Picking Red Balls

A bag contains 64 balls of eight different colors. There are eight of each color (including red).
What is the smallest number you would have to pick, without looking, to be sure of selecting 3 red balls?

59. The first 56 balls could all be non-red colors. If that happened, you’d have to choose from the 8 remaining balls, all of which would be red.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Next Month In the Sequence

What month comes next in this sequence?
July June March May ???

November, the next month in alphabetical order starting with July.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Alternating Empties

Six glasses are all in a row in front of you, the first three are full of grape juice and the last three are empty. Moving only one glass, how can you make all six alternate between full and empty?

Pour the contents of the second glass into the fifth glass.

Posted in Brain Teasers

More Than a Few

Nothing specific,
but more than a few.
This many clustered
together will do.

Bunch. It’s a vague term that means more than a few. And clustered items like bananas, grapes or celery come in bunches.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

Next in the Sequence

Here is a series of numbers. What is the next number in the sequence?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211

13112221

The next number in the series counts the previous numbers. Thus the first number is 1, which is one 1, or 11. To describe 11, you have two 1’s, or 21. Now you have one 2 and one 1, so the next number is 1211. The solution is to continue describing the previous number using only numbers.

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Counterfeit Accounting

Early one morning Hal, the owner of a hardware store, sells a mailbox for $25 to Courtney that cost him $20 wholesale. Courtney pays with a $100 bill and Hal discovers he doesn’t have enough change. He runs to the jewelry shop next door, where Jack, the owner, gives him change in exchange for the $100. Later that afternoon, Jack discovers the $100 bill is a counterfeit and Hal pays him $100 to make it right.

What was Hal’s total loss?

The total loss was $95.
-$20 = The wholesale cost of the mailbox
$100 = The money from Jack
-$75 = The change paid to Courtney
-$100 = To pay Jack back
-$20 + $100 – $75 – $100 = -$95

It’s easy to think Hal lost $195 but that fails to account for the $100 used to make the change, which came from Jack, not Hal. Jack paid $100 in exchange for a worthless piece of paper, so the $100 was initially Jack’s loss. Hal had made a $5 profit until Jack’s discovery. If you guessed $100, that’s arguably correct, but not making $5 in profit isn’t a loss in the strictest sense of the word.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Commonly Forgotten And Sometimes Rotten

I am always with you
But commonly forgotten.
You use me constantly,
And can sometimes be rotten.

What am I?

Air.

Posted in Riddles

Always Flying, Never Tired

Always flying,
never tired,
dreamed of, dreaded,
and admired.

Cloud.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

The Answer Isn’t 6

What goes in place of the question mark?

1 3 5
2 4 ?

(It’s not 6)

R. It’s a representation of a stick shift, where 1-5 are gears and R represents reverse.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Hide in Daylight But Prefer the Sun

I hide in the daylight but prefer the sun,
I have no fingers but can hold a gun,
I have three eyes but cannot see,
I live on land but in a tree,
I’m spotted in pink and cannot grow,
When you look away is when I show.

What am I?

Hint: There’s a different answer for each line

This riddle is a compilation of several riddles. The answers for each line are as follows:

1. Shadow
2. Holster
3. Traffic light
4. Bird
5. The letter ‘i’
6. Your side profile

Posted in Riddles