Some of you may think that riddles are absolutely annoying. What you may not know is that riddles help train your brain to be more creative and better at solving problems. Try your hand at these 15 tricky riddles and give yourself a bit of brain training.
Can you make all of these glasses alternate by only touching one of them? Get those gears of yours moving! Can you picture the glasses? Think of them as if they’re right in front of you! Do you have the answer yet? Answer: This is a pretty simple one. You just pick the second full glass and pour it into the fifth glass! Then you put the empty glass back where it was! See how simple that was?
There’s a boy playing with a soccer ball. The boy kicks it ten feet away from him. Every single time, the ball comes straight back to the boy. How does it happen? Maybe the ball is made of magic, but we doubt it. Answer: If you guess that the boy was kicking the ball up above his head, you were right. You can thank gravity for that one.
What breaks but never falls, and what falls but never breaks? It may sound like a really confusing tongue twister, but once you get the answer you’ll see how simple it really is. Have you gotten it figured out yet? Answer: The day always breaks and the night always falls. See, we said it was pretty simple!
Some of the months have 31 days. Other months have 30. But how many of the months have 28 days in them? All you need to do is think about every month, and count how many days it has. What answer did you get? One month? Answer: The answer’s not one, silly! Every month has 28 days!
Figure out this equation by moving only one match! Seems pretty easy, doesn’t it? You might want to remove the vertical match that’s on the plus sign to make the answer -2, but you’re wrong! Answer: You do have to move the vertical match from the plus sign but not to the two. You add it to the number five, which changes it to a nine. Now the equation reads: 9-7=2!
Mrs. Rose’s favorite color is pink. She even has a bungalow completely covered in pink. Everything’s pink! The walls, carpet, appliances were all different shades of pink. So what color are the stairs? Answer: If you said pink, you were wrong. Bungalows don’t have stairs! So the answer is no color!
You’re not feeling well, so you decide to go to the doctor. He hands you three pills and instructs you to take one every half hour. How long will it take you to take all of your medicine? Hint: It’s not 1.5. Answer: It only takes one hour! The first one you take right away. The second a 1/2 hour after that and then a 1/2 hour later, you take the third.
The boat you’re on has a ten-foot ladder hanging off the side. The bottom rung reaches the water’s surface. The tide rises six inches every hour and the ladder’s rungs are a foot apart. How long until three rungs are under water? Answer: The boat rises when the tide does, so it never happens. Tricked you!
There are four prisoners. They were told that the first man who shouted out the right color of his hat would be set free. They’re not allowed to talk to each other or remove their hats. The only thing they’re allowed to do is look in front of them. They’re told there are two black hats and two white ones. Who’s going free? Answer: Man three and four can’t see anyone’s hats. The first man can see one white hat and one black hat, but knows he could be wearing either. The second man can see one black hat and he knows the first man can see his hat. If the second and third men were both wearing black hats, the first man would’ve already yelled that he had a white hat. So that could only mean that he was wearing a white hat!
You enter a dark room with only one match. The room is completely empty except for a newspaper, an oil lamp, and some kindling wood. Which object do you light first? Give it your best shot! Answer: Well, to get any of the things lit, you have to light the match first! That one was a tricky one.
There’s a trucker going the wrong way down a one-way road. On his way, he passes at least ten cops, but why aren’t they’re not pulling him over. Why? Answer: He’s not working that day, so he’s actually going for a walk. Did you get it right?
Read carefully through this one. If a plane crashes on the border between Canada and the United States, where would they bury the survivors? Hmm, sounds like a lot of diplomacy will be needed. Or will it? Make sure you read this one carefully. If there’s a plane crash on the border of the United States and Canada, which country would bury the survivors? This could cause a huge uproar in the two countries if this isn’t figured out. Answer: You wouldn’t bury survivors, duh! So neither country would be responsible.
We have another riddle for you: What can fly without wings and cry without eyes? It could be a penguin. Hold on, that’s not right. They don’t fly, but they do have wings. And it’s pretty well-known that they have eyes. Answer: It’s a cloud! Great, now we’ll always be thinking about sad cloud tears.
What is easy to get into but hard to get out of. A cat could probably help you out with this one, considering they’re always getting stuck. Answer: Trouble. See, we told you a cat would know all bout this.
A river in Oregon has claimed the Guinness World Record for being the shortest river in the world. The river is only 440 feet long. Its name is also known as the shortest river name in the world and it begins with “D.” What could the river’s name be? Answer: River D. That one was certainly short, sweet, and to the point!