Prisoners got freed

100 prisoners are stuck in the prison in solitary cells. The warden of the prison got bored one day and offered them a challenge. He will put one prisoner per day, selected at random (a prisoner can be selected more than once), into a special room with a light bulb and a switch which controls the bulb. No other prisoners can see or control the light bulb. The prisoner in the special room can either turn on the bulb, turn off the bulb or do nothing. On any day, the prisoners can stop this process and say "Every prisoner has been in the special room at least once". If that happens to be true, all the prisoners will be set free. If it is false, then all the prisoners will be executed. The prisoners are given some time to discuss and figure out a solution. How do they ensure they all go free?




Similar Riddles

A number with an interesting property:

When I divide it by 2, the remainder is 1.
When I divide it by 3, the remainder is 2.
When I divide it by 4, the remainder is 3.
When I divide it by 5, the remainder is 4.
When I divide it by 6, the remainder is 5.
When I divide it by 7, the remainder is 6.
When I divide it by 8, the remainder is 7.
When I divide it by 9, the remainder is 8.
When I divide it by 10, the remainder is 9.

It's not a small number, but it's not really big, either.
When I looked for a smaller number with this property I couldn't find one.

Can you find it?

Asked by Neha on 21 Nov 2024


One day, John and his friends were playing around. Jacob hit something with a Pin and it popped. John's dad came into the room that very moment, but he wasn't mad. In fact, he was smiling. What did Jacob hit?

Asked by Neha on 03 Jan 2025

You are given 16 witch hats. The hats are divided in four different colours – red, blue, green and yellow. Every colour has been assigned to four hats. Now each of the hat will be glued with a label of an arithmetic sign – ‘+’, ‘-‘, ‘x’ or ‘/’. But you can label one sign only once on one colour. In such an arrangement, the hats can be uniquely defined by its colour and symbol.

Can you arrange all the 16 hats in a 4x4 grid in a fashion that no two rows and columns have a repetition of colour or sign?
We have arranged four hats in the below picture to assist you.

Arrange Hats in Squares

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


If nine thousand, nine hundred nine dollars is written as $9,909,
how should twelve thousand, twelve hundred twelve dollars be written?

Asked by Neha on 24 Sep 2023

A man and his wife were doing missionary work near the city of Nairobi in the country of Kenya in eastern Africa. Their housing had not yet been completed, so the man, the woman, and their six year old daughter were spending a few nights in the jungle in three small pup tents. During their third night there, the woman was awakened by the call of a hyena passing by, so she got out of her tent to see if her young daughter had been frightened by the noise. As she peered into her daughter's tent she was surprised to see the dark figures of lion, a panther, and a cheetah which were curled up next to her daughter. Seeing her daughter was asleep and unharmed, the woman slowly and quietly withdrew from the tent, and simply returned to her own tent and went back to bed. How could this child's mother leave her daughter in such a dangerous situation, and simply ignore what she had just witnessed without intervening in some way? How can such emotional coldness ever be explained; or is there something here we are missing?

Asked by Neha on 04 Apr 2022

What has many teeth, but cannot bite?

Asked by Neha on 15 Jul 2025


A man was telling some of his war stories to his grandchildren.
"When the World War I was on the verge of end, I was awarded for my bravery for I had saved a group of my men." He coughed and then added, "When we were fighting in northern France, an enemy soldier threw a grenade at us. Before it could explode, I picked it up and threw it away. For my act of bravery, right before the war ended, A General gave me a sword engraved with the words "Awarded for Display of Bravery and Heroism in World War 1"."

Hearing this, one of the grandson spoke up. "Grandpa, this is not a true story. It can"t be true!"

The truth is that it was not. How did the grand children know it?

Asked by Neha on 22 Feb 2023

How can you make a TV, a bed, a dog, and a car liquid?

Asked by Neha on 27 Mar 2024

I get hot but I never sweat,
I cook food but I am not a chef,
I have a door but you can't enter me,
I have a light but I am not a lamp.
Who am I?

Asked by Neha on 15 Feb 2021


A father is locked up in jail. His wife has gone bankrupt. Their male child has to sell his hotel in order to gain some money. Yet their girl child does not care and is quite happy.

How can someone be so rude?

Asked by Neha on 30 Nov 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.