Ties One Another

What ties one to another and is closest to the heart?

A wedding ring.

I know, this is nearly a duplicate with What Holds Two People Together.

Posted in Riddles

Four Colored Balls in Gym Class

Four different-colored balls are being used in a gym class activity – blue, red, yellow and orange. Each student must hold two different-colored balls, but no two students can have the same two colors (for example, only one student can hold the blue and red ball).

How many students can play the game?

Six. If you prefer math, you can calculate it as 4 combination 2

4! / (2!)^2
24 / 4 = 6

Or you can work it out manually:

1. Blue Red
2. Blue Yellow
3. Blue Orange
4. Red Yellow
5. Red Orange
6. Yellow Orange

Posted in Brain Teasers

Head, Tail, Brown and No Legs

What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?

A penny.

Posted in Riddles

I Can Sound a Gong

I’m in bowling and baseball,
For better or for worse,
On a match (but not the sporting kind),
I can sound a gong,
And I’m gone.

What am I?

Strike.

A strike in bowling is good. In baseball it’s good for the pitcher but not for the batter. You can strike a match to light it. When the clock strikes one a gong sounds and when you strike a paragraph, it’s gone.

Posted in Riddles
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Fill With Empty Hands

What do you fill with empty hands?

Gloves.

Posted in Riddles

Garlic or Spice

Before any changes I’m a garlic or spice. My first is altered and I’m a hand-warming device. My second is changed and I’m trees in full bloom. The next letter change makes a deathly old tomb. Change the fourth to make a fruit of the vine. Change the last for a chart plotted with lines. What was I? What did I become? What did I turn out to be?

clove
glove
grove
grave
grape
graph

Posted in Riddles

No One Can Reach It

It’s red, blue, purple and green, no one can reach it, not even the queen. What is it?

A rainbow.

Posted in Riddles

How Old is Lilly?

Two days ago Lilly was 7 years old. Next year she will turn 10. How can this be?

Her birthday is December 31st. Today is January 1st so she was 7 two days ago, and turned 7 last year. Now she’s 8 and will turn 9 this year. And next year she’ll turn 10.

For example, if today is 01 Jan 2015:

30 Dec 2014 = age 7 (two days ago)
01 Jan 2015 = age 8 (today, she turned 8 on 31 Dec 2014, which was last year)
31 Dec 2015 = age 9 (her birthday this year)
31 Dec 2016 = age 10 (her birthday next year)

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Camel Race

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What did the wise man say?

The wise man said to switch camels.

Each son owns a camel, let’s call them Camel A and Camel B. If Camel A is slower, son A gets the fortune. If Camel B is slower, son B gets the fortune. Neither of the sons want to enter the city first because they won’t get the fortune.

When they switch camels, son A is now riding his brother’s camel (camel B) and son B is riding his brother’s camel (camel A). Now, they each want the camel they’re riding to get to the city first. If son A wins the race on camel B, that means his camel, camel A, was slower and he wins the fortune. The same is true for the other way around if the second son wins the race on camel A.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Living to Six

How can you cross out four letters from the word LIVING to leave six remaining?

Cross out LING, leaving you with VI, or 6 in Roman numerals.

Posted in Brain Teasers