Train From Chicago to LA

An electric train is traveling on a 2000-mile journey from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA. It has 16 cars with a total of 320 passengers. The weather is cloudy and cool, with a warm front approaching from the south. Which direction will the steam blow?

There is no steam. It’s an electric train.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Made of Ten But Two We Make

Made of ten but two we make,
When assembled others quake,
Five apart and we are weak,
Five together havoc wreak.

What are we?

A fist.

Posted in Riddles

An Animal of Few Letters

I am an animal of few letters,
Remove the second and you can’t see,
Change it to “l” and I’m a punishment,
Yet backwards I’m a game.

What am I?

Frog. It only has four letters, removing the “r” leaves fog, which makes it hard to see. Changing the “r” to an “l” makes flog, a punishment I hope you’ve never experienced. Flog backwards is golf, a game some would call a punishment when you keep swinging away at the ball yet it remains perched on its little white tower of terror while the other golfers impatiently wait for you to tee off.

Posted in Riddles

Catches a Bullet With His Bare Hands

Alan fires a bullet from his hand gun and his friend Wade catches the bullet with his bare hands. The gun shoots actual, deadly bullets. The bullet does not touch anything but air after it leaves the gun and until it reaches Wade’s hand. Wade is uninjured. How does he do it?

Alan fires his bullet from a .25 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol), which will reach a maximum height of 2,287 feet. He shoots directly upward while standing at the base of Burj Khalifa, a 2,722 foot tall building.

Wade is a window cleaner at that building, waiting at 2,287 feet. When the bullet reaches that height and is about to go back down again, he reaches out with his bare hands and catches it.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Always Send You In The Right Direction

I always send you in the right direction,
I’m arrayed in black and white,
Ignore me and lose my protection,
No more than two words are in sight.

What am I?

one-way

A one way street sign. It tells you the correct way to go, is black and white (in the United States), going the wrong way can get you a citation and the sign only has two words on it.

Posted in Riddles

Two Tons

If you had a ton of feathers and a ton of stones which would be heavier?

Neither. A ton is a ton, no matter what it’s made up of, and they both weigh a ton.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Fill in the Blank and Discover the Event

Fill in the missing words to make a phrase with both the left and right hand sides. For instance, if you were given GRAPE __________ FLY, the missing word could be FRUIT, making GRAPEFRUIT and FRUIT FLY.

1. TOP __________ AGENT
2. PROXY __________ OF NO CONFIDENCE
3. SECOND-HAND __________ DETECTOR
4. THE SACK OF __________ APPLE
5. ST. LOUIS __________ SIN

Once you have the words, what event does it represent?

1. SECRET
2. VOTE
3. SMOKE
4. ROME
5. CARDINAL

The event is a Papal conclave, when a new Pope is chosen.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Same Three Digits with Sum of 800

When Florence and Willie finished playing darts, they proudly announced that their 3-digit scores added up to exactly 800 points. Furthermore, each of their scores shared the same 3 digits, without any repeating digits.

What were their two scores?

364 and 436.

You could figure this out mathematically, but instead, I plugged in digits that added up to 10 for the first column, 9 for the second column (since you carry the 1) and 7 for the third column (again, because you’re carrying the 1).

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Yolk of the Egg

Which is correct to say, “The yolk of the egg are white?” or “The yolk of the egg is white?”

Neither. Yolks are yellow.

Posted in Riddles

Secure Spy Transfer

You are a spy and need to send an item to a contact in another country without letting anyone else have access to it. All unlocked items will be opened in transit. How can you send this item securely?

Place a lock on the item and send it to your contact. They will place their own lock on the package and return it to you. You remove your lock and send it back. When they receive it, they can unlock the package and retrieve the item.

Posted in Brain Teasers