Clever Riddle

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Bandit

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Apr 29, 2007
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Alright guys, a friend of mine told me this clever riddle and it took me awhile to get it. I found it pretty clever :) here goes:

An insane man kidnapped four people, and blindfolded them. He sat them each in a chair, single file. He then told them he has four hats. Two green hats, and two orange hats. He then told them he was going to place a hat on top of each person's head. He told them if any one of them could tell them what color hat they had on and why, he'd let them live. Otherwise, he'd kill them all. So, (unbeknown to them), he put an orange hat on the first person's head, a green hat on second person's head, an orange hat on third person's head, and a green hat on the fourth person's head. So the order is: orange, green, orange, green (remember, the four people don't know the order or what color their own hat is). The insane man then took the blindfolds off of each person, except for the fourth person because he could see the colors of the hats of the people in front of him, and would be able to guess his own. So, the second person could see the color of the hat of the person sitting in front of him, and the third person could see the color of the hat of the two people sitting in front of him. the first person and fourth person can see nothing. After a pause (hint: the pause is essential to solving the riddle), one of them told the insane man the color of his hat and explained why, and he was correct. Which person, and why?

Now there's no funny business in this riddle. No reflective objects, the fourth person didn't peek, and there was no communication between the four people. It makes complete logical sense once you figure out :)

Good luck!

Bandit
 


The second person told him he had an green hat. If he had the same color hat as the first person the third guy would have been able to answer the problem, but since he didn't he knows that he has a different color hat than the first guy.
 
The second person told him he had an green hat. If he had the same color hat as the first person the third guy would have been able to answer the problem, but since he didn't he knows that he has a different color hat than the first guy.

Correct :)

Have you heard that riddle before?
 
Guy3 looks at Guy2 and Guy1.

The combination in Guy1 and Guy2 are:
Orange and Orange
Green and Green
Orange and Green
Green and Orange

Guy3 doesn't know the answer.

So Deduction the Guy2 makes:
Between Guy1 and himself (Guy2) there cannot be same color hats, otherwise Guy3 would have known his hat color.
So between Guy1 and himself (Guy2), there must be 2 different hat colors.

.....and the final answer from Guy2, which is other color from what Guy1 has.



I heard it in another version with 3 guys with 5 hats, 2 orange and 3 green.
1 has blindfold. The other 2 can see everyone.

The blindfolded one is the one who has to answer.
 
Oh you guys are just quite the bunch of genius's! :bowdown:

So sorry it wasn't 'hard' for you. I never said it was going to be, I said I thought it was clever.
 
I think that riddles that deal mainly in mathematics are maybe easier to solve than literary riddles. For example:

If I turn my head, you may move forward. If I don't, you'll stay until you rot. I have no face, but I live or die by my crooked teeth.

I got that one from a favorite book of mine.
 
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