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

John drives to his office at 20km/hr. After reaching the office, he realizes that today is a holiday. He went back at an average speed of 30km/hr. Discounting the time spent in the stoppage what was the average speed of his journey?

Asked by Neha on 21 Apr 2025


It is an eleven letter word.
The first, second, third and fourth letters form a banquet's name.
The fifth, sixth and seventh letters form a car's name.
The eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh letters form a mode of transport.

Can you identify what word it is?

Asked by Neha on 25 Dec 2023

How many people must be gathered together in a room, before you can be certain that there is a greater than 50/50 chance that at least two of them have the same birthday?

Asked by Neha on 16 Dec 2023


If we tell you that there is a relation between the numbers and letters in the given figure, can you analyze it and find the missing letter in the last box?

Relationship in Numbers and Letters

Asked by Neha on 11 Jun 2023

What has a bottom at the top?

Asked by Neha on 20 Jul 2025

A woman shoots her husband.

Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes.

Finally, she hangs him.

But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together.

How can this be?

Shoot to Kill

Asked by Neha on 20 Mar 2021


Forwards I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 01 Aug 2025

The great emperor Akbar once ruled India. He was well known for his intelligence. But along with that, he was known for the Nine Gems in his court. One of the nine gems was Birbal, a quick witted and extremely intelligent man. The stories of his wit were widely popular.

Once a king ruling in a distant land heard of Birbal. To check his wit, he sent an invitation and called him to visit his land. Akbar allowed Birbal to go and he took off on the journey.

Upon reaching that kings kingdom, he was welcomed with flowers. He was then escorted to the palace of the king. Upon entering the palace, Birbal found that there were six people sitting in front of him adorning the same robe. They were also lookalike and it was hard to judge who the real king was.

After a couple of minutes, Birbal approached one of them and bowed in front of him greeting him.

That was the real king. How did Birbal know who was the real king ?

Asked by Neha on 10 May 2021

Given that

(78)^9 = 6
And (69)^4 = 11

Can you find out

(99)^2 =?

(Note: This is Logical, not Mathematical)

Asked by Neha on 19 Apr 2024


Begin with a word, five letters to my name,
Remove the first and last but I am the same
Take out my middle and still, I remain.
What word am I?

Asked by Neha on 25 Jan 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has crushed all human records in the puzzle game “2048,” achieving a high score of 839,732 and beating the game in only 973 moves without using any undo.