Top 10 Brain Teasers
- Published September 21, 2007 - 164 Comments
Brain teasers are a good way to improve your mind and have some fun at the same time. They usually require lateral thinking and patience. This is a list of my favorite 10 brain teasers. Remember, don’t cheat! Take your time and when you think you know the solution, click the “view solution” link. In no particular order:
1. The Firing Squad
Pirate Pete had been captured by a Spanish general and sentenced to death by his 50-man firing squad.
Pete cringed, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the Spanish military. They were such bad shots that they would often all miss their targets and simply maim their victims, leaving them to bleed to death, as the general’s tradition was to only allow one shot per man to save on ammunition. The thought of a slow painful death made Pete beg for mercy.
“Very well, I have some compassion. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 50 extra men to the squad to ensure someone will at least hit you. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker, if you’re lucky,” snickered the general. “Oh, and just so you don’t get any funny ideas, they can’t stand more than 20 ft away, they must be facing you, and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard. And to show I’m not totally heartless, if you aren’t dead by sundown I’ll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 100 men, I doubt there will be much left of you to bury.”
After giving his instructions the general left. Upon his return the next day, he found that Pete had been set free alive and well. “How could this be?” demanded the general. “It was where Pete had us stand,” explained the captain of the squad.
Where did Pete tell them to stand?
2. The Servant’s Wish
Once upon a time, in the West Lake village, a servant lived with his master. After service of 30 years, his master became ill and was going to die. One day, the master called his servant and offered him for a wish. It could be any wish but just one. The master gave him one day to think about it. The servant became very happy and went to his mother to discuss the wish. His mother was blind and she asked her son to wish for her eye-sight to come back. Next, the servant went to his wife. She became very excited and asked for a son as they were childless for many years. After that, the servant went to his father who wanted to be rich and so he asked his son to wish for a lot of money. The next day he went to his master and made one wish through which all the three (mother, father, wife) got what they wanted. What was his wish?
3. The Wisest Son
One day, a father went to his three sons and told them that he would die soon and he needed to decide which one of them to give his property to. He decided to give them all a test. He said, “Go to the market my sons, and purchase something that is large enough to fill my bedroom, but small enough to fit in your pocket. From this I will decide which of you is the wisest and worthy enough to inherit my land.” So they all went to the market and bought something that they thought would fill the room, yet was still small enough that they could fit into their pockets. Each son came back with a different item. The father told his sons to come into his bedroom one at a time and try to fill up his bedroom with whatever they had purchased. The first son came in and put some pieces of cloth that he had bought and laid them end to end across the room, but it barely covered any of the floor. Then the second son came in and laid some hay, that he had purchased, on the floor but there was only enough to cover half of the floor. The third son came in and showed his father what he had purchased and how it could fill the entire room yet still fit into his pocket. The father replied, “You are truly the wisest of all and you shall receive my property.” What was it that the son had showed to his father?
4. Sherlock holmes and the Broken Window
One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through his window, breaking it. Holmes got up and looked out the window just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around a corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson and Paul Crimson. The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read “? Crimson. He broke your window.” Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?
5. What is it?
The Pope has it but he does not use it.
Your father has it but your mother uses it.
Nuns do not need it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big one,
Michael J. Fox’s is quite small.
What is it?
6. Wheelbarrow Battle
Two men working at a construction site were up for a challenge, and they were pretty mad at each other. Finally, at lunch break, they confronted one another. One man, obviously stronger, said “See that wheelbarrow? I’m willin’ to bet $100 (that’s all I have in my wallet here) that anything you can wheel to that cone and back, I can wheel twice as far. Do we have a bet?”
The other man, too dignified to decline, shook his hand, but he had a plan formulating. He looked at the objects lying around: a pile of 400 bricks, a steel beam, the 10 men that had gathered around to watch, and a stack of ten bags of concrete mix; he thought for a while, and then finalized his plan.
“All right,” he said, and revealed his object.
That night, the strong man went home thoroughly teased and $100 poorer. What was the weaker man’s object?
7. The Last Stand
General Custer is surrounded by Indians and he’s the only cowboy left.
He finds an old lamp in front of him and rubs it. Out pops a genie. The genie grants Custer one wish, with a catch. He says, “Whatever you wish for, each Indian will get two of the same thing.”
Custer ponders a while and thinks:”If I get a bow and arrow they get two. If I get a rifle they get two!” He then rubs the bottle again and out pops the genie. “Well,” the genie asks “have you made up your mind?”
What did Custer ask for to help him get away?
8. Blind Men
There was a man who went to the mall where he bought 3 pairs of red socks and 3 pairs of white socks. Another man who had already bought 3 pairs of red socks and 3 pairs of white socks came back to return his 6 pairs. They were both blind. As they were walking, they bumped into each other. All the socks scattered around the floor, but each pair remained held together by a rubber band. Nobody helped them pick the socks up, but in 3 minutes they both had 3 pairs of red, and 3 pairs of white. How is that possible if they are blind?
9. A man walks in to a bar…
A man walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a glass of water. The bartender reaches under the bar and brings out a gun and aims it at the man. The man says thank you and leaves. What happened?
10. The Last Sunrise
A man walks into his back yard in the middle of the night and fires a gun. Due to his strange behaviour he never sees another sunrise. (No, he didn’t kill himself.) Can you explain this odd occurrence?
Technorati Tags: brain teasers, riddles

















September 21st, 2007 at 12:21 am
Sorry about the scrolling when you click an answer – I am just working on a solution
UPDATE: all fixed!
September 21st, 2007 at 1:05 am
5th one! naughty!
September 21st, 2007 at 1:06 am
noel: hehe I wondered if people might think that
September 21st, 2007 at 1:12 am
oh by the way, the answer links don’t work for the firefox browser
September 21st, 2007 at 1:44 am
noel: try now
September 21st, 2007 at 2:27 am
it’s working fine now
September 21st, 2007 at 5:24 am
these are awesome. thanks!
September 21st, 2007 at 5:32 am
dalandzadgad: welcome
September 21st, 2007 at 7:53 am
Wow my mind was totally in the gutter for number 5. I liked number 4 and number 9.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:22 am
Jackie: mine too – but when I saw the punch line I knew it was safe to add
September 21st, 2007 at 8:29 am
“I’m willin’ to bet $100 (that’s all I have in my wallet here) that you anything you can wheel to that cone and back, I can wheel twice as far.”
Is there something missing from this sentence? Because if you take out the statement in the parentheses it says, “I’m willin’ to bet $100 that you anything you can wheel to that cone and back, I can wheel twice as far.” Just not making any sense.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:09 am
Early one morning late one night two dead boys came out to fight. Back to back they faced each other they turned around and shot each other. A dead police man heard the noise he came and shot the two dead boys. If you don’t believe this story is true ask the blind man, he saw it too.
…………………Just think about that one!
September 21st, 2007 at 9:36 am
anesb: yes – I made a typo
Thanks for pointing it out.
kristin: give me some time
September 21st, 2007 at 10:13 am
I don’t think the show me the answer command is compatible with Mozilla Firefox or Opera Browser.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:14 am
when i click ’show me the answer’, nothing happens…
September 21st, 2007 at 10:15 am
I can’t get any of the answer links to work
September 21st, 2007 at 10:23 am
Still not fixed. Won’t work in either IE, Firefox or Safari.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:23 am
None of the answers work…
I’m using IE BTW
September 21st, 2007 at 10:25 am
what version of IE? I tested in IE7, Safari 2 + 3, Firefox
September 21st, 2007 at 10:29 am
Neither IE, Firefox nor Safari 3.0.3 work. Any solution? Very frustrating.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:33 am
Tested using Mac’s Safari AND Firefox, no bleeping answers, cmon, get your shite together.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:46 am
Fixed. Sorry – the problem was editing the article in two places. It is all synched up now and should work fine.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:48 am
I’m using Explorer and Firefox and no answers work
September 21st, 2007 at 10:51 am
erin: does it work if you do a shift-refresh?
September 21st, 2007 at 11:06 am
Strange – using FF 2, disabled AdBlock and NoScript, still doesn’t work.
Works in IE though.
Never realised you had all those ads, hah.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:23 am
Great, works now, thanks Jamie.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:29 am
che – haha – It is costing me $180 dollars a month to run this site – not including the time it takes me to write the lists (and believe me – it takes a LONG time to write them – up to 3 hours a list, so when you get 4 in a day I am probably officially a workaholic!) – I have to pay the bills somehow.
Oh – and I have at least a couple of hours a day of administration – ie, spam, trying to improve rankings, and trying to improve your experience of the site. I am also negotiating with a company to do a complete redesign for me and that is not going to be cheap!
September 21st, 2007 at 11:49 am
Heh, i know Jamie, and I understand.
Indeed i’ll whitelist you from now on, because i love your site. I can take a couple of GoogleAds now and then. I’ll even click-through if it can help.
Unfortunately, where I am, I have a bandwidth quota. Meaning I pay to download stupid Flash ads – this is why i need FF extensions. Paying for adverts sounds a bit out of order. GoogleAds are fine.
Thanks for the List, by the way, it’s much appreciated. One of the few sites I check everyday.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:58 am
Ok, works in IE now – thanks
September 21st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Che: you know what – I hate the flash ads too – I just managed to get the advertising company to stop giving me porn ads! Maybe flash can be next.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Hmm, well it worked with the Mac version of IE
September 21st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Erin: mac version of ie? Don’t you have Safari? It is the best browser in the world – as a mac user you should be using it anyway! Remember – IE for mac was version 4 – this code probably only works for version 6 up.
September 21st, 2007 at 2:29 pm
On #7 if Custer asked him to beat him half to death. Wouldn’t that work too?
September 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
jfrater: I was at work when I was on the site and they only use silly Macs with the IE 6 version. Oh the humanity!
September 21st, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Matt: Better than the original! Well done!
Erin: this site is getting to me – your comment just made me see the Hindenburgh (from top 10 historic radio broadcasts).
September 21st, 2007 at 4:27 pm
#8 didn’t make sense to me, even with the solution
September 21st, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I’m not crazy about 3 and 10 since they could have multiple answers. I got a couple of them, though – 5, in particular is easy.
Keep up the good work.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:18 pm
there a joke/riddle that ive heard which #7 might have come from, its something like this : there was a man who found a magic lamp with a genie. The genie told him he could have three wishes, but whatever he wished for his wife got double. So his first wish is a million dollars, so his wife gets 2 million. his second wish is a ferrari car, so his wife gets 2 ferraris. his last wish was to get beaten half to death.
i think you can guess what the wife gets.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:48 am
Deus: the need to have 3 pairs of each color – imagine the worst case scenario: one man picks up all the white, the other pics up all the red. By breaking the pairs up and giving half a pair to the other, the man with all the white is giving one white sock to the other man, and keeping one for himself. When the man with the red socks does the same – they both have their full pairs.
rp: Next time I will make them harder
Molly: that sounds exactly like the same source as the riddle!
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:20 am
I really like these, but some of them could have multiple answers. In number eight, I just figured that the blind men had different sock sizes, since it doesn’t say otherwise. If that was the case, they could have just sorted them back by touch; the colors being irrelevant.
In number one, I had the firing squad directly lined up on either side of him. That way only the first two would be able to even have a shot; the others would all be aiming directly towards their fellow soldiers’ backs.
In number two, apparently the servant has never read The Monkey’s Paw. He’s gonna be sorrrrrrry…..
October 7th, 2007 at 3:45 am
this is very nice
excellent
answers given are acceptable
November 14th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Dude, you got all of these wrong. Here are the correct answers.
1) He had them stand on the other side of a wall.
2) The servant asked to be freed. Once free, a genie can do anything he wants.
3) A tape recorder that was playing. You can’t put a burning match in your pocket, can you?
4) Thomas, because he’s the only one who wore a yellow hat. If you want clues in your mysteries, read Agatha Christie instead.
5) An ego.
6) His pet snake.
7) A brother-in-law, because nothing is more useless than two of them.
8 ) Blind people organize their stuff as soon as they get it. In this case, by using rubber bands of different sizes.
9) It was a squirt gun.
10) He was blind.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:16 am
I guessed the answer to #7 was a broken leg.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Everything works fine in FF3.
I hate these kinds of riddles. They make you feel like a fool. Also, the question is sometimes worded in such a way that the riddle can’t be answered unless you already know the play on words, in which case it’s no longer a riddle but a trick question. The idea of a riddle is that you should be able to figure it out with the information provided.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
maybe I’m ridiculously intelligent (unlikely), but a lot of these seemed really dumb and easy to guess. Some of them don’t make any sense, or include random facts in the “answer” that were not even alluded to in the initial statement. I was hoping for some REAL brain teasers….
Not to be mean or anything.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
ok I have one for everyone…here it goes.
Three friends (say – andy, andrew, and paul) decide to go out on a road trip. They stop on their way to a motel. The Three friends ask the guy behind the counter (say – devin), for the rate for one room. Devin, confused about the regular rate policy, asks them to give $10 each. Making the total = $30 and the regular price being $25 for three people for one room. The three friends accept the rate and proceed to their room. Few hours later, the owner of the returns and asks the newly hired Devin for the recent records. Devin tells his boss the truth about the three friends (how he took $30 instead of $25 from them). The boss scolds Devin and tells him to go return the $5 back to the three gentlemen. Devin, again, confused about the $5 split between three men, puts $2 in his pocket and returns $1 each to three men, apologizes and leaves. Now if you count these numbers, on would say each of the three friends paid $9 each with makes 3*9 = $27 and two dollars in Devin’s pocket, making the total = 29. Where did $1 go?
December 7th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
deep: okay – I need a good day to think that one over
preferably a day without a good shiraz
December 9th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
1. In a ring – but that’s no guarantee. Besides, wasn’t the actual shooting part of the deal ?
2. “It could be any wish”. Okay, I wish for an endless amount of wishes.
3. A small radio.
4. Didn’t even see the ?.
5. Last name, of course.
6. Get in, of course.
7. “I want a new squadron of American soldiers.”
8. I thought counting would be involved, so I skipped that one. Yep – I’m lazy.
9. Think I’ve heard that one, but couldn’t make an effort to remember. Rather clever, actually.
10. Something about the guy sleeping when the sun rose. See nr 8.
December 10th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Deep: Thats tough if you let yourself get confused…
In the end the hotel gets $25
In the end the men get $3
In the end Devin gets $2
Haha almost had me, but it all adds up.
Thanks that was a good one.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Number 1 is easy, Pirate Pete just said that the whole firing squad should be buried 20 feet under ground!
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
1) erm…they could all just aim at his feet and let him bleed out…
2) doesn’t ask for ownership of said gold swing (which would be too heavy to be of use anyway.)
Also could be ’seen’ in a DREAM his mother has.
3) one match cannot light an entire room. not even a pay toilet. for children. in Calcutta.
4) paul or john could’ve written it, framing their brother. because of the awful pun sherlock should question whichever of the two is known as the biggest smartarse.
7) The indians stare down at the pair of glass eyes which have materialised in their hands, then continue hacking Custer into fun size pieces.
10) right. because no-one owns alarm clocks anymore or would wake up earlier than they expected to
January 6th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Great List!
January 28th, 2008 at 1:43 am
This is one of my favourite lists so far.thanx J
January 31st, 2008 at 11:47 pm
For #2, He could have had a small music box, that would have filled the room with sound.
February 24th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Yay! I got some right.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Can you draw 10 trees in 5 rows of 4? That is a brain teaser, these are amusing, but not true brain teasers.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Awesome tohse were really fun.
P.S.
im new here can anyone give me advice?
April 30th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Those srry
May 1st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
#10 is absolutely impossible.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:34 am
“Early one morning late one night two dead boys came out to fight. Back to back they faced each other they turned around and shot each other. A dead police man heard the noise he came and shot the two dead boys. If you don’t believe this story is true ask the blind man, he saw it too.”
-that is not the correct version!! This is the original:
One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead men got up to fight, back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other, a paralysed donkey passing by,kicked a blind man in the eye, knocked him through a nine inch wall, into a dry ditch that drowned them all.
May 17th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
For 2, isn’t it possible that the man wished for his son to come up with a cure for blindness which in turn would make him rich?
May 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
alex: unless the son were greedy and screwed everyone in the family by moving to the big city, in order to expand his operation with no return.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
good point…maybe he should wish for a selfless son who will come up with the cure to blindness
May 25th, 2008 at 10:49 am
#5 is so awesome.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I like this a bit better than the surname one. It is similar to it though, and perhaps better known, but it is an old favorite.
What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, rich people need it, poor people have it, and if you eat it you will die.
When I first heard that when I was young, it was great. But the list above is good, I got a handful.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
OK, some good some lame.
1) Pretty easy one to figure out.
Sorry, I don’t get this one even after the explaination.
2) OK but kind of silly.
3) There are so many possible answers that this one isn’t much of a teaser. I guessed strong perfume.
4) Come on…….
5) Too easy,
6) Good one!
7) Same as 3, too many possible answers.
9) Clever.
10) With that answer its just too tough to guess. I guessed that he was arrested and put in prison.
June 7th, 2008 at 8:56 am
I’m a 43 year old engineer addicted to your site for the past two days since discovering it. Thank you. Regarding your Brain Teasers, #3: The Wisest Son, could not perfume or incense have qualified? Also, #8 Blind Men, a solution would meet the worded criteria if the two men shared the same sock drawer.
Here’s one you might enjoy, given in a real-life example. You will need 3 cups, 3 Post-It Notes (or any adhesive label) and several chess pieces (that’s how I did it anyway.) Here’s the trick…
There are 3 labels (Post-It Notes), one labeled “BLACK”, one labeled “WHITE” and one labeled “MIXED.” Instruct someone to put only black pieces into one cup, only white pieces into another cup and a mixture of black & white pieces into the third cup. Tell that person to affix labels onto each cup (the Post-It notes) such that each label is wrong.
Here’s the trick: Without seeing the contents of the cups, you are allowed to remove one chess piece, look at it, then put it back. You can do this as many times as you need to, but the labels must match the cups’ contents. There is no trick wording here and it’s a pure logic puzzle.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Oops, I forgot to mention the trick invololves you putting the labels on the right cups. Sorry.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:11 am
number three should be air!
June 21st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
wicked, dude! i got some half right and others i was like “clever!”
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:50 am
its owsome
great
excellent
thank you
August 16th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
i thought of a few clarifications for these to make more sense-
2. the son needs to be an only child, otherwise he might get a nephew instead of a son.
10. it should say he didn’t shoot himself instead of didn’t kill himself; i guessed he shot himself in the face and didn’t die but went blind.
still not foolproof, but much better
August 17th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
For #7 the answer should have been “I want you to beat me half to death”.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
I’ve heard most of these but for #7 I guess he should wish to be 1 mile away from the indians, they in turn would be 2 miles away.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Are you kidding me? I quit reading after #1. A circle? that’s brilliant. As a typical idiot American (I’m assuming such out of the sheer arrogant stupidity of your provided answer) “I’ll assume all 100 men have the same psychology and the same aim. Cause in church everyone in the world is an ignorant heathen” Yea, that’s way better than just having them all line up at a distance that is 1 inch less than the length of their rifles and fire away.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:55 am
#5 was the only good one. For the firing squad, just have the men so close the barrels go past his head. Most of these were quite stupid.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:24 am
these effing suck!!! top 10 my ASS
August 21st, 2008 at 9:03 am
#10, he kills someone and his put in jail?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am
# 10 is terrible… after reading it, do you really think someone is going to assume that he must have had a rooster? And that he recently retired? Too many of these had multiple answers. #4 and #5 were the only good ones
August 21st, 2008 at 10:36 am
@R.Gonarson: here’s how I learned it -
One bright morning in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
The deaf policeman heard the noice
And came and shot those two dead boys
If you don’t believe this lie is true
Ask the blind man, he saw it too!
August 21st, 2008 at 1:18 pm
5, 6, 7, 8 are not bad, but easy. 4 got me bc I didnt read carefully. the others suck.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:28 pm
horrible list for “top 10″
August 21st, 2008 at 2:20 pm
answer to #5: penis
August 21st, 2008 at 3:02 pm
1) With the Custer one, you can also have “Beat me half to death.”
2) The surname one was pretty good.
3) #10 was terrible. It had a solution where you came up with random facts. I can do that too. Let’s take the Custer example. Applying the logic from the 10th teaser, I could easily say that Custer wishes for 50 men who are loyal to only Custer. Then the Indians will get 100 men who are loyal to only Custer. Situation solved!
Or how about this? The man walks into his yard, fires a rifle. The bullet ricochets off the barn wall, and hits a lamp. The hot glass from the lamp then hits the cow, which panics and spooks the horse, which then kicks the farmer in the face. The injuries lead to the man being blinded. Taa-daa! Teaser solved!
August 21st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
“Pete told them to form a circle around him. All the squad was facing in at Pete, ready to shoot, when they realized that everyone who missed would likely end up shooting another squad member. So no one dared to fire, knowing the risk. Thus at sundown he was released.”
That’s not a brain teaser. One would not logically draw this conclusion because the setup implies that this conclusion is not within the realm of possibility.
It’s more like Batman & Robin’s silly riddles, like:
Q: What sits in a tree and is very dangerous?
A: A sparrow with a machine gun!
Nice try though.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 am
#3- incense?
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am
““Early one morning late one night two dead boys came out to fight. Back to back they faced each other they turned around and shot each other. A dead police man heard the noise he came and shot the two dead boys. If you don’t believe this story is true ask the blind man, he saw it too.”
-that is not the correct version!! This is the original:
One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead men got up to fight, back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other, a paralysed donkey passing by,kicked a blind man in the eye, knocked him through a nine inch wall, into a dry ditch that drowned them all.”
Christ all three of the examples of this I have seen here are wrong. Specially the latest one. The correct one is:
One bright morning in the middle of the night
two dead boys came out to fight
back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other
A deaf police man heard the noise and ran to kill those two dead boys. If you don’t believe this lie is true, ask the blind man,he saw it too!
Most of these were close, but that is the one that has the most DIRECT contradictions while still making these least sense. Now, about the brain teasers. These were all… pretty bad….
1.There are several solutions here. And the correct answer takes into account psychology that is not even alluded to. Verdict.
2. Say: “Grant my families wishes. That is my ONE wish.” He did say ANY after all. The answer is impossible to get without knowing it. Cmon….
3. Incense. A Cigar. Sarin. Dust. A smoke grenade. A small can of lighter fluid and a match… (fill the room with flame). A flare (A match would NOT do it). Music. A fistful of cockroaches ( they would fill the room, EVENTUALLY) You get it….
4. How about ALL of them? One is a vandal, two are accomplices. ALL are criminals
5.Its a good riddle. It is not a brain teaser.
6.I was thinking, lance the wheelbarrow tires after you are done? This one was the only decent one here.
7. I think a black eye or a missing eye works better here. The fun sized pieces analogy works well here. Or a half fatal case of small pox. Or half a brain aneurysm . Etc.
8.This one works, sorta. But no one could really guess it. So it is not a good brain teaser.
9. This one downright sucks, I am sorry. Looking down the barrel of a gun makes me feel a little queasy, but not outright scared.
10. The powder exploded in his face, blinding him? There are also a lot of solutions for this one too. Are you saying he wakes up after eight in the winter when the sun is not up? How did he find the rooster in the dark? How did we know he was retired or even had a rooster?
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:59 am
one fine day in the middle of the night 2dead men got up to fight back to back they faced each other drew their swords and shot each other meanwhile a fire broke out in the churchyard the blind man saw it the deaf man heard it and the man with no legs ran for the fire brigade the fire engine was drawn by ten dead horses and ran over a dead cat and half killed it
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 am
the elephant is a dainty bird it flits from bough to bough it builds its nest in a sycamore tree and whistles like a cow
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 am
these are shitty brain teasers. most of them have multiple possible answers. number 3 he could have gotten perfume instead of a match. it works just as well. or number se7en he could have asked to be missing one arm. or to be half dead. it just isn’t a good question when the answer is right but there are other possible answers. all the questions are easy even the ones that are strait forward.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:25 am
these suck
September 4th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
ANSWERS::::::::
1. Pete told them to form a circle around him. All the squad was facing in at Pete, ready to shoot, when they realized that everyone who missed would likely end up shooting another squad member. So no one dared to fire, knowing the risk. Thus at sundown he was released.
2. The servant said, “I wish for my mother to see her grandson swinging on a swing of gold.”
3. The son had showed his father a match. Whenever he lit the match, it filled the entire room with light, yet it was still small enough to fit into his pocket.
4. Mark Crimson: “?” = question MARK, so the note on the door reads “Question Mark Crimson. He broke your window.”
5. A surname.
6. He looked the strong man right in the eye and said, “get in.”
7.One glass eye.
8.Each man took half the socks and pulled them apart. They would then give the other man 1 sock. They kept doing this until they had all their socks.
9. The man had the hiccups and wanted a glass of water to help get rid of them. The bartender could hear the hiccups when the man spoke, so he brought the gun out to scare the hiccups away. It worked and the man thanked him and left, no longer needing the glass of water.
10. The man shot his rooster, which had awakened him with its crowing every morning for the past ten years. Since he had recently retired, there was no longer any reason to be wakened at such an early hour.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:53 am
One of my friends once told this riddle to our entire group of about 15 people and it took us over an hour to figure out:
A man is found dead next to a pile of wood chips. What happened?
Now since you can’t continue asking the questions necessary to get more of the pieces together, I’m going to tell you the pieces and see if you can figure it out.
The man was a blind dwarf who worked in the circus. Although he was suicidal, another dwarf who he worked with helped him to commit suicide and wanted him to die because the blind dwarf was funnier than him.
(questions like “was he a dwarf” and “was he blind” were actually asked as jokes when my friends and I were trying to figure it out!)
So what you have to figure out is, what did that pile of wood chips used to be? Then you will figure out why he wanted to kill himself and what the second dwarf had to do with it.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
GunsNRevolvers: I give up….what’s the answer??!!
September 6th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Ooh sorry I see now that I forgot to give the important detail that he loves being short!
The answer is that the wooden object was the blind dwarf’s walking stick/cane. The jealous dwarf drove him to commit suicide by whittling down the blind dwarf’s cane a little bit each day, making the blind dwarf think that he was getting taller because he had to reach down further to reach the ground. He didn’t want to live if he was a taller dwarf because he would be less funny, so the blind dwarf was tricked into committing suicide by the jealous dwarf who had whittled his wooden cane down.
Eh, it was a bit of a stretch and not the climactic ending my friends and I envisioned after almost two hours of guessing but I still love it
September 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Guns… That was sorta lame.
September 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Eh, I don’t really remember asking your opinion or telling you to read it but thanks
October 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
For #7 i thought “a woman” haha
October 14th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
100!!!
#9 I thought he peed in his pants
November 10th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I didn’t like #10 very much, great list though
November 20th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
The character (master),in the story (The servant wish)was not chosen properly.
As servant wishes for light of his mother eyes, son, and wealth in the single wish. But dieing master has no such power that can give all the three in a single wish. Character’s capability confuse the reader to think about the solution.
Only God can fulfill all the three requirement in single wish so u r suppose to take the character God instead of master.
Good luck.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:11 am
One evening a man took off running from home. After a short time he turned left. He ran the same distance and turned left again. After running the same distance he again made another left. He was now headed home, but as he approached he saw 2 masked men waiting for him. Who were they?
December 16th, 2008 at 5:16 am
The man was a baseball player and the 2 masked men at home were the catcher and the umpire.
December 25th, 2008 at 11:11 am
For #2 I was thinking, is it possible for him to wish for all three of his loved ones’ wishes to be granted?
December 30th, 2008 at 12:28 am
These are technically “red herrings”, not brain teasers. Brain teasers are very difficult questions that have one solution. Red herrings are misleading riddles that may have multiple solutions.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Number 2, I would have wished for a son who could cure any form of blindness instantly just by the laying on of hands. That would have cured the mother and raked in the dough just fine, without resorting to any of the “wishing for more wishes” cheating suggested by other comments (such as “Grant my family’s wishes” — cheap!). The given answer for number 2, wishing for the mother to see something, doesn’t necessarily result in either a cure for her blindness or in riches — blind people who were once sighted often have hallucinations, especially while dreaming.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:21 am
Number 7, I would have wished to have half the lethal amount of a deadly poison appear in my stomach or something like that. The “one glass eye” thing made me laugh, but a reluctant genie would have left him sighted and just handed a glass eye to him. Not very useful.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:43 am
ah, Hayzeus said it better than me …
February 5th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I’ve been waiting for ages for the answer to #9 – My family and I thought it was a water gun!!!
How annoyingly obvious is the answer!!!
Love #4
February 7th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I got one…
What gets wetter as it dries?
February 7th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
110 aj
A towl.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
The best practical solution to The 3# one is he had a bottle of Scent in his pocket.
He could spray out the scent, to fill the room completely.
February 21st, 2009 at 10:48 am
lol very cool list
March 1st, 2009 at 2:15 am
On #5 i was thinking to myself “Its not what i think it is, its not what i think it is, etc”
March 10th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Why dont Nuns need surnames?
March 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
because you dont refer to them as for exaqmple sister mary jones but as sister mary or even just as sister they dont NEED their surnames just a forename
March 25th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I loved these
And, despite what many others have written, these types of riddles are exactly what come to my mind when I think of brain teasers. So, while they might not technically be brain teasers, I was not disappointed. Great work!
April 20th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I find it annoying that I can’t find any good brain teasers anywhere on the internet. They are all far too easy. I did find one site that showed the famous one by Einstein but that is all. Very disappointing to say the least.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:19 am
These are definitely not brain teasers. Like others have already pointed out, apart from a couple of good amusing ones, the rest as just vague. They have multiple answers and in some cases, the one given here isn’t even close to the best.
“Top Ten”! Gah!
P.S. – I really like this site and a lot of the lists on it, but this is just rubbish. Sorry.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Lets create a world record for india. And now show the world how sharp we really are.just start solving blocks of the largest online puzzle ever created -100 blocks and 25000 pieces. But before you begin, do pour yourself a cup of Lipton Yellow Lable tea. The Natural Theanine in it will keep you sharp and ensure a good start go to stay-sharp.in
May 30th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
the answer button won’t work D:
June 5th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
the view solution links are not working in firefox or internet explorer
June 7th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
It doesn’t work in chrome either
June 7th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
For # 7, i would’ve ask for one of my hands to be tied my back (you know, restrained, not just tied)
June 10th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
1. He asked them to stand in a circle. The men knew if they fired then they might shoot one of their men in the squad.
2. an endless amount of wishes.idk
3. a candle and a match or box of matches, wutever
4. dont get it..
5. Dont think so naughty. its a Last name.
6. The other man i think.the strong guy.
7. “I want a new squadron of American soldiers.”
8. i hate math.
9. i dont get it…
10. dont get it.
June 14th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Lol, everyone think’s that #5 is naughty, but the answer is actually quite normal. I Googled it.
June 16th, 2009 at 4:47 am
One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys* got up to fight, [*or men]
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other,
One was blind and the other couldn’t, see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout “hooray!”
A paralyzed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came to arrest the two dead boys,
If you don’t believe this story’s true,
Ask the blind man he saw it too!
June 16th, 2009 at 4:48 am
That, at least, is the one I’ve known…which kinda adds it all up
*applause*
June 17th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
the answer links still dont work
June 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
oohh, please fix answer link! I’m dying to find out
June 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
NONE OF THE ANSWERS COME UP. Can someone comment the answers?
July 6th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Hey so i can’t view any of the answers so can you please send them to me on this address:
lucae002@medway.org.uk
thanks so much
i really want to know cos i spent all my Physics lesson trying to figure them out
July 12th, 2009 at 1:48 am
For #7,
A logical and very effective wish would be “i wish to donate a lung” haha, the the indians can’t breathe =)
July 15th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
none of the answers work….
July 26th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
link to answers not working
July 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
answers arent working and i’ really like to know the answers please
July 27th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
none of the answers work -.-
August 1st, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Yo it scrolls to the top of the page when I try to get the answer…
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Having the same problem as drummer777
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Here are my smartass answers.
1. If they stand in a line (so that each man has a gun pointed at the man in front of them, while also having one pointed at them) This means on the closest guys bullet would hit him (but he’s a bad shot) and only the farthest man would live, so the criminal would have to get away from/kill one man, but he is possibly injured. (this assumes that they fire their weapons because apparently mental stability was a problem with these men.)
2. Wish more a lot of money, give have to his father, pay for laser eye surgery for his mother, and adopt a child for his wife. (Since no reference to date is made, this is possible)
3. I was thinking of compressed air, either somehow coloured or with a distinct odour to show it fills the whole room. (too sciencey?)
4. I was prepared for some biblical reference in that mark and john are biblical names and paul is not (i’m not christian so I could easily be wrong with this, I just thought this was true) so of course the evil one would be the non-good/christian/biblical/just/true/noble name.
5. I’m afraid I was thinking of something phallic on this one.
6. Put some concrete mix on the wheels of the wheelbarrow, after the first guy goes (quickly), the wheels will be locked and unable to turn, and anything the first guy puts in the barrel to “wheel” will be a moot point.
7. Get a beating half to death (got this answer from a similiar riddle)
8. Is it possible that in the land where blind people go to malls that they have pairs of socks with one red and one white?!
9. He pissed his pants, urine is almost all water, so I suppose using underwear/pants a sponge would be able to hold the water until he gets it into a glass.
10. The powder could have exploded in his face, blinding him permanently.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 pm
ooh,I did not see the answers yet!!!!
August 4th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Answers.
1. The Firing Squad
Pete told them to form a circle around him. All the squad was facing in at Pete, ready to shoot, when they realized that everyone who missed would likely end up shooting another squad member. So no one dared to fire, knowing the risk. Thus at sundown he was released.
2. The Servant’s Wish
The servant said, “I wish for my mother to see her grandson swinging on a swing of gold.”
3. The Wisest Son
The son had showed his father a match. Whenever he lit the match, it filled the entire room with light, yet it was still small enough to fit into his pocket.
4. Sherlock holmes and the Broken Window
Mark Crimson: “?” = question MARK, so the note on the door reads “Question Mark Crimson. He broke your window.”
5. What is it?
A surname.
6. Wheelbarrow Battle
He looked the strong man right in the eye and said, “get in.”
7. The Last Stand
One glass eye.
8. Blind Men
Each man took half the socks and pulled them apart. They would then give the other man 1 sock. They kept doing this until they had all their socks.
9. A man walks in to a bar…
The man had the hiccups and wanted a glass of water to help get rid of them. The bartender could hear the hiccups when the man spoke, so he brought the gun out to scare the hiccups away. It worked and the man thanked him and left, no longer needing the glass of water.
10. The Last Sunrise
The man shot his rooster, which had awakened him with its crowing every morning for the past ten years. Since he had recently retired, there was no longer any reason to be wakened at such an early hour.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:03 am
I found this really “hard” brainteaser. It says “which of these statements is true?” and it’s 10 statements. the first one says “at least one of the statements is false”. It repeats like that, 2 is two are false, 3 is 3 are false, so forth. In truth, None of them can be true, and all of them can be true. 1 can’t be true because the false statement would logically have to be number 1. So forth, so if 10 is correct, it is wrong, which makes it correct, which makes it an ongoing paradox. None of them are true and all of them are true. It’s no brain teaser.
August 16th, 2009 at 5:41 am
There are 4 islands lined up in a row. Island 1,2,3 and 4.
The first island has an apple tree and the rest have nothing. You start at island 1, you have to a certain pick a certain amount of apples and drop the same amount of apples on islands 2,3 and 4.By the time you drop the last load of apples on the last island you should have nothing left in your hands, but every time you jump into the water the amount of apples you have with you doubles.
How many apples should you pick from island 1?
How many apples do you drop off on each island to end up with none at the end?
August 25th, 2009 at 11:02 am
i cant get the answers!!!!!!!! it just scrolls up! whats the problem?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:41 am
the links don’t appear to work anymore.
for the answers go to:
mindpowernews dot com slash BrainTeaserAnswers dot htm
August 31st, 2009 at 12:11 am
Not fixed
August 31st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
the links aren’t working for me on firefox
August 31st, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Darn it the answers do not work in Firefox 3 or Opera on Ubuntu Linux (9.04).
Please post a link to the .js javascript file so I can at least look at them manually!
August 31st, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Rather than fart about with simple riddles, why don’t you tackle the rather more serious problem of your frustrating and dysfunctional web coding?
FAIL.
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:51 am
read post 146, that website basically copied off of listverse (they gave credit though) you can go there and they have the answers.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:58 am
How come I wasn’t able to see the answer even though i clicked on the link? I’m itching to find out the answer. Good list.
September 5th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
This list is F A I L. Click link with newest version of firefox and FAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
September 11th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
None of the of the bloody links would work.
Very angry. GRRRRRRRR
September 12th, 2009 at 5:07 am
The answers are still not working?
September 16th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Wow a broken and a very poor maintained list. The links doesn’t even WORK. For a praised site, this is quite a damn shocking and frustrating error.
September 19th, 2009 at 7:15 am
the links for the answers just aren’t working. damned annoying. great list though!
October 11th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
lol.. i think i know #9 the man had hiccups..lol..this is the onlyone i could guessss…. shame shame
October 28th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
what are the answers because my computer isnt lettin me see it.ive tried internet explorer,mozilla, and safari and the dont show.i just want to know the answers
October 29th, 2009 at 10:17 am
It doesnt work for Safari(the mac browser)
October 31st, 2009 at 9:08 pm
1)Stand Down
2)More Wishes
3)A candle
4)I’m stumped
5)A penis?
6)Don’t know
7)Don’t know
8)He hadn’t returned them yet
9)The man had hiccups
10)The flash blinded him
November 9th, 2009 at 5:50 am
you have most of the riddle wrong, i’m sorry to say
November 9th, 2009 at 5:56 am
here are the actual answers in order, 1: the soldiers stand behind one another in a long line (the one at the front of the line woulg miss and the others would just shoot the person in front of them, 2:he wishes for the master to live (the mater would be so happy that he would grant all the wishes, 3: perfume (not a candle, the room is already lit up), 4: Mark (remember the hint”?” rembember the “question mark” as in you should question mark), I’ll give the rest later cause I need to get to school