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A brainteaser is a type of riddle that makes one think outside the box. Some brainteasers are easy, some are a little harder, and some can really make you ponder for a while. Often, when you finally hear the answer, you feel ignorant or silly, because it should have been obvious to you. However, brainteasers are fun. Therefore, we keep testing ourselves and hoping we get better at solving them.
Our collection of brainteasers includes brainteasers for kids and for adults. Those for adults have some longer, more complicated brainteasers to challenge your mind. We close with a collection of brainteasers without answers, so that you can test your ability to solve brainteasers.
Related: 203 Fun Riddles for Kids with Answers
Table of Contents 1 Brain Teasers for Kids2 Longer Brain Teasers for Adults3 Brain Teasers with Answers4 How to Find Answers for Brain Teasers4.1 Brain Teasers with Answers4.2 Answers:4.3 Related Posts
Brain Teasers for Kids
Kids love brainteasers, as long as they do not get too frustrated trying to figure them out. Our collection of brainteasers for kids takes that into consideration. Most of the answers are fairly obvious if kids listen carefully and think for a moment. Adults will have fun sharing these with their children, teachers with their students, and kids with their friends.
There are three houses. One is red, one is blue, and one is white. If the red house is to the left of the house in the middle, and the blue house is to the right to the house in the middle, where is the white house?
Show answer In Washington, D.C.!
You are in a cabin and it is pitch black. You have one match on you. Which do you light first, the newspaper, the lamp, the candle, or the fire?
Show answer You light the match first!
Who is bigger: Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger, or their baby? Show answer The baby, because he is a little bigger.
Mike is a butcher. He is 5’10” tall. What does he weigh? Show answer Meat
A farmer has 17 sheep and all but nine die. How many are left? Show answer Nine
How far can a rabbit run into the woods? Show answer Halfway. After that, he is running out of the woods.
In a year, there are 12 months. Seven months have 31 days. How many months have 28 days? Show answer They all do.
What are the next three letters in the following sequence?J, F, M, A, M, J, J, A, __, __, __Show answer S, O, N. The sequence is first letter of the months of the year. September, October, and November are the next in the sequence.
Jimmy’s mother had four children. She named the first Monday. She named the second Tuesday, and she named the third Wednesday. What is the name of the fourth child? Show answer Jimmy, because Jimmy’s mother had four children!
Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world? Show answer Mt. Everest. It was still the highest in the world. It just had not been discovered yet!
Which is heavier? A pound of feathers or a pound of rocks? Show answer Neither. Both weigh a pound!
What is full of holes but can still hold water? Show answer A sponge
A family lives in a large tower apartment building, 10 floors high. Every day their son takes the elevator from the family’s apartment on the 10th floor to the ground floor and goes to school. When he returns in the afternoon, he uses the elevator to get to the fifth floor, and then uses the stairs for the remaining five floors. Why? Show answer Because he cannot reach the buttons higher than five.
A plane crashes on the border of the U.S. and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors? Show answer You do not bury the SURVIVORS!
I do not have any special powers, but I can predict the score of any football game before it begins. How can I do this? Show answer Well, the score before any football game is always zero to zero!
You are driving a bus. At the first stop, two women get on. The second stop, three men get on and one woman gets off. At the third stop, three kids and their mom get on, and a man gets off. The bus is grey, and it is raining outside. What color is the bus driver’s hair? Show answer Whatever color your hair is! Remember, you are the bus driver!
Imagine that you are in a boat, in the middle of the sea. Suddenly, you are surrounded by hungry sharks, just waiting to feed on you. How can you put an end to this?
Show answer Stop imagining!
Give me food, and I will live; give me water, and I will die. What am I?Show answer Fire
Which travels faster? Hot or Cold? Show answer Hot is faster, because you can catch a cold.
When you have me, you immediately feel like sharing me. But, if you do share me, you do not have me. Show answer A secret
What can you hold without ever touching or using your hands? Show answer Your breath!
First, I threw away the outside and cooked the inside. Then I ate the outside and threw away the inside. What did I eat? Show answer Corn on the cob
Brainteasers entangle the mind of the reader and make him forget his worries, at least for a while. Many adults find brainteasers work well as stress relievers. We have two lists of brainteasers for adults. One has longer brainteasers that are more difficult. The other has normal brainteasers for adults. Try out selection to relax and have fun.
Longer Brain Teasers for Adults
A lift is on the ground floor. There are four people in the lift including me.
When the lift reaches first, floor, one person gets out and three people get in.
The lift goes up to the second floor, 2 people get out 6 people get in.
It then goes up to the next floor up, no-one gets out but 12 people get in. Halfway up to the next floor up the lift cable snaps, it crashes to the floor. Everyone else dies in the lift. How did I survive?
Show answerAnswer: I got out on the second floor!
A man walks into a restaurant and the waiter says, “Good day, Admiral.”
Why did the waiter call the man an Admiral?
Show answerAnswer: Because he was wearing his uniform!
I have no voice, yet I speak to you.
I tell of all things in the world that people do.I have leaves, but I am not a tree.I have pages, but I am not a bride.I have a spine, but I am not a man.I have hinges, but I am not a door.I have told you all. I cannot tell you more.What am I?Show answerAnswer: A book
A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells its owner that he is bankrupt. Why?
Show answer He is playing Monopoly
You are a cyclist in a cross-country race. Just before the crossing finish line, you overtake the person in second place. In what place did you finish?
Show answer Second Place. If you pass the person in second, you take second place, and they become third.
You are in a room that has three switches and a closed door. The switches control three light bulbs on the other side of the door. Once you open the door, you may never touch the switches again. How can you definitively tell which switch is connected to each of the light bulbs? Show answer Turn on the first two switches. Leave them on for 5 minutes. Once 5 minutes has passed, turn off the second switch, leaving one switch on. Now go through the door. The light that is still on is connected to the first switch. Whichever of the other two is warm to the touch is connected to the second switch. The bulb that is cold is connected to the switch that was never turned on!
I left my campsite and hiked south for 3 miles. Then I turned east and hiked for 3 miles. I then turned north and hiked for 3 miles, at which time I came upon a bear inside my tent eating my food! What color was the bear?
Show answer White. The only place you can hike 3 miles south, then east for 3 miles, then north for 3 miles and end up back at your starting point is the North Pole. There are only polar bears in the North Pole, and they are white!
Crime Scene: A large wooden box was built with one door. The door was locked from the inside, and then nailed shut from the inside. The police break into the room. In the middle of the room there is a dead man hanging from the ceiling, with his shoes 3 feet off the ground. The only other thing in the room is a hammer lying in a puddle of water. Can you explain what happened?
Show answer He committed suicide by hanging himself when the ice melted.
You are in a cookie factory, and need to make a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies. The recipe calls for exactly 4 cups of sugar. Problem is that you have two buckets. One bucket holds 5 cups, the other 3 cups. Using these buckets, how can you measure exactly 4 cups of sugar?
Show answer This is possible, and there are two ways to do it:
Solution 1: Fill the 3-cup bucket and pour it into the 5-cup bucket. Fill the 3-cup bucket again, and pour it into the 5-cup bucket until the 5-cup bucket is full. That will leave exactly 1 cup of sugar in the 3-cup bucket. Dump out the 5-cup bucket, and dump the 1 cup from the 3-cup bucket into the empty 5-cup bucket. This leaves 1 cup in the 5-cup bucket. Now fill the 3-cup bucket again and add it to the 5-cup bucket. Now you have exactly 4 cups of sugar in the 5-cup bucket!Solution 2: Fill the 5-cup bucket. Pour it into the 3-cup bucket. This leaves 2 cups in the 5-cup bucket. Dump out the 3-cup bucket. Now pour the 2 cups from the 5 cup into the 3 cup. Refill the 5 cup. Now pour the 5 cup into the 3 cup until the 3 cup is full. That will leave exactly 4 cups in the 5-cup bucket!
A man is the owner of a winery who recently passed away. In his will, he left 21 barrels (seven of which are filled with wine, seven of which are half full, and seven of which are empty) to his three sons. However, the wine and barrels must be split, so that each son has the same number of full barrels, the same number of half-full barrels, and the same number of empty barrels. Note that there are no measuring devices handy. How can the barrels and wine be evenly divided?
Show answer Two half-full barrels are dumped into one of the empty barrels. Two more half-full barrels are dumped into another one of the empty barrels. This results in nine full barrels, three half-full barrels, and nine empty barrels. Each son gets three full barrels, one half-full barrel, and three empty barrels.
An Arab sheik is old and must will his fortune to one of his two sons. He makes a proposition. His two sons will ride their camels in a race, and whichever camel crosses the finish line LAST will win the fortune for its owner. During the race, the two brothers wander aimlessly for days, neither willing to cross the finish line. In desperation, they ask a wise man for advice. He tells them something; then the brothers leap onto the camels and charge toward the finish line. What did the wise man say?
Show answer The rules of the race were that the owner of the camel that crosses the finish line last wins the fortune. The wise man simply told them to switch camels.
You have a 3-gallon jug and a 5-gallon jug. You need to measure out exactly 7 gallons of water. How can you do it?
Show answer Fill the 5-gallon jug, pour it into the 3-gallon jug until the 3 gallon is full, and leaving 2 gallons in the 5-gallon jug. Now pour the 3-gallon jug out. Pour the remaining 2 gallons from the 5 gallon into the empty 3-gallon jug. Now fill the 5 gallon from the faucet. You now have exactly 7 gallons.
A man is on a game show. He is presented with two doors, one on the left, and one on the right. Behind one is 2 million dollars, and behind the other is a donkey. Choose the correct door to win the prize. There are also two men in front of the doors, and they know which door leads to the millions. One wears a black hat, and the other wears a white hat.The host explains that one of the men is a liar, and will always lie, and the other man will always tell the truth – but you do not know which is which.You can ask only one of the men only one question. What is the question, and which man do you ask to ensure you win the money?Show answer Answer: You ask either man the following question: “If I asked the other guy which door has the money, what would he say?” and then choose the opposite door. Work it out: If you ask the question to the liar, he will lie about the ‘correct’ answer, so you must choose the opposite door. If you ask the truth teller, he will tell the truth about the lie, so you can choose the opposite door as well.
Cannibals in the jungle capture three men. The men are given one chance to escape with their lives. The men are lined up and bound to stakes such that one man can see the backs of the other two, the middle man can see the back of the front man, and the front man cannot see anybody. The men are shown five hats, three of which are black and two of which are white. Then the men are blindfolded, and one of the five hats is placed on each man’s head. The remaining two hats are hidden away. The blindfolds are removed. The men are told that if just one of the men can guess what hat he is wearing, they may all go free. Time passes. Finally, the front man, who cannot see anyone, correctly guesses the color of his hat. What color was it, and how did he guess correctly?
Show answer The back man can see the hats worn by the two men in front of him. So, if both of those hats were white, he would know that the hat he wore was black. However, since he does not answer, he must see at least one black hat ahead of him. After it becomes apparent to the middle man that the back man cannot figure out what he is wearing, he knows that there is at least one black hat worn by himself and the front man. Knowing this, if the middle man saw a white hat in front of him, he would know that his own hat was black, and could answer the question correctly. But, since he does not answer, he must see a black hat on the front man. After it becomes apparent to the front man that neither of the men behind him can answer the question, he realizes the middle man saw a black hat in front of him. So he says, correctly, “My hat is black.”
A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, “Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who was in the photograph?
Show answer His son.
What words are pronounced differently by merely capitalizing the first letter?
Show answer There are several, and there could be more: 1. job, Job 2. herb, Herb 3. polish, Polish
A man left home running. He ran a ways and then turned left, ran the same distance and turned left again, ran the same distance and turned left again. When he got home, there were two masked men. Who were they?
Show answer The catcher and the umpire.
Your dad tells you that he will pay you $6.00 an hour for the 6 seconds that you take to wash your hands before dinner.
How much did you make for washing your hands?
Show answer Answer: 1 cent
There is a fishing trawler, with a ladder in it, leaning against a wall at the harbor. There are five oars and two fishing nets in the trawler. The distance between two consecutive steps on the ladder is 1 meter. If waves lashing against the wall rise half meter in every half hour, in how much time will six steps of the ladder get under the waves?
Show answer The trawler rises with the waves, so no steps will go under water.
When young, I am sweet in the sun.When middle-aged, I make you gay.When old, I am valued more than ever.Show answer Answer: Wine
As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.Each wife had seven sacks,Each sack had seven cats,Each cat had seven kits.Kits, cats, sacks and wives,How many were going to St. Ives?Show answer Answer: One. Only I was going to St. Ives
Brain Teasers with Answers
Although these brainteasers are not as hard the previous ones, they still present a challenge. These brainteasers prepare you for our last group, where answers are not provided immediately!
Guess the next three letters in the series GTNTL.
Show answer I, T, S. The complete sequence is the first letter of every word in the sentence.
A boy is walking down the road with a doctor. While the boy is the doctor’s son, the doctor is not the boy’s father. Then who is the doctor?
Show answer The doctor is the boy’s mother.
I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always in risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of darkness.
Show answer The letter S
Joseph and Lena are found dead on the floor with some water around. The windows are open and a strong wind draft is blowing the curtains around. How did they die?Show answer Joseph and Lena were goldfishes. The wind tipped their bowl over, hence killing them!
What has a mouth, but cannot eat; moves, but has no legs; and has a bank, but cannot put money in it?Show answer River
A man wanted to encrypt his password but he needed to do it in a way so that he could remember it. He had to use seven characters consisting of letters and numbers only (no symbols like ! or |