15 riddles that will definitely stir your brain

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

A selection of unusual and funny puzzles to test your logic and ingenuity.

Riddle 1

Why were such pieces of wood used in 16th century Germany? They were in use, in particular, in pubs. An important detail: this is not one stick from two angles, but two different ones.

This is a type of credit card. The notches about the borrowed goods were simultaneously made on both sticks. One was kept by the buyer, the other by the seller. This eliminated fraud. When the debt was paid off, the sticks were destroyed.

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Riddle 2

This task at one time revolutionized the theory of cryptography. You want to send your loved one a package with a diamond necklace. In this case, the only way is to use mail. You can hang any number of locks on the parcel. Let's say that no one can open the lock without a key, as well as open the parcel.

But you don't want to risk mailing keys under any circumstances. How can you be absolutely sure that your beloved will receive a gift and will be able to open the package?

Having received a parcel without a key, the girl will not be able to open it, but she will be able to close it with her lock and return it. Having received a parcel with two locks, the man removes his lock and returns it to the girl. As a result, the girl receives diamonds, and the keys are not sent anywhere.

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Riddle 3

You need to take two tablets every day - one from bottle A and one from bottle B. It is a matter of life and death. If you don't, you will die. And if you take two pills from one bottle, you will die too. Once, when you took one tablet from vial A, you shook vial B too hard, and two tablets fell into your palm.

So, you have three completely identical pills on your hand: one from bottle A and two from bottle B. Outwardly and in taste, they do not differ in any way. You cannot throw them away and take new ones - they are priceless. How can you take your medicine without risking anything?

Take another tablet from vial A. Break all four tablets in half (carefully lay the halves in different directions). Drink four half-tablets. Leave the rest until next time.

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Riddle 4

Continue the sequence.

Wonder of the world (first love, second wind …).

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Riddle 5

You are being invited to work as a financial analyst in a large company. They promise a starting salary of $ 100,000 per year and two options for raising it:

Your salary is increased by $ 15,000 once a year.

Every six months - $ 5,000.

You have ten seconds to make a decision. Which option seems more profitable to you?

With the first option, everything is simple:

1st year - $ 100,000

2nd year - $ 115,000

3rd year - $ 130,000

4th year - $ 145,000 …

The second option is more convenient to count on half-yearly basis. The first six months - $ 50,000, and then every six months, $ 5,000 will be added to this amount:

1st year - $ 50,000 + $ 55,000 = $ 105,000

2nd year - $ 60,000 + $ 65,000 = $ 125,000

3rd year - $ 70,000 + $ 75,000 = $ 145,000

4th year - $ 80,000 + $ 85,000 = $ 165,000 …

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Riddle 6

Every day at exactly 12 o'clock Moscow time, one train leaves from Moscow to Khabarovsk, and another from Khabarovsk to Moscow. Travel time is seven days. If you took one of these trains from Moscow, how many oncoming trains from Khabarovsk will you meet along the way?

13 trains (plus or minus two at both stations). Those who believe that there will be 7 trains forget about the trains that are already on the road at the time the train departs with an observer.

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Riddle 7

Imagine that your money is invested in stocks. Your stock price dropped 2% yesterday. Today it has risen by 2%. Has your capital changed, and if so, in which direction?

Your money is invested in another block of shares. Yesterday, their rate rose by 2%. Today it is down 2%. Has your capital changed, and if so, in which direction?

The rate fell by 2%: 100 × 0, 98 = 98. The rate went up by 2%: 98 × 1, 02 = 99, 96.

The rate rose by 2%: 100 × 1.02 = 102. The rate fell by 2%: 102 × 0.98 = 99.96.

Loss in both cases.

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Riddle 8

The management of a famous museum decided to find out which of its exhibits is the most popular. A lot of money was allocated for the research. The task is difficult - the museum is huge. But at the last moment, a simple free solution was found. How would you solve this problem? Without questionnaires, video cameras and other things.

You can simply ask the cleaning ladies - which exhibit has the strongest trample.

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Riddle 9

The blogger ends up in purgatory with his beloved laptop. The angel, deciding where to send him - to heaven or to hell, notices that the C key has been completely wiped off the keyboard from constant use (from the constant pressing of Ctrl + C). And he offers the blogger a deal: he prints on the computer in English all the numbers in order (letters) - one, two, three, four … and as soon as he clicks on any of the numbers, he immediately goes to heaven.

The blogger works very quickly - he fills any longest number in ten seconds. It can work indefinitely without interruption. After a little thought, the blogger agrees. How long will it take for him to go to heaven?

The first numeral in English in which the letter C is encountered is Octillion. Ten to the twenty-seventh degree.

The blogger will need 317 097 919 837 645 865 043 years. Easier - 317 billion billion years. For comparison, our universe appeared less than 14 billion years ago.

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Riddle 10

It is believed that a person first broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. This was done by American test pilot Chuck Yeager on a Bell X-1 aircraft. And what thing, done by a person a long time ago, broke the sound barrier first?

The whip click occurs when it breaks the sound barrier. Its tip reaches a speed of over 1100 km / h.

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Riddle 11

Once director A argued with director B that he would not be able to shoot a finished work, where there would be an opening, a climax, a denouement and a dramatic intrigue in the final 10 seconds at the same time. One plan and without a single editing gluing.

Director A lost the argument. What exactly did director B shoot?

It's about Tonino Guerra. The script was like this: “A woman is watching TV. There is a broadcast of the launch of the spacecraft. As the time before the start counts down: 10, 9, 8 … - the woman picks up the telephone receiver, turns the dial. At the very moment when the rocket launch is shown on the screen, she says into the receiver: "He left …""

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Riddle 12

From an old British Army commercial. Two privates, a white and a black, are driving in the mountains. Suddenly, the car runs into a mine. An explosion - and the car, tumbling, rolls along the slope. A rescuer descends to the conquered car on a rope. He sees that both soldiers are bloodied, but alive. The white man lies unconscious, and the black man groans and asks the rescuer to help him.

At a time, the rescuer can pull up with him only one person (then he will definitely go down for the second). Who will he pick first? And why?

Of course, skin color doesn't matter. All other things being equal, the first to save the one who is in a more serious condition - unconscious.

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Puzzle 13

During World War II, the Allies faced a serious problem. The soldiers wrote hundreds of thousands of letters home. These letters could contain classified information. It is very difficult to illustrate this amount of correspondence. It is impossible to leave soldiers without contact with the house. Find a simple solution.

It is enough just to let the letters "lie down" for a couple of weeks. During this time, any military information has time to become outdated.

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Puzzle 14

In the Middle Ages, animal trials were popular in Europe. With a subpoena and a lawyer.

The litigation between the Saint-Julien community and the beetles lasted 40 years. In the Autun ecclesiastical district, a high-profile trial took place against the rats that ate the harvest in most of Burgundy. The Stelvio community has filed a case against moles and field mice. In Dijon, a horse was tried for killing a man.

The Bern authorities were suing the pests known as inger (European mixina). The Swiss Hura started a trial against the Spanish flies. Residents of Vilnoz sued the caterpillars. An old rooster was tried in Basel for laying an egg. Brazilian Franciscans sued ants. In Savigny there was a trial against a pig that ate a man …

In what cases was the court hearing conducted by the church, and when the case was considered by a secular court?

In those cases when the sentence could be carried out - to chop off the head of a rooster, execute a horse or a pig - the case was dealt with by a secular court.

In all the rest, it is ecclesiastical. If convicted, he anathematized, for example, ants and rats.

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Puzzle 15

A long time ago, a marketer failed an ad campaign in the Middle East. Everything seemed to be done correctly, with clear pictures. The campaign failed. Why?

In the Middle East, read from right to left.

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Look for even more interesting puzzles from around the world in the book itself. There are as many as a hundred of them, as if it will be enough for a long time!