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

Find the mistake in the below maths equations

A = 2
A(A-1) = 2(A-1)
A2-A = 2A-2
A2-2A = A-2
A(A-2) = A-2
A = 1

Asked by Neha on 15 Oct 2024


What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?

Asked by Neha on 13 Jul 2025

A Japanese ship is sailing in the Indian Ocean. The captain of the ship feels tired and decides to take shower to be rejuvenated. He goes to take the shower after keeping his diamond-studded Rolex watch and gold chain on the table.
When he comes back after 15 minutes, he finds them missing. There are 4 crew members on the ship and he calls them one by one to ask them what they were doing in that duration.

Following are the answers:
1. Crew 'A' who is the cook replies that he was cooking mutton for the crew members.
2. Crew 'B' who is a housekeeper tells that he was sleeping in his room.
3. Crew 'C' who is the engineer says that he was checking on the generator.
4. Crew 'D' who is another housekeeper says that he was correcting the hoisted flag that was put upside down.

It took only a couple of seconds for the captain to find the thief. Can you find the thief too?

Asked by Neha on 03 Jan 2024


Things are just as they seem, right? Well, check again.
Can you count the number of tigers in this picture ?

Count The Tigers

Asked by Neha on 21 May 2021

I am a seven-letter word but if you remove four of my letters I will have one left. What word am I?

Asked by Neha on 02 Jun 2024

There is a square of a particular number which when doubled, becomes 7 more than its quarter.

Can you find the number?

Asked by Neha on 17 Jul 2023


In The 1st month of this year(the year 2013), I noticed that the date 13-1-13 (13 January 2013) is special.

This date is special as:

Date * Month = Year.

Can you figure out which year of this century has a maximum number of such dates?

Asked by Neha on 14 Aug 2024

What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?

Asked by Neha on 25 Dec 2024

A man walked into a pub and went straight towards the Barman. He asked for a dirty martini from the Barman. The Barman thought something and then pulled out a pistol from his drawer and aimed it directly at the man. Why did he do that?

Asked by Neha on 09 Nov 2023


What does this below rebus puzzle mean?

Personality Rebus Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 12 Aug 2024

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Gambling

In Canada, a mathematical puzzle must be solved in order to win the lottery to classify it as a “game of skill” not gambling.