separately from the rest of the family and so do I.
I am regarded as harsh and tough.
I am so large, you cut me in two equal halves,
each half would still be larger than the second largest member of the family.
Who am I?

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021


Three playing cards in a row. Can you name them with these clues? There is a two to the right of a king. A diamond will be found to the left of a spade. An ace is to the left of a heart. A heart is to the left of a spade. Now, identify all three cards.

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

John and Jenni are a married couple. They have two kids, one of them is a girl. Assume safely that the probability of each gender is 1/2.
What is the probability that the other kid is also a girl?

Hint: It is not 1/2 as you would first think.

Asked by Neha on 14 Jun 2024

A rain drop fell from one leaf to another leaf and lost 1/4th of its volume. It then fell to another leaf and lost 1/5th of the volume. It again fell on another leaf and lost 1/5th of the volume.



This process kept repeating till it fell on the last leaf losing 1/75th of its volume.



Can you calculate the total percentage of loss from the initial volume when the drop has fallen to the last leaf accurate up to two decimal places?

Asked by Neha on 16 Feb 2021


Name the three-letter word that can complete the below words?

A) L O _ _ _ E
B) E D U _ _ _ E
C) _ _ _ E R
D) _ _ _ T L E

Asked by Neha on 07 Oct 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

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.