Traveling Colorful Balls

Kevin, Charles, Larry and Alex are in a room that’s about 110 feet long. In front of them are 5 balls which are exactly 100 ft from the exit. The balls are yellow, purple, green, red and blue, respectively. Each man must carry a ball to the exit. After traveling 20 ft a ball will change color twice. The sequence of color changes is always the same: yellow, purple, green, red, and blue.

At 80 ft Kevin’s ball is red.
At 40 ft Larry’s ball is purple.
At 60 ft Charles’ ball is blue
At 100 ft Alex’s ball is purple.

What color ball was left behind?

The remaining ball was blue. Here’s a table of each ball and the color it changes to at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 ft. Kevin’s started out yellow, Larry’s was green, Charles’ was red and Alex began with a purple ball, leaving blue as the one nobody picked.

 20 ft40 ft60 ft80 ft100 ft
YellowGreenBluePurpleRedYellow
PurpleRedYellowGreenBluePurple
GreenBluePurpleRedYellowGreen
RedYellowGreenBluePurpleRed
BluePurpleRedYellowGreenBlue
Posted in Brain Teasers

One Two Six Sequence

What is the next number in this series?

1, 2, 6, 42, 1806, ___

To get the next number, multiply the previous number in the series by itself plus one:

n × (n + 1).

For example, to get 6, multiply 2 × (2 + 1)
To get 42 multiply 6 × (6 + 1)

Thus, 1806 × 1807 = 3263442

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I Am Two-faced, But Bear One Head

I am two-faced, but bear one head.
Men spill their blood for me.
I have no legs but travel widely.
I make kings immortal.
I am potent when shared,
Yet lust for my power keeps me locked away.

What am I?

Money (coins specifically). Coins have two faces, heads and tails. People fight for money, and money travels far and wide. Kings live on when they’re depticted on a coin. Sharing money with others is a meaningful experience yet many people keep their money locked up.

Posted in Riddles

A Secret From Everyone

I am eight letters long and am kept a secret from everyone. Letters two through four spell an animal, letters four to the end make a weapon, letters one, two and eight make what you use in an exam and my third and fourth letters are the same.

What am I?

A password. You should keep your password a secret from everyone, letters two through four spell ass, an animal also known as a donkey. Letters four to the end spell sword, which is a deadly weapon and the letters one, two and eight make pad, which is used for writing during an exam. Lastly, the third and fourth letters are both ‘s’

Posted in Riddles

I Climb Higher When Hot

I climb higher when hot,
But beware my rage,
I’ll kill with a breath,
If I can escape my cage.

Mercury. It rises when encased in a thermometer when it’s hot and mercury poisoning results from inhaling mercury.

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A Bottle and a Cork

A bottle and cork cost $1.10. If the bottle costs a dollar more than the cork, how much does the cork cost?

Most people guess 10 cents, but $1 more than 10 cents is $1.10, which would mean the total cost would be $1.20, not $1.10.

The correct answer is 5 cents. If the cork costs 5 cents, then the bottle costs a dollar more, or $1.05, making the total cost $1.10.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Asks No Questions

What asks no questions but receives lots of answers?

A phone or doorbell.

Posted in Riddles

Bird Flying Over the Ocean

When a bird flies over the ocean a part of the body touches the water but doesn’t get wet. What part is it?

The shadow

Posted in Riddles

Blame the Couple

A married couple is traveling by bus on dangerous mountain roads. Midway through their journey the bus stops for snacks and a restroom break. The couple is enjoying the postcards in the store when the bus driver curtly tells them it’s past time to leave. Fifteen minutes after, the bus is hit by a mud slide and two people are killed. The couple blames themselves for the deaths. Why?

They blame themselves because they caused the bus to be late. If they had been on time, the bus would have already passed the location of the mud slide.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Keys to Unlock Your Soul

I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet they can unlock your soul. What am I?

A piano.

Posted in Riddles