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

I am lying and I always lie. Tell me whether I am lying or telling the truth.

Asked by Neha on 31 Dec 2024


A farmer went to a market and bought a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. On his way home, the farmer came to the bank of a river and rented a boat. But crossing the river by boat, the farmer could carry only himself and a single one of his purchases: the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage. If left unattended together, the wolf would eat the goat, or the goat would eat the cabbage. The farmer’s challenge was to carry himself and his purchases to the far bank of the river, leaving each purchase intact. How did he do it?

Asked by Neha on 21 May 2025

Can you count the number of squares in the given picture?

How Many Squares you Find

Asked by Neha on 13 Feb 2024


A doctor and a boy were fishing. The boy was the doctor’s son, but the doctor was not the boy’s father. Who was the doctor?

Asked by Neha on 04 Mar 2022

A famous swimmer can swim downstream in a lake in exactly 40 minutes with the lake current.
He can swim upstream in that lake in exactly 60 minutes against the lake current.
The length of the lake is 2 km.

How long he can cover the distance of one side at a still lake with no current?

Asked by Neha on 27 Nov 2025

If you’ve got me, you want to share me; if you share me, you haven’t kept me. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 18 Feb 2022


What does this below rebus puzzle mean?

Personality Rebus Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 12 Aug 2024

Spelt forwards I’m what you do every day, spelled backwards I’m something you hate. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 26 Jul 2025

Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Asked by Neha on 04 Aug 2021


A woman is sitting in her hotel room and hears a knock at the door. She opens the door to see a man whom she’s never met before. He says, “I’m sorry, I have made a mistake, I thought this was my room.” He then goes down the corridor and into the elevator. The woman goes back into her room and calls security. What made the woman so suspicious of the man?

Asked by Neha on 22 May 2025

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.