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 we tie a Sheep to one peg, a circled grass is been eaten by the Sheep. If we tie the Sheep to two pegs with a circle on its neck, then an eclipse is eaten out of the grass by the Sheep. If we want an eclipse then we put two pegs and then put a rope in between them and the other end of the rope is tied up on the Sheep's neck.

How should we tie the peg and the Sheep so that a square is eaten out from the garden grass? We only have one Sheep rope and the peg and the rings.

Asked by Neha on 18 Oct 2025


In a contest, four fruits (an apple, a banana, an orange, and a pear) have been placed in four closed boxes (one fruit per box). People may guess which fruit is in which box. 123 people participate in the contest. When the boxes are opened, it turns out that 43 people have guessed none of the fruits correctly, 39 people have guessed one fruit correctly, and 31 people have guessed two fruits correctly.
How many people have guessed three fruits correctly, and how many people have guessed four fruits correctly

Asked by Neha on 17 Aug 2023

While handling a project, the landscaper is asked by the owner of the mansion that he wants four trees in front of his mansion that are exactly equidistant from each other.

How will he do it?

Asked by Neha on 20 Nov 2023


In order to complete the racing competition, the Mexico racetrack has to submit its top and the most famous three horses to win the competition. Due to an electrical storm, all the records are cleared and no one knows which horse holds the record. They all look identical and it becomes even more difficult to differentiate the horses. There are 25 horses in the Mexico racetrack. But there can be only five horses at a time on the track. What will the least number of races that can be conducted to find out the three fastest horses?

Horse Race in Mexico

Asked by Neha on 24 Mar 2021

John asked Jack, "The time right now is 7 pm. Can you tell me what will be the time 23, 999, 995 hours later ?"

While Bella does not know the answer, do you ?

Asked by Neha on 22 Jun 2021

I am the first thing you need while camping.
I am always with the person named Marcos Valencia and Carrick.
But Pogba Zlatan and Rooney think I am wasteful and do not need me.
I am the second to the last thing to add when you are making a patch.

What am I?

Asked by Neha on 16 Dec 2024


There's one "sport" in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

What is it?

Asked by Neha on 10 Apr 2022

There is something which you can be arrested for attempting but not for successfully completing.

Asked by Neha on 30 Apr 2024

Luis Garavito killed Density x Volume.

Who is Luis Garavito ?


Luis Garavito Rebus

Asked by Neha on 11 May 2021


Which five letter word can be added at the end of below word to form a
valid word?

> Pin
> Check
> Boiling
> View

Asked by Neha on 13 Aug 2021

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.