OT: Extremely Tough Riddle Challenge

[NY Knicka]

One ordinary day in Hoops Oz, Earl “J.R.” Smith is blithely dribbling up Centercourt Way which comes to an end at a fork in the road.

He knows that RealGM City, where the Wizard will grant him everlasting basketball I.Q., is at the end of one of the two roads at the fork: Pick Boulevard or Roll Street. But, as is his tendency, J.R. forgot his map at home.

Just before the fork, he sees two identical twin munchkins -- Jeremy & Julius -- and J.R. thinks maybe they can point him in the right direction.

At that moment, the Good Witch of Knicks Nation appears and tells J.R. only the following:

One of the two twins always tells the truth and the other twin always tells a lie, without exception. But J.R. does not know which twin is the truth-teller and which twin is the liar and the Good Witch does not tell him.

J.R. can ask one and the same question to both of the twins and they will each answer that one, same question. He can ask only this one question. There are no other restrictions on what J.R. can ask.

The Good Witch assures J.R. that he can pose a question that will reveal the right road to take. Then the Good Witch disappears.

What question should J.R. ask the twin munchkins to find his way to RealGM City? Hint: This is a matter of pure logic and not a trick question that seizes on an easily overlooked detail.

I can post the answer as a Spoiler later today. If you have a quick and serious answer (rather than jokes which are welcome too!), you can post it as a Spoiler.

JR gets both twins high to the point were they get comfortable and disclose the true path. JR then unties their shoes and follows the path.

[Capn'O]

This guy really is John Stockton!

[Deeeez Knicks]

If there is anyone that knows about dimes it's Stockton

[Capn'O]

One ordinary day in Hoops Oz, Earl “J.R.” Smith is blithely dribbling up Centercourt Way which comes to an end at a fork in the road.

He knows that RealGM City, where the Wizard will grant him everlasting basketball I.Q., is at the end of one of the two roads at the fork: Pick Boulevard or Roll Street. But, as is his tendency, J.R. forgot his map at home.

Just before the fork, he sees two identical twin munchkins -- Jeremy & Julius -- and J.R. thinks maybe they can point him in the right direction.

At that moment, the Good Witch of Knicks Nation appears and tells J.R. only the following:

One of the two twins always tells the truth and the other twin always tells a lie, without exception. But J.R. does not know which twin is the truth-teller and which twin is the liar and the Good Witch does not tell him.

J.R. can ask one and the same question to both of the twins and they will each answer that one, same question. He can ask only this one question. There are no other restrictions on what J.R. can ask.

The Good Witch assures J.R. that he can pose a question that will reveal the right road to take. Then the Good Witch disappears.

What question should J.R. ask the twin munchkins to find his way to RealGM City? Hint: This is a matter of pure logic and not a trick question that seizes on an easily overlooked detail.

I can post the answer as a Spoiler later today. If you have a quick and serious answer (rather than jokes which are welcome too!), you can post it as a Spoiler.

All roads lead to RealGM...

Spoiler:

JR should ask a question that he and the twins know the answer to. JR can't be assured that they can reasonably answer his name, that there is a good witch, or any other trivia. But he knows one of the roads does lead there and has been told by the witch that they know which road leads to RealGM.

So JR should ask: Does one of these roads lead to RealGM? The liar would say no and the truth teller would say yes.

Having determined which twin is telling the truth, JR would then ask the truth teller which way to RealGM (or conversely do the opposite of whatever the liar tells me).


Edit - CRAP! I think I did it wrong. I misunderstood what "there are no other restrictions on what JR can ask" meant. I thought he could only ask one question to BOTH but could otherwise converse freely with the twins.

[bumby401]

Three friends check into a motel for the night and the clerk tells them the bill is $30. So, they each pay the clerk $10 and go to their room. A few minutes later, the clerk realizes he has made an error and over charge the trio by $5. He asks the bellhop to return $5 to the friends who had just checked in The bellhop sees this as an opportunity to make $2 as he reasons that the three friends would have a tough time dividing $5 evenly among them: so he decides to tell them that the clerk made a mistake of only $3, giving a dollar back to each of the friends. He pockets the leftover $2 and goes home for the day! Now, each of the three gets a dollar back, thus they each paid $9 for the room which is a total of $27 for the night. We know the bellhop pocketed $2 and adding that to the $27, you get $29, not $30 which was originally spent. Where did the other dollar go?????

[K_ick_God]

One ordinary day in Hoops Oz, Earl “J.R.” Smith is blithely dribbling up Centercourt Way which comes to an end at a fork in the road.

He knows that RealGM City, where the Wizard will grant him everlasting basketball I.Q., is at the end of one of the two roads at the fork: Pick Boulevard or Roll Street. But, as is his tendency, J.R. forgot his map at home.

Just before the fork, he sees two identical twin munchkins -- Jeremy & Julius -- and J.R. thinks maybe they can point him in the right direction.

At that moment, the Good Witch of Knicks Nation appears and tells J.R. only the following:

One of the two twins always tells the truth and the other twin always tells a lie, without exception. But J.R. does not know which twin is the truth-teller and which twin is the liar and the Good Witch does not tell him.

J.R. can ask one and the same question to both of the twins and they will each answer that one, same question. He can ask only this one question. There are no other restrictions on what J.R. can ask.

The Good Witch assures J.R. that he can pose a question that will reveal the right road to take. Then the Good Witch disappears.

What question should J.R. ask the twin munchkins to find his way to RealGM City? Hint: This is a matter of pure logic and not a trick question that seizes on an easily overlooked detail.

I can post the answer as a Spoiler later today. If you have a quick and serious answer (rather than jokes which are welcome too!), you can post it as a Spoiler.

All roads lead to RealGM...

Spoiler:

JR should ask a question that he and the twins know the answer to. JR can't be assured that they can reasonably answer his name, that there is a good witch, or any other trivia. But he knows one of the roads does lead there and has been told by the witch that they know which road leads to RealGM.

So JR should ask: Does one of these roads lead to RealGM? The liar would say no and the truth teller would say yes.

Having determined which twin is telling the truth, JR would then ask the truth teller which way to RealGM (or conversely do the opposite of whatever the liar tells me).


Edit - CRAP! I think I did it wrong. I misunderstood what "there are no other restrictions on what JR can ask" meant. I thought he could only ask one question to BOTH but could otherwise converse freely with the twins.

Yeah he only gets one question.

[JohnStarksTheDunk]

Three friends check into a motel for the night and the clerk tells them the bill is $30. So, they each pay the clerk $10 and go to their room. A few minutes later, the clerk realizes he has made an error and over charge the trio by $5. He asks the bellhop to return $5 to the friends who had just checked in The bellhop sees this as an opportunity to make $2 as he reasons that the three friends would have a tough time dividing $5 evenly among them: so he decides to tell them that the clerk made a mistake of only $3, giving a dollar back to each of the friends. He pockets the leftover $2 and goes home for the day! Now, each of the three gets a dollar back, thus they each paid $9 for the room which is a total of $27 for the night. We know the bellhop pocketed $2 and adding that to the $27, you get $29, not $30 which was originally spent. Where did the other dollar go?????

The flaw here is the way in which the totals are being added up. The $2 to the bellhop should not be added to the $27, it is actually part of the $27. What should be added to the $27 is the $3 they are refunded. If each of the three guests ended up actually only paying $9, that means that there wasn't $30 paid -- there is only $27. However, the clerk thinks they only paid a total of $25, and thus the extra $2 is pocketed by the bellhop. So $25 + $2 = $27. Or to break it down, here is where the original $30 goes:

$25 to the clerk
$2 to the bellhop
$3 back to the three guests

Or to explain it another way:

Let's say each guest only had $10 each, and there is a total of $30. They each pay $9 in total and keep $1 each for themselves. The clerk gets $25, the bellhop gets $2, and they each keep $1. This again adds up to $30: $25 + $2 +$3.

[K_ick_God]

Three friends check into a motel for the night and the clerk tells them the bill is $30. So, they each pay the clerk $10 and go to their room. A few minutes later, the clerk realizes he has made an error and over charge the trio by $5. He asks the bellhop to return $5 to the friends who had just checked in The bellhop sees this as an opportunity to make $2 as he reasons that the three friends would have a tough time dividing $5 evenly among them: so he decides to tell them that the clerk made a mistake of only $3, giving a dollar back to each of the friends. He pockets the leftover $2 and goes home for the day! Now, each of the three gets a dollar back, thus they each paid $9 for the room which is a total of $27 for the night. We know the bellhop pocketed $2 and adding that to the $27, you get $29, not $30 which was originally spent. Where did the other dollar go?????

The flaw here is the way in which the totals are being added up. The $2 to the bellhop should not be added to the $27, it is actually part of the $27. What should be added to the $27 is the $3 they are refunded. If each of the three guests ended up actually only paying $9, that means that there wasn't $30 paid -- there is only $27. However, the clerk thinks they only paid a total of $25, and thus the extra $2 is pocketed by the bellhop. So $25 + $2 = $27. Or to break it down, here is where the original $30 goes:

$25 to the clerk
$2 to the bellhop
$3 back to the three guests

Or to explain it another way:

Let's say each guest only had $10 each, and there is a total of $30. They each pay $9 in total and keep $1 each for themselves. The clerk gets $25, the bellhop gets $2, and they each keep $1. This again adds up to $30: $25 + $2 +$3.

Yeah the misdirection is the $30: Adding $27 to the $2 the bellhop takes home and then subtracting it from $30 to find a mysterious $1.

Once the bellhop returns a $1 to each, they've only paid $27. There's only $2 left to pocket after the house gets its $25. You're counting down from $27 to $25, not up from $27 to $30.

The misdirection is more specifically this: It's not correct to add $27 and $2 together because the bellhop's share is actually included in the $27 paid out, not added on top of it. The bellhop's share is like a $2 tax on the $25 paid to the motel.

Said one final way, he's giving back $3 out of the $5 refund and keeping the other $2. Period.

[K_ick_God]

[Capn'O]

Yeah he only gets one question.

So annoyed. I had considered the real answer and then went on that tangent. My strategy finds the liar but not the road

[City Wok Guy]

One ordinary day in Hoops Oz, Earl “J.R.” Smith is blithely dribbling up Centercourt Way which comes to an end at a fork in the road.

He knows that RealGM City, where the Wizard will grant him everlasting basketball I.Q., is at the end of one of the two roads at the fork: Pick Boulevard or Roll Street. But, as is his tendency, J.R. forgot his map at home.

Just before the fork, he sees two identical twin munchkins -- Jeremy & Julius -- and J.R. thinks maybe they can point him in the right direction.

At that moment, the Good Witch of Knicks Nation appears and tells J.R. only the following:

One of the two twins always tells the truth and the other twin always tells a lie, without exception. But J.R. does not know which twin is the truth-teller and which twin is the liar and the Good Witch does not tell him.

J.R. can ask one and the same question to both of the twins and they will each answer that one, same question. He can ask only this one question. There are no other restrictions on what J.R. can ask.

The Good Witch assures J.R. that he can pose a question that will reveal the right road to take. Then the Good Witch disappears.

What question should J.R. ask the twin munchkins to find his way to RealGM City? Hint: This is a matter of pure logic and not a trick question that seizes on an easily overlooked detail.

I can post the answer as a Spoiler later today. If you have a quick and serious answer (rather than jokes which are welcome too!), you can post it as a Spoiler.

All roads lead to RealGM...

Spoiler:

JR should ask a question that he and the twins know the answer to. JR can't be assured that they can reasonably answer his name, that there is a good witch, or any other trivia. But he knows one of the roads does lead there and has been told by the witch that they know which road leads to RealGM.

So JR should ask: Does one of these roads lead to RealGM? The liar would say no and the truth teller would say yes.

Having determined which twin is telling the truth, JR would then ask the truth teller which way to RealGM (or conversely do the opposite of whatever the liar tells me).


Edit - CRAP! I think I did it wrong. I misunderstood what "there are no other restrictions on what JR can ask" meant. I thought he could only ask one question to BOTH but could otherwise converse freely with the twins.

Yeah he only gets one question.

Spoiler:

"If I ask the other twin which road leads me to RealGM what would he say?" JR then goes on the opposite road of whatever that twin said.

[City Wok Guy]

1) You are standing outside of a room. The door to the room is closed. Inside the room is a light bulb. Outside of the room there are 3 light switches. One turns on the bulb, the other two are useless. You can turn the switches on and off as many times as you like, but you can only enter the room once to check. You cannot see underneath the door or through a keyhole. The only way to see inside the room is by opening the door.

How can you figure out which switch turns on the light bulb?

2) What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66…?

[K_ick_God]

All roads lead to RealGM...

Spoiler:

JR should ask a question that he and the twins know the answer to. JR can't be assured that they can reasonably answer his name, that there is a good witch, or any other trivia. But he knows one of the roads does lead there and has been told by the witch that they know which road leads to RealGM.

So JR should ask: Does one of these roads lead to RealGM? The liar would say no and the truth teller would say yes.

Having determined which twin is telling the truth, JR would then ask the truth teller which way to RealGM (or conversely do the opposite of whatever the liar tells me).


Edit - CRAP! I think I did it wrong. I misunderstood what "there are no other restrictions on what JR can ask" meant. I thought he could only ask one question to BOTH but could otherwise converse freely with the twins.

Yeah he only gets one question.

Spoiler:

"If I ask the other twin which road leads me to RealGM what would he say?" JR then goes on the opposite road of whatever that twin said.

Correct. You got it.

[JV4MVP]

Best thread on RealGM

[Forbes]

Lmaoo this one had me going. Went over it twice then figured out how much it made me feel like a fool

[K_ick_God]

1) You are standing outside of a room. The door to the room is closed. Inside the room is a light bulb. Outside of the room there are 3 light switches. One turns on the bulb, the other two are useless. You can turn the switches on and off as many times as you like, but you can only enter the room once to check. You cannot see underneath the door or through a keyhole. The only way to see inside the room is by opening the door.

How can you figure out which switch turns on the light bulb?

2) What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66…?

Spoiler:

One 1), it doesn't say you can't open the door, just that you can't enter? Haven't worked on 2) yet.

[City Wok Guy]

1) You are standing outside of a room. The door to the room is closed. Inside the room is a light bulb. Outside of the room there are 3 light switches. One turns on the bulb, the other two are useless. You can turn the switches on and off as many times as you like, but you can only enter the room once to check. You cannot see underneath the door or through a keyhole. The only way to see inside the room is by opening the door.

How can you figure out which switch turns on the light bulb?

2) What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66…?

Spoiler:

One 1), it doesn't say you can't open the door, just that you can't enter? Haven't worked on 2) yet.

The door is locked until you decide to go in. Once you decide to go in, you can only go in the room once. So once you're in the room you need to figure out which switch turns on the light before leaving the room.

I should add damaging or disassembling the door, walls, or switches is against the rules.

[blumatic]

Did we get the answer to the original riddle?

[K_ick_God]

1) You are standing outside of a room. The door to the room is closed. Inside the room is a light bulb. Outside of the room there are 3 light switches. One turns on the bulb, the other two are useless. You can turn the switches on and off as many times as you like, but you can only enter the room once to check. You cannot see underneath the door or through a keyhole. The only way to see inside the room is by opening the door.

How can you figure out which switch turns on the light bulb?

2) What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66…?

Spoiler:

One 1), it doesn't say you can't open the door, just that you can't enter? Haven't worked on 2) yet.

The door is locked until you decide to go in. Once you decide to go in, you can only go in the room once. So once you're in the room you need to figure out which switch turns on the light before leaving the room.

I should add damaging or disassembling the door, walls, or switches is against the rules.

And you can't leave two lights on, open the door, switch one off and then go inside? No switches after the door opens and before you go inside?

That would solve it but seems like you cannot change any switches before going inside?

[Deeeez Knicks]

1) You are standing outside of a room. The door to the room is closed. Inside the room is a light bulb. Outside of the room there are 3 light switches. One turns on the bulb, the other two are useless. You can turn the switches on and off as many times as you like, but you can only enter the room once to check. You cannot see underneath the door or through a keyhole. The only way to see inside the room is by opening the door.

How can you figure out which switch turns on the light bulb?

2) What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66…?

Spoiler:

-Turn switch 1 on and leave it on for an hour.
-Turn switch 1 off and switch 2 on and go inside.

If its dark, but the bulb is warm then its switch 1.
If its light its switch 2.
If neither, then its switch 3.

(works for a bulb, but not LED)