Lateral Thinking Riddles

Lateral thinking puzzles involve solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious, thinking out of the box and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.

3 Switches and 1 Light Bulb

You have a set of 3 light switches outside a closed door. One of them controls the incandescent light bulb inside the room. With the door closed from outside the room, you can turn the light switches on or off as many times as you would like.

You can go into the room – one time only – to see the light. You cannot see whether the light is on or off from outside the room, nor can you change the light switches while inside the room.

No one else is in the room to help you. The room has no windows.

Based on the information above, how would you determine which of the three light switches controls the light inside the room?

Riddle Answer

Coins in the Dark

There are twenty-six coins lying on a table in a totally dark room. Ten are heads and sixteen are tails. In the dark, you cannot feel or see if a coin is heads up or tails up.

Your task is to separate the coins into two groups so that each group has the same number of coins heads up as the other group. You may move or flip the coins. How can you accomplish this? No tricks are involved.

Riddle Answer

School Superintendent Inspection

One day, a class teacher was told that the school superintendent will be visiting her class on the next day.

The superintendent would be asking questions from her class and the teacher will have the liberty to choose any pupil to answer the question.

Now she is determined that the impression that is cast upon the superintendent after the inspection should be great.

To offer a perfect impression over him, the teacher explained certain instructions to the students to maximise the chances of getting correct answer every time. What did she say to the students?

Riddle Answer