What does the below rebus riddle means?

John gave half of the apples he had plus one more to Jacob. He gave half of the remaining ones plus one more to James. Now, John was left with just one apple.

Can you find out how many did he have in the beginning?

Find the value of "?" in the ball picture Riddle below:

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles, and 2 empty bowls. He then says, 'Divide these 100 marbles into these 2 bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You then can choose one bowl and remove ONE marble. If the marble is WHITE you will live, but if the marble is BLACK... you will die.'

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a WHITE marble?

These types of puzzles are known as charades. What you have to do is find two words that are referred to in the first stanza and the second stanza and put them together to form the third word in the third stanza.

Just for example, if my first refers to 'off' and my second refers to 'ice', then my whole will be office.

My first is present - future's past -
A time in which your lot is cast.

My second is my first of space
Defining people's present place.

My whole describes a lack of site -
A place without length, breadth, or height.

Where do fish keep their money?

We have arranged an array of numbers below. What you have to do is use any kind of mathematical symbol you know excluding any symbol that contains a number like cube root. You can use any amount of symbols but you have to come up with a valid equation for all of them.

0 0 0 = 6
1 1 1 = 6
2 + 2 + 2 = 6
3 3 3 = 6
4 4 4 = 6
5 5 5 = 6
6 6 6 = 6
7 7 7 = 6
8 8 8 = 6
9 9 9 = 6

Can you identify the hidden rebus in the image below?

Can you count the number of matches in the picture below ?

Dr Doom invited a group of puzzle fanatics to a party which was oriented toward having puzzle-oriented games. At night, he introduced the guests to a 'unique riddle'. A prize was offered to the one who solved it first.

The guests included six people named Tom Paul, Fox Obama, Jeremy Reener, Alex Murphy, Prim Pastor, and Ellen Page. The winner of the 'unique riddle' contest was to be announced after the dinner. So Dr. Doom stood up and started the announcement:

'Okay now everybody!'
'The winner of�'
'The Hardest Riddle Ever Event'

But before he could complete it, the light went out and his voice was not heard without the mic by anyone. But they already knew who the winner was. Can you deduce the name of the winner?