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Give Your Mind a Workout! 101 Brain Teasers That'll Improve Your Memory

• Author: Maryn Liles

Did you know that doing brain teasers and logic problems can improve short-term memory loss? Challenging your mind with math brain teasers and other types of puzzles keeps the connections between your brain cells sharp. Plus, learning how to solve brain teasers improves your ability to concentrate and focus, too! This big list of brain teasers for adults with answers will test your critical thinking skills–and even help you improve them—so you can learn how to solve brain teasers even faster thanks to all the practice you're getting! So if you're ready to put your mind to the test, dive in and see how many of these 101 brain teasers you can solve— without peeking at the answers!

101 Brain Teasers

1. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named Sarah. The bus driver had to go on a long bus trip that would last a week. Before he left, he gave Sarah seven apples . Why? An apple a day keeps the doctor away! 2. 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? White, since the only place you can do that is the North Pole and polar bears are the only kind of bears that live there. 3. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him underwater for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be? The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry. 4. What is special about these words: job, polish, herb? They are pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalized. 5. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I? Pencil lead 6. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it? The river was frozen

7. I can't be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I'm worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I? Love 8. Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?  The number 8 9. No matter how little or how much you use me, you change me every month. What am I? A calendar 10. How can 8 + 8 = 4? When you think in terms of time. 8 AM + 8 hours= 4 o’clock. Related: 25 Logic Puzzles 11. What has cities, but no houses; forests, but no trees; and water, but no fish? A map 12. A red house is made from red bricks. A blue house is made from blue bricks. A yellow house is made from yellow bricks. What is a greenhouse made from?  Glass 13. There is a word in the English language in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four signify a great man, and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word? Heroine 14. In my hand I have two coins that are newly minted. Together, they total 30 cents. One isn’t a nickel. What are the coins?  A quarter and a nickel

15. What is harder to catch the faster you run? Your breath 16. You’re escaping a labyrinth and there are three exits. Exit A leads to an inferno. Exit B leads to an assassin. Exit C leads to a lion that hasn’t eaten in 3 years. Which exit do you pick?  Exit C. If a lion hasn’t eaten in 3 years, it has definitely starved to death. 17. What fastens two people yet touches only one? A wedding ring 18. What kind of running means walking? Running out of gas 19. What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you? Pride 20. They fill me up and you empty me, almost every day; if you raise my arm, I work the opposite way. What am I? A mailbox 21. Which three letters can frighten a thief away? ICU 22. First I am dried, then I am wet. The longer I swim, the more taste you get. What am I?  Tea 23. Lovely and round, I shine with pale light, grown in the darkness, A lady's delight. What am I? A pearl

24. My voice is tender, my waist is slender and I'm often invited to play. Yet wherever I go I must take my bow or else I have nothing to say. What am I? A violin 25. I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet they can unlock your soul. What am I? A piano Related: Brain Teasers for Kids 26. I have a big mouth and I am also quite loud! I am NOT a gossip but I do get involved with everyone's dirty business. What am I? A vacuum cleaner 27. I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; On the same spot I'm always found, toiling away with little sound. What am I? A windmill 28. What can be stolen, mistaken, or altered, yet never leaves you your entire life ? Your identity 29. Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet you miss me, when I have flown. What am I? Time 30. Some try to hide, some try to cheat, but time will show, we always will meet. Try as you might, to guess my name, I promise you'll know, when you do claim. Who am I? Death

31. Four cars come to a four-way stop, all coming from a different direction. They can't decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. They do not crash into each other, but all four cars go. How is this possible? They all made right-hand turns 32. Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I? A match 33. I weaken all men for hours each day. I show you strange visions while you are away. I take you by night, by day take you back. None suffer to have me, but do from my lack. What am I? Sleep 34. He has married many women, but has never been married. Who is he? A preacher 35. My life is often a volume of grief , your help is needed to turn a new leaf. Stiff is my spine and my body is pale, but I'm always ready to tell a tale. What am I? A book 36. What has no hands but might knock on your door, and if it does you better open up? Opportunity 37. What do you throw out when you want to use it but take in when you don't want to use it? An anchor 38. I can be short and sometimes hot. When displayed, I rarely impress. What am I? Temper 39. What can be driven although it doesn't have wheels, sliced but stays whole? A golf ball 40. The cost of making only the maker knows, Valueless if bought, but sometimes traded. A poor man may give one as easily as a king. When one is broken pain and deceit are assured. What is it? Promise 41. What rocks but does not roll? A rocking chair

42. Shoot at me a thousand times and I may still survive. But, one scratch from me and you will find your prospects take a dive. What am I? An eight-ball 43. Why is the letter F like death? Because without it life is a lie, or it makes life a lie. 44. You do not want to have it, But when you do have it, You do not want to lose it.  What is it? A lawsuit

45. An elevator is on the ground floor. There are four people in the elevator including me. When the lift reaches the 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 elevator cable snaps, it crashes to the floor. Everyone else dies in the elevator except me. How did I survive? I got off on the first floor 46. Guess the next three letters in the series GTNTL. I, T, S. The complete sequence is the first letter of every word in the sentence. 47. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a long one. Michael J. Fox has a short one. Madonna does not use hers. Bill Clinton always uses his. The Pope never uses his. What is it? Last name 48. The number 8,549,176,320 is a unique number. What is so special about it? This is the only number that includes all the digits arranged in alphabetical order. 49. Find a number less than 100 that is increased by one-fifth of its value when its digits are reversed. 45 (1/5 of 45 = 9, 9 + 45 = 54) 50. What letter comes next in the following sequence? D R M F S L T_ D – each letter represents one note in the diatonic musical scale: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do Related: 75 Tongue Twisters

51. You are in a place called Wally’s World and there is only one law. There is a mirror, but no reflection. There is pizza with cheese, but not sausage. There is pepper, but no salt. There is a door, yet no entrance or exit. What is the law? Each word in Wally’s World must contain double letters. 52. I come in different shapes and sizes. Parts of me are curved, other parts are straight. You can put me anywhere you like, but there is only one right place for me. What am I? A puzzle piece 53. I have no eyes, no legs, or ears, and I help move the earth. What am I? An earthworm 54. A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most? An hourglass, with thousands of grains of sand 55.  What is unusual about the following words: revive, banana, grammar, voodoo, assess, potato, dresser, uneven? Take the first letter of each word and place it at the end. It will spell the same word backward.

56. Put a coin into an empty bottle and insert a cork into the neck. How can you remove the coin without removing the cork or breaking the bottle? Push the cork down into the bottle. Then shake the coin out. 57. In 1990, a person was 15 years old. In 1995, that same person was 10 years old. How can this be? The person was born in 2005 B.C. 58. You’re standing in a hallway with three light switches on the wall, each of which turns on a different lamp inside a closed room. You can’t see inside the room, and you can’t open the door except to enter the room. You can enter the room only once, and when you do, all the lamps must be turned off. How can you tell which switch turns on which lamp? Turn on the right switch and leave it on for two minutes. After two minutes, turn on the middle switch and leave it on for one minute. When that minute is up, turn off both switches and enter the room. One light bulb will be hot (1st switch) and one will be warm (2nd switch). The cold bulb will correspond to the switch you didn’t turn on. 59. Two boxers are in a match scheduled for 12 rounds. (Pure boxing only. There are no kicking or takedowns). One of the boxers gets knocked out after only six rounds, yet no man throws a punch. How is this possible? Both the boxers were female 60. What does this mean? I RIGHT I Right between the eyes Related: 101 Riddles

61. I have a large money box, 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall.  Roughly how many coins can I place until my money box is no longer empty? Just one, after which it will no longer be empty. 62. Brothers and sisters I have none but this man's father is my father's son. Who is the man? The man is my son 63. Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it. Who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it? A coffin 64. What runs all around a backyard, yet never moves? A fence 65. What tastes better than it smells? A tongue 66. What has a bottom at the top? Legs 67. What goes through cities and fields, but never moves? A road 68. During which month do people sleep the least? February (there are usually fewer nights in February). 69. What is made of water but if you put it into water it will die? An ice cube 70. Which creature walks on four legs in the morning , two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? Man. He crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane as an old man.

71. What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down, and can still be read from left to right? Noon 72. Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will! What am I? An onion 73.  A family has two parents and six sons. Each of the sons has one sister . How many people are in the family?  Nine. Two parents, six sons, one daughter! 74. The water level in a reservoir is low, but doubles every day. It takes 60 days to fill the reservoir. How long does it take for the reservoir to become half full? 59 days. If the water level doubles every day, the reservoir on any given day was half the size the day prior. If the reservoir is full on day 60, that means it was half full on day 59, not on day 30.

75. How far can a squirrel run into the woods? Halfway. After that, he's running back out of the woods. 76. Which word logically comes next in this sequence? Spots, tops, pots, opts… Stop. All the words are anagrams of each other. 77. Which tire doesn’t move when a car turns right? A spare tire 78. What do an island and the letter “t” have in common? They are both in the middle of water 79. Is the capital of Kentucky pronounced Louisville or Luee-ville? Neither. The capital is Frankfurt 80. On which side of a chicken are there more feathers? The outside

81. How can a man who shaves several times a day still sport a long beard? He’s a barber 82. What coat goes on wet?  A coat of paint 83. A rancher had 500 cows and took one shot that got them all. How did he do it? A panoramic photo 84. What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to? An echo 85. What can you keep after giving to someone? Your word

86. A man dies of old age on his 25 birthday . How is this possible? He was born on February 29th 87. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I? A bank 88. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it? Darkness 89. Where does today come before yesterday? The dictionary Related:  Trivia Questions for Kids

90. What can’t be put in a saucepan? Its lid 91. What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty? A blackboard 92. What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right? Your right elbow 93. What has many keys but can’t open a single lock? A piano 94. What is cut on a table, but is never eaten? A deck of cards 95. What kind of band doesn’t play music ? A rubber band

96. What building has the most stories? The library 97. It stalks the countryside with ears that can’t hear. What is it? Corn 98. A man describes his daughters, saying, “They are all blonde, but two; all brunette but two; and all redheaded but two.” How many daughters does he have? Three. A blonde, a brunette and a redhead 99. What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat? Chicago 100.  If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I? A mirror

101. What would you find in the middle of Toronto?

The letter “o”

Keep the fun going by checking out this giant list of 250 "Would You Rather?" questions  and 125 Trick Questions .

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Logic Puzzles Trivia

Logic puzzles.

• Brain Teasers Trivia

5 .   Tough Word Problems     Multiple Choice   5 Qns Get out the pencil and paper and get ready to exercise your brain. Average , 5 Qns, peachesbns, Jan 01 16 Average peachesbns 42058 plays

6 .   Who is Taller?     Multiple Choice   10 Qns For all ten questions, all you need to work out is who is the tallest or the shortest. (It may help to draw a diagram) Average , 10 Qns, Eema-U, Apr 12 07 Average Eema-U 32504 plays

7 .   Simpleton Learns Logic!     Multiple Choice   10 Qns Nothing much - just a simple test of logic! Average , 10 Qns, ace_sodium, Jul 09 17 Average ace_sodium 26729 plays

54 .   What happened to Tristan?     Multiple Choice   10 Qns Using the clues, figure out what each of Tristan's friends did after they left school. The first initials of the correct answers will spell a word which will give you an idea of what happened to Tristan. Average , 10 Qns, Codeine, Aug 02 17 Average Codeine 242 plays

55 .   Colours of Death     Multiple Choice   10 Qns My colleague Mike De'ath (MD) has taken the day off to get ready for Halloween and I get to take over dispensing his strangely coloured pills. Unfortunately he only leaves incomplete notes to help me get it right. Help me sort out this nightmare. Average , 10 Qns, suomy, Nov 09 19 Average suomy Nov 09 19 253 plays

56 .   Logical Operations in Mathematics     Match Quiz   10 Qns Match Logic Puzzle No. 1. Use your logic to correctly match the mathematical operations to their descriptions given. A grid may help. Curiously, no mathematics required. Enjoy! Tough , 10 Qns, angikar, Mar 28 18 Tough angikar Mar 28 18 344 plays

58 .   Puzzle Pizzazz     Multiple Choice   10 Qns My waiting colleague Zack Boris Dryden (which I shorten to Zebedee) has suddenly taken ill and I get to take over one of his tables. Being a puzzle buff, he leaves only a series of clues to help me. Can you help me sort out this merry-go-round? Average , 10 Qns, suomy, Aug 12 14 Average suomy 436 plays

59 .   Youngest or Eldest?     Multiple Choice   10 Qns I'll give you a list of names, and all you have to do is determine who's oldest or youngest. Have fun and good luck! Average , 10 Qns, Jazmee27, Nov 06 10 Average Jazmee27 822 plays

64 .   Youngest, Eldest or in Between 4     Multiple Choice   10 Qns This is the fourth quiz of Youngest, Eldest or in Between, hope you enjoy it! Average , 10 Qns, cavaliersrock, Sep 19 18 Average cavaliersrock Sep 19 18 1850 plays

66 .   Jest a Drop     Multiple Choice   10 Qns The Hundred Acre Wood is having a blood drive today. Using a pencil and paper, create a grid to keep track of the clues and work out the answers regarding the blood donations. Tough , 10 Qns, bwfc10, May 16 20 Tough bwfc10 May 16 20 124 plays

68 .   Freshly Fragranced     Multiple Choice   10 Qns There are five air fresheners in my house. Each one has a different manufacturer, fragrance and lifetime. If you can work out which one is which and where they are in my house, you should be able to answer all the questions. Good Luck! Average , 10 Qns, hrrgrah, Jul 12 08 Average hrrgrah 694 plays

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Brain Teasers, Puzzles and Games for Teens and Adults

It is always good to learn more about our brains and to exer­cise them! .

Fun teasers on how our brains and minds work:

2. You say you can count? Check out this brief  atten­tion experiment

3. Test your stress level

4. Guess: Are there more con­nec­tions in one human brain or leaves in the whole Amazon?

Challenge your cognitive abilities with these brain teaser games:

5.  Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal muscles

6. Count the Fs in this sentence

7.  Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?

Visual illusions:

8.  Ten clas­sic opti­cal illu­sions  to trick your mind

9. What do you see?

10. Fun  Men­tal Rota­tion challenge

11.  What is going on with these pictures?

Language and logic mind teasers:

12. Which way is the bus head­ing ?

13. Where do words go?

14. Join this par­ty for polyglots

15.  Fun & Brainy Haikus . Yours?

A few visual workouts to challenge your mind:

16. Is a cir­cle a circle?

17. Less obvi­ous than it may appear

18. How many…

How’s your pattern recognition?

19. Proverbs to  exer­cise your mem­ory and reasoning

21. Good puz­zle for the whole brain:  The Blind Beggar

22. Find the  the Real­ly, Real­ly, Real­ly Big Number

Fun brain teasers for the workplace:

23. Please  con­sider Lin­da ’s job prospects

24. A few guessti­ma­tions  often used in con­sult­ing and tech interviews

25. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

What does it mean when you don’t see mov­ing circles?

I don’t know

Thanks for nothing

there is no car ?

they are not moving

then its the let­ter o

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9 tricky logic puzzles to test your problem solving skills

Make your brain earn its keep with these hard puzzles..

Christopher McFadden

1 ,  2

Would you like to exercise your brain today? Then, here are 9 tricky puzzles to give your grey-matter a good workout .

We have provided the solutions as links at the end of each puzzle below, in case you want to have a go before checking your answers. Enjoy, and good luck!

What are some difficult logical puzzles that will sharpen your mind?

So, without further ado, here are some examples of difficult puzzles that will certainly hone your mental acuity. Trust us when we say this list is far from exhaustive and is in no particular order.

1. The riddle of the farmer

IntangibleArts/Flickr

This first puzzle is a bit of a classic. Just suppose you had a farmer who needs to transport a fox, a chicken, and some corn across a river.

He only has a small boat that can only carry him and one of them with him per crossing. The farmer needs to get all three items across the river in one piece.

But there is a problem. He can’t leave the fox and chicken alone as the fox will eat the chicken. Likewise, he can’t leave the chicken with the corn as the chicken will munch down on the corn.

So, can you figure out how the farmer could solve this problem?

Here is the solution if you want to test your workings. 

2. The rope bridge at night problem

Frerk Meyer/Flickr

This next puzzle is another head-scratcher. Suppose there are four people trying to cross a rather dodgy rope bridge in the middle of the night.

Only two of them can cross it at a time and they only have a single flashlight between them. For this reason, one person of each pair must return to help the others get across.

But time is limited; they are being chased and need to get across within 17 minutes total. Sounds simple enough, except each person can only cross the bridge at a certain rate.

One person takes 1 minute to cross the bridge. The second takes 2 minutes , the third 5 , and the last person 10 minutes .

Each pair can only cross as fast as the slowest member of the pair. How can they all cross the bridge in time?

Here is the solution if you want to see if you were right. 

3. The burning rope timer problem

WildInWoods/Flickr

Let’s suppose you needed to measure a time of exactly 45 minutes but only had a couple of old ropes coated in oil and a lighter. You know that each rope takes exactly 1 hour to burn all the way through.

But the ropes do not burn at a uniform rate with spots that will burn a little faster than others. Whatever the case, and location of these slow and fast burn spots, the entire rope still burns up in exactly an hour.

You can burn the ropes at either end or at multiple points at the same time. How would you measure exactly three-quarters of an hour?

Here is the solution . 

4. The heads or tails coin problem

William Warby/Flickr

Just suppose you are sitting at a table strewn with hundreds or thousands of coins . You are blindfolded, so you cannot see the coins, and you don’t know how many there are.

You are told that 20 of the coins are tails-side up while the rest are heads up. You can move the coins and flip them over as much as you want but you will never be able to see what you doing. 

While you can feel the coins, you are unable to determine which side is which. 

How then, would you separate the coins into two piles that have the same number of tails-side-up coins? Remember the number of coins per pile does not need to be the same. 

Here is the solution , if you are curious. 

5. The classic water jug problem

Dwight Sipler/Flickr

Here is another classic puzzle that will sharpen your mind. Let’s suppose you need to measure out exactly 4 liters of water.

But, of course, you have a problem. You have two containers each 3 and 5 liters in volume respectively. 

Each container has no other marking except for the fact that it only provides its known volume. Using a running tap to fill them how would you measure out exactly 4 liters ?

Here is the solution , if you want to check your answer.

6. The riddle of the Gods

roadscum/Flickr

Touted as one of the hardest puzzles to solve ever , this one is certainly a fun challenge. Let’s suppose we have three gods called, in no particular order, “True”, “False” and “Random”.

We don’t know which is which, so, for now, we will label them A, B, and C respectively.

“True” always tells the truth. “False” always lies, and “Random” lies or tells the truth at random.

You are tasked with identifying which one is which by asking three yes-no questions. Also, you can only ask one god one question at any one time.

But it’s a little more complex than that. Each god understands English but will only answer in their own language as “da” or “ja” — but you can’t understand if the answers are in the affirmative or not.

How would you solve this? Here is the solution . 

7. Escape from the field

halfshutter/Flickr

Let’s suppose you have been placed in a circular field of unknown radius R. The field has a low fence around it.

Attached to the wire fence is a large, angry, sharp-fanged and hungry dog who loves nothing more than eating human flesh. You can run at a speed v, while the dog can run exactly 4-times as fast as you.

The dog, as it is attached to the fence can only travel around the perimeter. How would you escape from the field in one piece?

8. The apples and oranges puzzle

WriterGal39/Flickr

Here is another annoying problem that needs solving . Let’s suppose you work in a fruit factory that boxes apples and oranges. 

One day, the labeling machine goes haywire and incorrectly labels the crates of fruit. Your coworker decides to have a bit of fun and pulls out three crates of fruit and tells you that one has just oranges in it, the second just apples, and the third a mixture of the two.

One of the crates is labeled “O” for oranges, another “A” for apples, and the third “A+O” for apples and oranges. But the labels lie.

You can pick one crate and your coworker will pull a single fruit from it to show you. You are only able to do this once. 

How can you figure out which crate actually has only oranges, only apples, and a mixture of the two? Here is the solution . 

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9. the mystery hat puzzle.

Neil Moralee/Flickr

And finally, let’s suppose you have a dark closet with five hats in it. There are three blue, and two red ones. 

Three men go into the closet and each selects a hat at random in the dark and places it on their head. Once outside the closet, each man is unable to tell what color their own hat is. 

The first man looks at the others and says “I cannot tell what color my hat is!”. The second hears this, looks at the other two, and declares “I cannot tell what color my hat is either!”.

The third man, who is blind, confidently declares “I know exactly what color mine is!”. 

What color is his hat? Here is the solution .

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

Christopher McFadden Christopher graduated from Cardiff University in 2004 with a Masters Degree in Geology. Since then, he has worked exclusively within the Built Environment, Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Consultancy industries. He is a qualified and accredited Energy Consultant, Green Deal Assessor and Practitioner member of IEMA. Chris’s main interests range from Science and Engineering, Military and Ancient History to Politics and Philosophy.

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20 Tough Riddles for Adults That Will Have You Scratching Your Head

Put your logic and math skills to the test. No cheating!

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us?

So go grab a pencil and a piece of scratch paper and prepare to rip your hair out (and we really do mean that in the best way possible). When you think you’ve got the right answer, click the link at the bottom of each riddle to find the solution. Got it wrong? No worries, you have 19 other riddles to test out.

Navigate Through Our Riddles:

Puzzmo / The King’s Orders / How Many Eggs? / The Gold Chain / Pickleball / Circuit Breaker / Two Trains, Two Grandmas / Ant Math / Peppermint Patty / Great American Rail Trail / A Cruel SAT Problem / Movie Stars Cross a River / Tribute to a Math Genius / One Belt, One Earth / Elbow Tapping / Whiskey Problem / Doodle Problem / Stumping Scientists / What ’ s On Her Forehead? / Keanu for President / Who Opened the Lockers?

Riddle No. 1: The King’s Orders Make for One Hell of a Brain Teaser

Difficulty: easy.

King Nupe of the kingdom Catan dotes on his two daughters so much that he decides the kingdom would be better off with more girls than boys, and he makes the following decree: All child-bearing couples must continue to bear children until they have a daughter!

But to avoid overpopulation, he makes an additional decree: All child-bearing couples will stop having children once they have a daughter! His subjects immediately begin following his orders.

After many years, what’s the expected ratio of girls to boys in Catan?

The likelihood of each baby born being a girl is, of course, 50 percent.

Ready for the solution? Click here to see if you’re right .

Riddle No. 2: How Many Eggs Does This Hen Lay?

This problem is in honor of my dad, Harold Feiveson. It’s due to him that I love math puzzles, and this is one of the first problems (of many) that he gave me when I was growing up.

A hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs does one hen lay in one day?

Riddle No. 3: The Gold Chain Math Problem Is Deceptively Simple

Difficulty: moderate.

You’re rummaging around your great grandmother’s attic when you find five short chains each made of four gold links. It occurs to you that if you combined them all into one big loop of 20 links, you’d have an incredible necklace. So you bring it into a jeweler, who tells you the cost of making the necklace will be $10 for each gold link that she has to break and then reseal.

How much will it cost?

Riddle No. 4: Try to Solve This Pickleball Puzzle

Difficulty: 🚨hard🚨.

Kenny, Abby, and Ned got together for a round-robin pickleball tournament, where, as usual, the winner stays on after each game to play the person who sat out that game. At the end of their pickleball afternoon, Abby is exhausted, having played the last seven straight games. Kenny, who is less winded, tallies up the games played:

Kenny played eight games

Abby played 12 games

Ned played 14 games

Who won the fourth game against whom?

How many total games were played?

Riddle No. 5: Our Circuit Breaker Riddle Is Pure Evil. Sorry.

The circuit breaker box in your new house is in an inconvenient corner of your basement. To your chagrin, you discover none of the 100 circuit breakers is labeled, and you face the daunting prospect of matching each circuit breaker to its respective light. (Suppose each circuit breaker maps to only one light.)

To start with, you switch all 100 lights in the house to “on,” and then you head down to your basement to begin the onerous mapping process. On every trip to your basement, you can switch any number of circuit breakers on or off. You can then roam the hallways of your house to discover which lights are on and which are off.

What is the minimum number of trips you need to make to the basement to map every circuit breaker to every light?

The solution does not involve either switching on or off the light switches in your house or feeling how hot the lightbulbs are. You might want to try solving for the case of 10 unlabeled circuit breakers first.

Riddle No. 6: Two Trains. Two Grandmas. Can You Solve This Tricky Math Riddle?

Jesse’s two grandmothers want to see him every weekend, but they live on opposite sides of town. As a compromise, he tells them that every Sunday, he’ll head to the subway station nearest to his apartment at a random time of the day and will hop on the next train that arrives.

If it happens to be the train traveling north, he’ll visit his Grandma Erica uptown, and if it happens to be the train traveling south, he’ll visit his Grandma Cara downtown. Both of his grandmothers are okay with this plan, since they know both the northbound and southbound trains run every 20 minutes.

But after a few months of doing this, Grandma Cara complains that she sees him only one out of five Sundays. Jesse promises he’s indeed heading to the station at a random time each day. How can this be?

The trains always arrive at their scheduled times.

Riddle No. 7: Here’s a Really F@*#ing Hard Math Problem About Ants

Max and Rose are ant siblings. They love to race each other, but always tie, since they actually crawl at the exact same speed. So they decide to create a race where one of them (hopefully) will win.

For this race, each of them will start at the bottom corner of a cuboid, and then crawl as fast as they can to reach a crumb at the opposite corner. The measurements of their cuboids are as pictured:

If they both take the shortest possible route to reach their crumb, who will reach their crumb first? (Don’t forget they’re ants, so of course they can climb anywhere on the edges or surface of the cuboid.)

Remember: Think outside the box.

Riddle No. 8: This Peppermint Patty Riddle Is Practically Impossible

You’re facing your friend, Caryn, in a “candy-off,” which works as follows: There’s a pile of 100 caramels and one peppermint patty. You and Caryn will go back and forth taking at least one and no more than five caramels from the candy pile in each turn. The person who removes the last caramel will also get the peppermint patty. And you love peppermint patties.

Suppose Caryn lets you decide who goes first. Who should you choose in order to make sure you win the peppermint patty?

First, solve for a pile of 10 caramels.

Riddle No. 9: Can You Solve the Great American Rail-Trail Riddle?

This problem was suggested by the physicist P. Jeffrey Ungar.

Finally, the Great American Rail-Trail across the whole country is complete! Go ahead, pat yourself on the back—you’ve just installed the longest handrail in the history of the world, with 4,000 miles from beginning to end. But just after the opening ceremony, your assistant reminds you that the metal you used for the handrail expands slightly in summer, so that its length will increase by one inch in total.

“Ha!” you say, “One inch in a 4,000 mile handrail? That’s nothing!” But … are you right?

Let’s suppose when the handrail expands, it buckles upward at its weakest point, which is in the center. How much higher will pedestrians in the middle of the country have to reach in summer to grab the handrail? That is, in the figure below, what is h ? (For the purposes of this question, ignore the curvature of the Earth and assume the trail is a straight line.)

Pythagoras is a fascinating historical figure.

Riddle No. 10: This Riddle Is Like an Especially Cruel SAT Problem. Can You Find the Answer?

Amanda lives with her teenage son, Matt, in the countryside—a car ride away from Matt’s school. Every afternoon, Amanda leaves the house at the same time, drives to the school at a constant speed, picks Matt up exactly when his chess club ends at 5 p.m., and then they immediately return home together at the same constant speed. But one day, Matt isn’t feeling well, so he leaves chess practice early and starts to head home on his portable scooter.

After Matt has been scooting for an hour, Amanda comes across him in her car (on her usual route to pick him up), and they return together, arriving home 40 minutes earlier than they usually do. How much chess practice did Matt miss?

Consider the case where Amanda meets Matt exactly as she’s leaving their house.

Riddle No. 11: Can You Get These 3 Movie Stars Across the River?

Three movie stars, Chloe, Lexa, and Jon, are filming a movie in the Amazon. They’re very famous and very high-maintenance, so their agents are always with them. One day, after filming a scene deep in the rainforest, the three actors and their agents decide to head back to home base by foot. Suddenly, they come to a large river.

On the riverbank, they find a small rowboat, but it’s only big enough to hold two of them at one time. The catch? None of the agents are comfortable leaving their movie star with any other agents if they’re not there as well. They don’t trust that the other agents won’t try to poach their star.

For example, Chloe’s agent is okay if Chloe and Lexa are alone in the boat or on one of the riverbanks, but definitely not okay if Lexa’s agent is also with them. So how can they all get across the river?

There isn’t just one way to solve this problem.

Riddle No. 12: This Ludicrously Hard Riddle Is Our Tribute to a Late Math Genius. Can You Figure It Out?

On April 11, John Horton Conway , a brilliant mathematician who had an intense and playful love of puzzles and games, died of complications from COVID-19. Conway is the inventor of one of my favorite legendary problems (not for the faint of heart) and, famously, the Game of Life . I created this problem in his honor.

Carol was creating a family tree, but had trouble tracking down her mother’s birthdate. The only clue she found was a letter written from her grandfather to her grandmother on the day her mother was born. Unfortunately, some of the characters were smudged out, represented here with a “___” . (The length of the line does not reflect the number of smudged characters.)

“Dear Virginia,

Little did I know when I headed to work this Monday morning, that by evening we would have a beautiful baby girl. And on our wedding anniversary, no less! It makes me think back to that incredible weekend day, J___ 27th, 19___ , when we first shared our vow to create a family together, and, well, here we are! Happy eighth anniversary, my love.

Love, Edwin”

The question: When was Carol’s mother born?

This problem is inspired by Conway’s Doomsday Rule .

Riddle No. 13: To Solve This Twisty Math Riddle, You Just Need One Belt and One Earth

Imagine you have a very long belt. Well, extremely long, really … in fact, it’s just long enough that it can wrap snugly around the circumference of our entire planet. (For the sake of simplicity, let’s suppose Earth is perfectly round, with no mountains, oceans, or other barriers in the way of the belt.)

Naturally, you’re very proud of your belt. But then your brother, Peter, shows up—and to your disgruntlement, he produces a belt that’s just a bit longer than yours. He brags his belt is longer by exactly his height: 6 feet.

If Peter were also to wrap his belt around the circumference of Earth, how far above the surface could he suspend the belt if he pulled it tautly and uniformly?

Earth’s circumference is about 25,000 miles, or 130 million feet … but you don’t need to know that to solve this problem.

Riddle No. 14: This Elbow Tapping Riddle Is Diabolical. Good Luck Solving It.

In some future time, when the shelter-in-place bans are lifted, a married couple, Florian and Julia, head over to a bar to celebrate their newfound freedom.

They find four other couples there who had the same idea.

Eager for social contact, every person in the five couples enthusiastically taps elbows (the new handshake) with each person they haven’t yet met .

It actually turns out many of the people had known each other prior, so when Julia asks everyone how many elbows they each tapped, she remarkably gets nine different answers!

The question: How many elbows did Florian tap?

What nine answers did Julia hear?

Riddle No. 15: You’ll Need a Drink After Trying to Solve This Whisky Riddle

Alan and Claire live by the old Scottish saying, “Never have whisky without water, nor water without whisky!” So one day, when Alan has in front of him a glass of whisky, and Claire has in front of her a same-sized glass of water, Alan takes a spoonful of his whisky and puts it in Claire’s water. Claire stirs her whisky-tinted water, and then puts a spoonful of this mixture back into Alan’s whisky to make sure they have exactly the same amount to drink.

So: Is there more water in Alan’s whisky, or more whisky in Claire’s water? And does it matter how well Claire stirred?

The size of the spoon does not matter.

Riddle No. 16: The Doodle Problem Is a Lot Harder Than It Looks. Can You Solve It?

This week’s riddle is relatively simple—but sinister all the same.

The question: Can you make 100 by interspersing any number of pluses and minuses within the string of digits 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1? You can’t change the order of the digits! So what’s the least number of pluses and minuses needed to make 100?

For instance, 98 - 7 - 6 + 54 - 32 shows one way of interspersing pluses and minuses, but since it equals 107, it’s not a solution.

I call this a “doodle problem”: one that’s best worked on during meetings where you might be doodling otherwise.

You might want to start looking for solutions that use a total of seven pluses and minuses (although there are ways to use fewer).

Ready for the solution? Click here to see if you’re right.

Riddle No. 17: This Math Puzzle Stumped Every Scientist but One. Think You Can Crack It?

Difficulty: hard.

In honor of Freeman Dyson, the renowned physicist who died last month , here’s a legendary tale demonstrating his quick wit and incredible brain power.

One day, in a gathering of top scientists, one of them wondered out loud whether there exists an integer that you could exactly double by moving its last digit to its front. For instance, 265 would satisfy this if 526 were its exact double—which it isn’t.

After apparently just five seconds , Dyson responded, “Of course there is, but the smallest such number has 18 digits.”

This left some of the smartest scientists in the world puzzling over how he could have figured this out so quickly.

So given Dyson’s hint, what is the smallest such number?

My second grader has recently learned how to add a 3-digit number to itself using the classic vertical method:

18-digit numbers, of course, can be added in the same way.

Riddle No. 18: Figure Out What’s on Her Forehead

Cecilia loves testing the logic of her very logical friends Jaya, Julian, and Levi, so she announces:

“I’ll write a positive number on each of your foreheads. None of the numbers are the same, and two of the numbers add up to the third.”

She scribbles the numbers on their heads, then turns to Jaya and asks her what her number is. Jaya sees Julian has 20 on his forehead, and Levi has 30 on his. She thinks for a moment and then says, “I don’t know what my number is.” Julian pipes in, “I also don’t know my number,” and then Levi exclaims, “Me neither!” Cecilia gleefully says, “I’ve finally stumped you guys!”

“Not so fast!” Jaya says. “Now I know my number!”

What is Jaya’s number?

Jaya could be one of two numbers, but only one of those numbers would lead to Julian and Levi both not knowing their numbers. Why?

Riddle No. 19: Can You Get Keanu Reeves Elected As President?

It’s 2024, and there are five candidates running in the democratic primary: Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Keanu Reeves, and Dwayne Johnson. (Hey, it could happen.) As usual, the first primary is in Iowa.

In an effort to overcome its embarrassment after the 2020 caucus debacle , the Iowa Democratic Party has just announced a new, foolproof way of finding the best candidate: there will be four consecutive elections.

First, candidate 1 will run against candidate 2. Next, the winner of that will run against candidate 3, then that winner will run against candidate 4, and finally the winner of that election will run against the final candidate. By the transitive property, the winner of this last election must be the best candidate ... so says the Iowa Democratic Party.

Candidate Keanu has been feeling pretty low, as he knows he is ranked near the bottom by most voters, and at the top by none. In fact, he knows the Iowa population is divided into five equal groups, and that their preferences are as follows:

Keanu is childhood friends with Bill S. Preston, Esq., the new head of the Iowa Democratic Party. Preston, confident that the order of the candidates doesn’t matter for the outcome, tells Keanu he can choose the voting order of the candidates.

So what order should Keanu choose?

How would Keanu fare in one-to-one races against each candidate?

Riddle No. 20: Who Opened All These Damn Lockers?

There are 100 lockers that line the main hallway of Chelm High School. Every night, the school principal makes sure all the lockers are closed so that there will be an orderly start to the next day. One day, 100 mischievous students decide that they will play a prank.

The students all meet before school starts and line up. The first student then walks down the hallway, and opens every locker. The next student follows by closing every other locker (starting at the second locker). Student 3 then goes to every third locker (starting with the third) and opens it if it’s closed, and closes it if it’s open. Student 4 follows by opening every fourth locker if it’s closed and closing it if it’s open. This goes on and on until Student 100 finally goes to the hundredth locker. When the principal arrives later in the morning, which lockers does she find open?

Make sure you pay attention to all of the factors.

Laura Feiveson is an economist for the government, a storyteller, and a lifelong enthusiast of math puzzles.  She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two daughters. 

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40 riddles and brain teasers to test your general knowledge

Try out some of the best riddle quiz questions around, as well as some tricky brain teasers

• 15:58, 12 MAY 2020
• Updated 09:00, 25 JAN 2023

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Think you are a bit of a genius problem solver? Then have a go at our challenging riddles and tricky brain teasers.

You may already think you're a know-it-all when it comes to quizzes but this is a whole different ball (or mind) game. So if you are up to the test why not get your brain in action with our 40 questions and answers below.

We have put together a hefty list of some of the best and hardest riddles and teasers around, just for you to try out. Some of them may seem simple but don't be fooled, they will leave you pulling your hair out until you know the answers.

So, whether you’re a riddle wizard or fancy trying something new we have all the top teasers and answers all in one place. Scroll down below to put your mind’s puzzle power to the test.

1. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?

2. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?

3. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

4. What can you catch, but not throw?

5. What has to be broken before you can use it?

6. I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?

7. What goes up but never comes down?

8. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?

9. What can travel all around the world without leaving its corner?

10. What question can you never answer yes to?

11. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?

12. What has 13 hearts, but no other organs?

13. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

14. What can fill a room but takes up no space?

15. What has one eye, but can’t see?

16. If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?

17. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?

18. What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks?

19. I am always hungry and will die if not fed, but whatever I touch will soon turn red. What am I?

20. What has one head, one foot and four legs?

21. The person who makes it has no need of it; the person who buys it has no use for it. The person who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?

22. I have lakes with no water, mountains with no stone and cities with no buildings. What am I?

23. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?

24. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

25. What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?

26. What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?

27. What can point in every direction but can't reach the destination by itself.

28. What has many keys, but can't even open a single door?

29. A man rode out of town on Sunday, he stayed a whole night at a hotel and rode back to town the next day on Sunday. How is this possible?

30. What has six faces, but does not wear makeup, has twenty-one eyes, but cannot see? What is it?

31. This is as light as a feather, yet no man can hold it for long. What am I?

32. What runs around the whole yard without moving?

33. The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?

34. I have two hands, but I can not scratch myself. What am I?

35. Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. what is it?

36. What goes up when the rain comes down?

37. I have no feet, no hands, no wings, but I climb to the sky. What am I?

38. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?

39. I am full of holes but I can still hold water. What am I?

40. I can be cracked, I can be made. I can be told, I can be played. What am I?

1. The future

2. A promise

6. A candle

7. Your age

8. Darkness

10. Are you asleep yet?

11. Silence

12. A deck of cards

13. A river

15. A needle

16. A mirror

17. Footsteps

18. Day, and night

21. A coffin

23. A Penny

24. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

25. An envelope

26. Your name

27. Your finger

28. A piano

29. His horse was called Sunday

31. Your breath

32. A fence

34. A clock

35. Nothing

36. An umbrella

38. A secret

39. A sponge

Test yourself with these:

• 50 more riddles and brain teasers to test your general knowledge
• 20 dinosaur quiz questions to test your fossil-mad friends
• 20 animal pub quiz questions to test your general knowledge
• 90s quiz: 40 questions you'll only get right if you grew up in this time
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Problem Solving Games, Activities & Exercises for Adults

By: Angela Robinson | Updated: February 13, 2024

Here is our list of the best problem solving games, activities and exercises for adults.

Problem solving games are activities that require players to use critical thinking skills to solve puzzles. Example activities include escape rooms, Sudoku, and murder mysteries. The purpose of these exercises is to sharpen reasoning and decision-making skills in group settings and to do team building with employees.

These activities are a subset of remote team games , found in problem solving books , and are similar to team puzzles , team building brain teasers and team riddles .

This article contains:

• team building problem solving activities for employees
• free problem solving games for adults
• virtual problem solving activities for students
• group problem solving activities
• problem solving team builders

Here we go!

List of problem solving games & activities

From word and number puzzles to role-playing games, here is a list of inexpensive and free problem solving team builders that help groups practice the art of critical thinking and compromise.

1. Espionage! (Team Favorite)

For an exciting game of social deduction, check out Espionage! This thrilling experience will put your team’s wits and instincts to the test.

Espionage! offers the following:

• a 90-minute session led by an experienced host
• undercover teams of agents and spies
• challenging puzzles, tasks, and maneuvers
• team conversations to help uncover secret identities

The best part is we will bring all the necessary game materials to your preferred location. If you are interested in boosting communication and critical-thinking skills within your team, then consider Espionage!

Learn more about Espionage!

2. Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh (Hosted)

You can turn your team into skilled detectives with Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh! In this captivating mystery, participants will locate the stolen artwork, The Bedroom .

Key features of this experience include:

• a 90-minute adventure led by a world-class host
• detailed puzzles, clues, and mysteries to unravel
• trails of evidence and hidden secrets
• group discussions to find the art

Additionally, you can include a cocktail kit to spice up your event. Through Art Heist, you will enhance your team’s ingenuity and problem-solving skills!

Learn more about Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh .

Get our free team building toolbox

• icebreaker games
• bingo cards

3. War of the Wizards (Popular)

With War of the Wizards, teams roleplay as minions of powerful wizards to vanquish forces of evil. Participants will play thrilling games and go on a quest to restore harmony to the realm!

War of the Wizards offers the following:

• a 90-minute journey guided by a distinguished host
• immersive storytelling that transports players into a magical realm
• engaging activities like world-building, role-playing games, and storytelling
• opportunities for forming alliances, facing challenges, and going on quests

Through the power of imagination and teamwork, your team can overcome tasks and participate in an epic fantasy battle. To improve communication and bonds, include War of the Wizards in your agenda!

Learn more about War of the Wizards .

Sudoku is one of the most popular free problem solving games for adults. The objective of this game is to fill each box of a 9×9 grid so that every row, column, and letter contains each number from one to nine. The puzzle makes a great team challenge. To play Sudoku on Zoom, screen share the game board. Then, turn on the annotation features. Using the add text functions, participants can fill in the numbers on the grid.

We made a starter puzzle you can use in your next meeting or virtual team bonding session:

Here are more online Sudoku puzzles .

5. Crossword puzzles

Crossword puzzles are word games that ask players to fill in words based on clues. Words interconnect, and players must think critically about the surrounding words to select the right phrase for the space.

You can use an online crossword puzzle maker to create a custom puzzle. Here are a few themes you may want to consider:

• teammates’ tastes and interests
• company knowledge and history
• industry terms and trends

Or, create a miscellaneous puzzle just for fun.

We made a sample puzzle you can use for your game:

To complete puzzles during online meetings, you can use the share screen function and add text through annotations.

Or, subscribers can play the New York Times’ daily crossword puzzle virtually . Dictionary.com also offers a free daily online crossword puzzle .

Check out more vocabulary games .

6. Online Escape Rooms

Escape rooms are timed games that get groups working together to solve puzzles. Traditionally, players enter a locked room and must complete all puzzles in an hour or two to unlock the door. However, groups can also play escape rooms online.

Digital escape rooms typically come in one of two forms: in a Zoom room and led by a host, or in a choose-your-own adventure format via Google Forms or websites. To play escape rooms virtually, enter a video meeting and follow the prompts, or screen share the Google Form and work out the puzzles together.

Check out our full list of online escape rooms .

7. Murder Mysteries

Murder Mysteries are story-based games that ask players to take on the roles of suspects or detectives while trying to identify a killer. These games often involve reading lines from a script, searching for clues, and occasionally solving puzzles to get hints.

These games make participants pay attention to conversations, analyze other characters’ behavior, and search for hidden meaning in the script. Players must use their powers of observation and logic to unravel the mystery.

Check out our list of Zoom murder mystery games .

8. Treasure Hunts

Treasure hunts are scavenger hunts with intention. While virtual scavenger hunts often ask players to collect random items, treasure hunts require participants to locate clues that lead to other prompts and hints. The game typically ends with players finding a treasure or solving a mystery, sometimes both.

The treasure hunt can have a specific theme such as secret agent missions or a hunt for pirate treasure, or you can run a more general hunt. Teammates can either compete simultaneously via Zoom call, or can play the hunt on an app individually and compete to beat each other’s scores.

Check out our list of treasure hunt apps .

9. Poem or story challenge

Most team building problem solving activities for employees revolve around science, math, and logic. Poem/story challenges rely on writing skills and are sure to appeal to the language lovers on your team.

Each player receives a limited word bank to use to create a story or poem. Then, players have a few minutes to craft their pieces. Afterward, everyone reads out or screen shares their creations.

Here are a few word challenge activities you can do remotely:

• Found poems or stories : Participants make poems or stories out of words they find by visiting websites, searching emails, glancing out the window, or taking a walk or drive around the neighborhood.
• Random word generators : Teammates use a random word generator to populate a word bank, and must use each word in the poem or story.
• Poetry magnets : Group members make poems using poetry magnets. You can send poetry magnet sets to employees and assemble the verses on a cookie pan during a Zoom call. Or, teammates can play with poetry magnets online .
• Page poems: Participants receive one page of a book or magazine, and must make a poem or story by blocking out other words so only the chosen text remains visible. This activity is part storytelling, part art, since story crafters can illustrate the pages as part of the design.
• Ransom note stories or poems : Players cut out letters from magazines and must form new words to make poems and stories. Or, players can receive a mix of random letters, form words, and run the text through a ransom note generator .

These activities are suitable for teams and individual players.

10. Moral challenge

Some problems are ethical rather than factual. Moral judgment plays just as important a role in the decision-making process as technical prowess. Players can flex their moral problem-solving skills by tackling ethical dilemmas or social puzzles.

Here are some social problem solving games online:

• Moral machine
• Scruples – the game of moral dilemmas
• Morality play

To play these games, either download the apps, or pull up the website and then screen share the prompts. These games are best played when discussed as a group, because the more belief systems and opinions, the harder an issue is to resolve. These exercises provide practice for real-life conflict resolution.

You can find similar challenges on our list of online personality tests .

11. Frostbite

Frostbite is a group game that hones team leaders’ communication skills while sharpening teammates’ listening and cooperation skills. The premise behind the game is that a group of explorers gets caught in a snowstorm and must build a shelter. Frostbite has paralyzed the leaders’ hands and snow-blinded the rest of the team. The leader must give the team instructions to build a tent that can resist arctic winds.

To play Frostbite, each teammate wears a blindfold. Then, the leader gives directions. Once the structures are complete, players turn on a fan to test whether tents can withstand the wind.

Frostbite is usually an in-person game, however you can also play virtually. In the remote version of the game, teammates construct tents out of cards and tape, while the leader surveys the scene on screen.

This exercise demonstrates the challenges of leading remotely, as teams need to operate with minimal oversight or supervisor observation. Therefore, instructions need to be clear and direct to be effective.

Check out more team building games .

12. Virtual Hackathons

Hackathons are events where participants have a set amount of time to design and pitch a new product or solution. This type of event originated in the programming world and is often used to create new apps, however you can apply the game to any industry or school subject.

Virtual hackathons are online versions of the event. Teams enter the competition, then work with each other via virtual meeting software or remote work communication platforms to design the solution. At the end of the competition, teams pitch ideas to a panel of judges and a winner is decided.

To run a virtual hackathon, first announce the theme of the event and collect sign-ups. So that no teams work ahead, hint at the general idea of the issue, and only explain the precise problem when the event begins. Then, give teams anywhere from a few hours to a few days to complete the project.

Discover more virtual hackathon ideas .

13. Improv games

Improv games are excellent problem solving activities. These exercises force participants to think and respond quickly to keep scenes moving in a logical and entertaining way.

Here are some good problem solving improv games:

Banned words : Performers cannot say certain words. Scene partners will conceive of situations that encourage the actors to use those words, and the actors must find alternatives, such as using synonyms or taking the scene in a new direction.

Scenes from a chat : Audience gives a suggestion for a scene, and players act the scene out. Though it’s a fictional and often ridiculous scenario, actors must react to the situation and solve the problem in order for the scene to end.

Miracle cure : Miracle cure is a quick-moving exercise that follows a simple format. One player declares, “I have a problem.” Another player responds, “I have a….[random object.]” The first player then replies, “great! I can use the [random object] to….” and describes how they will solve the problem.

Check out more problem-solving improv games .

14. Spaghetti Tower

The spaghetti tower is a classic team building game. Participants gather uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows, and must construct the tallest freestanding tower.

During the in-person version, players must construct one tall freestanding tower. However, for the virtual version of the game, players construct individual towers. You can send groups to breakout rooms for the build, then reconvene in the main room for judging. Teams are judged on three main factors: number of towers, height, and uniformity.

This version of the game not only tests the structural integrity of the tower, but also consistency and quality control. This exercise teaches teams to align and collaborate remotely, and produce a consistent product even when far apart.

15. What Would You Do?

What Would You Do? is a simple situational game that challenges participants to react to different circumstances. To play this game, read prompts one by one, and then ask participants to respond with gameplans. You can use the polling or raise hand feature to vote for the best option.

Here are some problem solving scenarios for adults or kids to use in the game:

• Zombies attack and you have to find a place to hide.
• You are at the zoo and the animals escape. Which one do you try to corral back into the pen first?
• After waiting in line for hours, someone cuts in front of you last minute. The person appears to be visually and hearing impaired, and doesn’t notice your protests. An official announces that due to diminishing supply, this individual will be the last in line to be served.
• You are eating a meal with important clients and/or your partner’s parents, and you want to impress. The individuals make you a dish that does not fit within your dietary restrictions, but you do not speak the same language and cannot explain why you do not want to eat.
• An imposter has infiltrated the organization, who looks, speaks, and behaves exactly like you. How do you convince your peers that you are the original?

For similar dilemmas, check out this list of Would You Rather? questions.

16. Desert Island Survival

Desert Island Survival is a game that challenges players to prioritize. The premise is that players have been stranded on an island, and must decide what order to perform survival steps.

Here are the possible actions:

• Set up shelter
• Explore the island
• Try to signal for help
• Make weapons for self-defense
• Build a raft to escape the island
• Start a fire
• Choose a group leader
• Search for other survivors

All group members must agree on the order of the steps. Players should explain the reasoning for the order of each step while ranking the actions.

Another version of the game involves players receiving a list of 15 to 20 items, and selecting five or so to bring to the island. You can also vary the location of the game, substituting remote islands for destinations like outer space or the distant past.

17. Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure stories enable readers to determine the outcome of the story by making decisions. Each action has a consequence that takes the tale in a different direction. Participants can try to guess how the story may unfold by talking through the different choices. When completing the activity in a group setting, the majority of the team must agree on an action before moving forward in the story.

There are a few ways to facilitate these activities online:

• Play an online role playing video game
• Watch an interactive movie like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
• Read from a Choose Your Own Adventure book on Zoom
• Click through a Choose Your Own Adventure platform
• Create your own story using a Google Form

Whichever way you choose to do the exercise, you can use the screen share feature in your virtual meeting software so that listeners can more easily follow along.

18. MacGyver

MacGyver is a show where the hero escapes sticky situations by improvising tools out of unlikely materials. For example, in one episode the hero makes a telescope out of a newspaper, magnifying lens, and a watch crystal.

To play MacGyver, you can either list three to five objects participants can use, or challenge players to use items that are within arms reach.

Simply state a desired end result, such as “a way to open a locked door,” or “a getaway vehicle,” and then ask teams to explain what they will build and how they will build it. To make the activity more collaborative, you can give teams five or ten minutes in breakout rooms to strategize and design a prototype.

19. Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a roleplaying game where players pretend to be magical figures and creatures. One player serves as the dungeon master, who guides the game, while the other players pick characters and make decisions to move the story forward. Upon choosing a course of action, players roll a twenty-sided die to determine whether or not the plan succeeds. The game is story-based, the possibilities are nearly limitless, and truly creative problem solving options arise. Also, since gameplay is mostly verbal, Dungeons & Dragons is an easy activity to do over Zoom.

Here are the basic rules for Dungeons & Dragons .

20. Pandemic

Pandemic is a game that pits players against the forces of nature in a race to contain and control disease outbreaks. At the beginning of the game, each player receives a role such as containment specialist or operations expert. Participants must carry out the duties of their roles by choosing appropriate actions. Pandemic is a great game for groups because each team member has a clear part to play, and players must collaborate and work together instead of competing against each other.

To play the game online, you can use a Pandemic game app , or talk through the exercise while one attendee moves and displays pieces on the board.

Note: The subject of this game might hit too close to home for some players, considering recent history. You can find games with similar mechanics that deal with different subject matter, such as Forbidden Island.

Check out more team building board games .

21. Model UN

Model UN is one of the best virtual problem solving activities for students. This exercise casts participants in the role of international diplomats who must negotiate to solve realistic problems. Each player assumes the role of a country ambassador and must form alliances and propose solutions to solve crises.

Here are some sample Model UN scenarios:

• Human rights violation by powerful country
• Food shortage
• Disease epidemic
• Technology privacy violations
• Civil war branching into surrounding countries
• Natural disasters

Depending on the size of the group, participants either take on the part of an entire government of a country, or play a certain role within the government. To carry out the activity on Zoom, players can take turns giving speeches, message other countries privately via the chat, meet in breakout rooms to form alliances or have more intimate discussions, and use the polling feature to vote on propositions.

If politics does not resonate with your group, then you can alter the exercise by applying the same activity structure to a different theme, such as the Justice League, movie characters, business board members, or reality TV stars.

The main purpose of the exercise is to research, talk through problems, and compromise. As long as these elements are present, then the specifics of the setup do not matter.

There are many types of problem solving activities for adults. You can do online problem solving games, which require a different skill set than in-person problem solving. For instance, communication must be much clearer and more abundant when group members are far apart and unable to demonstrate or pick up physical cues.

Though many problem solving games include props and in-person elements, there are many games you can play together online. These exercises work well as educational tools as well as team bonding accelerators. Upon completion, participants are likely to feel a sense of accomplishment and increased confidence. These games are also great practice for real life conflict resolution, creative thinking and team building.

Next check out this list of connection games , this collection of crime-solving games , and this post with conflict resolution games .

We also have a list of the best decision making books and a list of team building problems for work .

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FAQ: Problem solving activities

Here are common answers to questions about group problem solving activities.

What are problem solving games?

Problem solving games are challenges that ask players to think critically and use logic to overcome issues or answer riddles. Examples include sudoku, murder mysteries, and spaghetti towers. These games are also known as “problem solving exercises”, “problem and solution games” and “group problem solving activities.”

What are the best problem solving games for groups?

The best problem solving games for groups include online escape rooms, moral challenges, and improv games.

What are some good problem solving team building activities for students?

Some good problem solving activities for students include crossword puzzles, choose your own adventure stories, and model UN.

How do you play problem solving games online?

The best way to play problem solving games online is to join a video call meeting to talk through the issue. Using the screen sharing and digital whiteboard features helps participants visualize the problem more clearly. Breakout rooms give teams the chance to discuss the issue more intimately.

Author: Angela Robinson

Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com.

Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Nice probably the best free brain games that i've tried, i really noticed the difference since i started doing online brain training, i wanted to find games to improve concentration and found them in braingymmer, fair amount of brain games for adults that work on my phone as well, pretty good brain games for adults, 'i like the brain training exercises, it is becoming easier for me to remember names and places etc.', what people often ask us, what is brain training.

Brain training, is the usage of digital exercises, also called brain games. Those exercises are used to stimulate mental activities with the purpose of improving your cognitive abilities.

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Brain games are a very new science, and many researchers are still discovering the effects. While tens of millions of people world wide are using brain games, scientific results are still very much in the process of being discovered. Currently we support a variety of international universities in their studies.

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The "Quizzes" section features riddles, puzzles, and brain teasers to test your logic, curiosity, and mind. This section is meant for inquisitive, curious, and those who enjoy mental gymnastics. You'll find it to be a fascinating collection of mind-challenging activities that are fun, engaging, and thought-provoking at the same time. Our "Quizzes" section is a diverse and vibrant tapestry of enigmas, ranging from mathematical conundrums that will make you question your basic arithmetic skills to visual puzzles that put your observation and perception abilities to the test. These quizzes aren't just about finding solutions; they're about experiencing the journey of problem-solving and reaping the cognitive benefits that come along with it. As you dive into these quizzes, you're not only entertaining yourself, but you're also giving your brain a healthy workout. These quizzes help to reduce stress, enhance memory, and improve concentration. They boost your logical judgment and cognitive abilities, reinforcing the existing connections between your brain cells and generating new ones. The "Quizzes" section also adds a flavor of pop culture to your mental workouts. Get to experience the magic of the world of Harry Potter by finding out which family you would belong to, or test your celeb knowledge by identifying famous faces from their childhood photos. We've also got animal quizzes that challenge you to recognize creatures from just a glimpse of a body part. Each quiz is designed to be more than just a pastime activity. They're tools that stimulate thought, evoke wonder, and engage your mind in an exciting dance of wit and wisdom. They're a way to break away from the daily routine and immerse yourself in a world of cognitive fun. Remember, it's not just about getting the right answers, it's about the thrill of the challenge, the joy of learning, and the satisfaction of solving. So, step into the arena of "Quizzes", challenge your mind, and enjoy the ride! Let's get quizzed!

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45 Fun and Clever Brain Teasers for Kids with Answers!

Written by Laney Kennedy

Reviewed by Sarah Tino, M.Ed.

Engage and motivate your students with our adaptive, game-based learning platform!

• Game-Based Learning
• What brain teasers are
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Math brain teasers for kids

Sometimes keeping your students engaged during a (long) school day feels like a losing battle. How do you gain their full attention while teaching the skills they need to succeed? How do you turn tough and intimidating concepts into fun, entertaining lessons that actually spark life in the classroom? 

Brain teasers for kids are a great form of game-based learning that not only entertain children but also inspire some creative thought in the classroom. People of all ages can indulge in these playful — yet challenging — activities.

And some examples of when teachers might want to use brain teasers are on a bulletin board in the classroom, as a partnered activity to start a new concept or lesson, or during a rainy day indoor recess box.

We’ve gathered 45 examples of brain teasers for kids with answers, organized by category:

Table of Contents

Language brain teasers for kids :

Riddles ; Language associations ; Lateral thinking problems.

Math brain teasers for kids :

Math riddles ;  Pattern problems ;  Prodigy.

Visual brain teasers for kids :

Spot the difference ;  Rebus puzzles ;  Optical illusions ;  Stroop effect test.

Use the list below to find the perfect brain teaser for your class!

What are brain teasers?

Before you explore our examples, you might be wondering what brain teasers actually are.

Cambridge Dictionary defines a brain teaser as “a problem for which it is hard to find the answer, especially one which people enjoy trying to solve as a game.”

Brain teasers are a type of puzzle — and as the list below reveals, they come in many different forms. Often presented as a riddle, question or activity, brain teasers require a little extra brainpower to solve.

It's important to note that if you have any English language learners in your class, brain teasers for kids might pose a challenge for them. If that's the case, they might need you to walk them through the brain teaser more closely, or you can find ones that better suit their language level.

Brain teasers for kids differ from other complex or abstract problems because they’re usually done for fun. Although you can use them to analyze problem-solving and critical thinking skills, they’re often used as an amusing activity to encourage logical and lateral thinking , or thinking “outside the box.”

45 Brain teasers for kids

We’ve compiled a list of language, math and visual brain teasers to get your students thinking. Get inspired by the examples below — including answers!

Language brain teasers for kids

When you hear the term “brain teaser,” a riddle is likely the first thing that comes to mind. Riddles are perplexing — sometimes misleading — questions or statements that require creative thought to solve.

Riddles are usually fun, and plenty of them can add some humour to your classroom.

Enjoy our list of riddles for kids below!

a) Billy’s mother had five children. The first was named Lala, the second was named Lele, the third was named Lili, the fourth was named Lolo. What was the fifth child named?

b) Choose the correct sentence: “The yolk of the egg is white” or “the yolk of the egg is white.”

c) It’s as light as a feather, but the strongest person can’t hold it for more than five minutes. What is it?

d) The more there is, the less you see. What is it?

e) What gets more wet while it dries?

f) You can find it in Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, but not in Venus or Neptune. What is it?

g) It likes food, but water kills it. What is it?

h) What’s full of holes but can still hold water?

i) Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of rocks?

j) How far can a dog run into the woods?

k) You’re driving a city bus. At the first stop, three women get on. At the second stop, one woman gets off and a man gets on. At the third stop, two children get on. The bus is blue and it’s raining outside in December. What colour is the bus driver’s hair?

l) 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 of the house in the middle, where’s the white house?

m) It’s at the center of gravity and you can find it in Venus, but not Mars. What is it?

n) What goes on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?  (This is from the classic myth,  Oedipus and the Riddle of the Sphinx )

o) What travels faster: heat or cold?

p) A man was walking in the rain in the middle of nowhere without a coat or an umbrella. He got soaked, but not a single hair on his head was wet. How can this be?

q) A cowboy rode into town on Friday. He stayed in town for three days and rode back out on Friday. How is this possible?

b) Neither. Egg yolks are yellow, not white!

f) The letter “R”

h) A sponge

i) Neither. Both weigh a pound!

j) Halfway. Once it reaches halfway, it’s running  out  of the woods.

k) Whatever colour your hair is. Remember, you’re driving the bus!

l) In Washington, D.C.

m) The letter “V”

n) A human. The times of day represent stages of human life. At the beginning of life, a baby crawls on four “feet.” As a person gets older, they walk on two feet. Later in life, a person will walk on three “feet” (two feet, plus a cane to help them walk).

o) Heat travels faster because you can catch a cold!

p) He was bald.

q) The horse’s name was Friday.

As a bonus, use these riddles to challenge preconceived notions and get students thinking about natural bias .

a) Two boxers are in a match scheduled for 12 rounds. (Pure boxing only - no kicking, UFC takedowns, or anything else). One of the boxers gets knocked out after only six rounds, yet no man throws a punch. How is this possible?

b) A father and son have a car accident and both are very injured. They are taken to separate hospitals for treatment. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon says, “I can’t do this surgery…. this boy is my son!” How is this possible?

a) The two boxers are women.

b) The surgeon is the boy’s mother.

2. Language associations

These brain teasers for kids explore the complexities of the English language. Use them to boost student knowledge of sounds, words, spelling, categorization and more.a)  Word association : find a word that associates with the following sets of words.

• Cake, swiss, cottage
• Glasses, screen, day
• Cream, cube, cap
• Knife, fly, cup

b) Find the mystery word . Replace the third letter of each word with a new letter to create a different word. When read vertically, the new letters will reveal the mystery word.

For example, the word MA K E could become MA R E, MA L E, MA T E and so on. It’s your job to figure out which one works to create the mystery word. 

Hint: It’s something you’ll find outside.

c) Find rhyming pairs . Unscramble the words below so that each pair of words rhymes.

• RBAE & HREAS
• WNROED & UTRHNDE
• TUGHAT & HBTUGO
• ODULC & ODOG

Mystery word: FLOWER

• BEAR (or BARE) & SHARE
• WONDER & THUNDER
• TAUGHT & BOUGHT
• COULD & GOOD

You can also use printable brain teasers for kids like this one:

Image source: Spelling Words Well

Answer: The “happy word” is SMILE.

3. Lateral thinking problems

Lateral thinking problems require creative thinking with an indirect approach.

These questions require logic and careful thought to solve. The most notable example of a lateral thinking problem is the classic Monty Hall problem .

Here are two examples of lateral thinking problems kids can try to solve.

a) The river crossing problem

Image source: Popular Mechanics

A farmer is travelling with a fox, a goose, and a bag of beans. During his journey, he comes across a river with a boat to cross it.

The farmer can only fit one thing in the boat with him at a time. If left alone together, the fox will eat the goose or the goose will eat the beans. How does the farmer get everything across the river safely?

b) The light bulb problem

There are three light switches outside of a room-- labeled number one, number two, and number three. The door to the room is closed and you can’t see in. All three switches are off.

You need to figure out which switch belongs to which bulb. You can use the switches however you want to, but can only enter the room once. How do you do it?

a) Here’s the step-by-step solution:

• The farmer brings the goose across the river first (if he leaves the goose alone, it will either eat the beans or be eaten by the fox).
• The farmer brings either the fox or the beans across and leaves the other one alone.
• Now the farmer has two items on the other side of the river, including the goose. If he leaves the goose again, the same problem will occur. So, the farmer must bring the goose back to the other side.
• The farmer brings the other item back (either the fox or the beans) and leaves the goose alone again. The fox and the beans are now on the other side of the river.
• The farmer returns and brings the goose across the river again.

b) Turn on the first switch and leave it on. Turn on the second switch for a few minutes, and then turn it off again. When you enter the room, one light bulb will be on. You’ll know it goes with switch one because you turned it on. Another bulb will be hot. You’ll know that goes with switch two because it was on for a little while. The bulb that’s off and cold goes with switch three because you didn’t touch it.

Like math puzzles , these brain teasers for kids can increase engagement with math content and inspire your students to work on math concepts and problems outside of regular lessons.

1. Math riddles

These riddles are just as amusing as the ones above, but they’re math-focused . Use them to give students some extra math practice and encourage resourceful thinking.

Math riddles

a) Divide 30 by ½ and add 10. What’s the answer?

b) A clerk at the butcher shop is six feet tall and wears size 10 shoes. What does he weigh?

c) A farmer has 19 sheep on his land. One day, a big storm hits and all but seven run away. How many sheep does the farmer have left?

d) Your sock drawer only contains 18 white socks and 18 blue socks. How many times do you need to reach inside the drawer and take out a sock to guarantee a matching pair?

e) You planted sunflower seeds in your back garden. Every day, the number of flowers doubles. If it takes 52 days for the flowers to fill the garden, how many days would it take for them to fill half the garden?

f) Using only addition, how can you use eight eights to get the number 1,000?

g) When Ashley was 15, her mother was 37. Now, her mother is twice her age. How old is Ashley?

a) It's 70. You’re dividing 30 by ½, not by two. Thirty divided by ½ is the same thing as multiplying it by two, which is 60. Plus 10 makes 70!

b) Meat. He works at the butcher shop, so he weighs meat for a living.

c) Seven. The riddle says  all but seven  run away, meaning there are seven left who didn’t.

d) Three times. On the third time, you’ll get either a white or a blue sock to match with one of the other two you’ve already grabbed.

e) It would take 51 days. If the number of flowers doubles every day, half the garden would be full the day before, on the 51st day.

f) 888 +88 +8 +8 +8

g) Ashley is 22. Her mother is 22 years older, so when Ashley is 22, she’s now half her mother’s age.

2. Pattern problems

These questions require students to identify a pattern before they can answer a particular question. Kids must use creative and logical thinking to find the answers.

4 + 4 = 168

5 + 5 = 2510.

b) What makes this number unique: 8,549,176,320?

c) Solve the pattern puzzle below. Find the missing number to replace the question mark.

Image source: Genius Puzzles

d) Solve the following:

Image source: AOL

a) The missing number is 3612. The answer is the number multiplied by itself and then the number added to itself. Six multiplied by six is 36, and six plus six is 12.

b) It contains each one-digit number, zero through nine, listed in alphabetical order.

c) The missing number is 17. Each number in the circle is the sum of the numbers in the opposite quadrant. In this case, the numbers are eight and nine — added together makes 17.

d) The answer is 14 (or 16), if you’re on the other side of the debate .

3. Prodigy Math Game

This math activity is a bit different from others on the list. It’s not a traditional brain teaser, but it can also be used as a fun, skill-building alternative to traditional math class.

Prodigy is a game-based learning platform that takes your students on an online fantasy adventure while they answer standards-aligned math questions. It’s engaging and effective at teaching necessary skills. 

Prodigy's free teacher tools help you differentiate learning, send assessments in-game and even collect student insights!

Visual brain teasers for kids

1. spot the difference.

This ever-popular activity might remind you of your own childhood — and kids still love it! Spot the difference puzzles require lots of deduction and attention to detail.

Here’s an example of a printable spot the difference activity.

Image source: Tim’s Printables

2. Rebus puzzles

A rebus is a visual word puzzle that uses lateral thinking to find its intended meaning. The word or phrase is depicted with a visual illustration, including letters and words. Students must think creatively to figure out the meaning from the clues they’re given. 

Image source: Wikipedia

Image source: Stack Exchange

a) Top secret

b) Think outside the box

Visit the link below if you want more fun rebus puzzles for your students:

3. Optical illusions

Get tricky with your students! Optical illusions use visual tricks that alter the perception of what you’re really seeing. Students will love trying to figure out what’s really going on in these examples.

a) How many legs does the elephant have?

Image source: Optics For Kids

b) Are the two squares different colours?

Image source: Brain Den

b) They’re exactly the same colour. If you place your finger over the spot where the squares meet, you can see they’re the same. Try this impossible paper puzzle if you want a more hands-on optical illusion. You can make one to show your class, then have students make their own as a fun brain teaser to show friends and family.

4. Stroop effect test

The Stroop effect was discovered in the 1930s by John Ridley Stroop. During the test, you’re given a list of colour names, with each word being a different colour than what they describe.

The test involves saying the colour of a word, rather than reading the word itself. Your mind must process the two conflicting pieces of information, which slows down reaction speed and requires careful thought to get through.

Image source: The Crafty Classroom

Benefits of brain teasers for kids

You know your students enjoy them, but did you know there are plenty of additional reasons to make brain teasers a regular activity in the classroom?

A study on the attention spans of six-year-olds found children who were given brain teasers were more attentive than those who were not — showing brain teasers were effective at boosting children’s attention spans.   

Brain teasers for kids can also:

• Strengthen problem solving and critical thinking skills
• Encourage lateral thinking and build new perspectives
• Improve cognitive abilities like memory and processing speed
• Inspire teamwork and communication
• Engage students and motivate them to learn
• Provide necessary breaks from traditional class work

How to use brain teasers in the classroom

In addition to their many learning advantages, brain teasers are a great way to break up the day and engage your students. Here are just a few ways you can use brain teasers for kids as a teaching strategy and maximize the benefits in your classroom:

• Engagement-boosting activity before or after lessons
• Bonus questions in assignments and tests
• Optional “free time” activity
• Encourage team building — split students into groups to solve them together
• Supplement lessons — choose brain teasers about the subject you’re teaching

Final thoughts on brain teasers for kids

No matter what subject or skill you want to focus on, a brain teaser is a great addition to traditional teaching methods. Plus, it’s something students will actually be excited to do.

Remember that brain teaser are designed to be fun for kids. it’s not about finding the right answer, but the mental exercise they get from trying to find the solution.

Use any of the brain teasers in this list whenever you need a boost of energy in your classroom. Bonus points if you can stump any adults!

Create or log in to your free teacher account on Prodigy – a game-based learning platform for math that’s easy to use for educators and students alike. Aligned with standards across the English-speaking world, it’s used by more than a million teachers and 90 million students.

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Math Problem Solving

Mathematics.

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• 1. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #1: What was the number sentence for your problem? 62-38=? 72-38=? 76-36= 37+?=73
• 2. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #2: What was the number sentence for your problem? 81+47= 36+73= 81-42= 73-36=
• 3. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #3: What was the number sentence for your problem? 81-47= 81-46= 47-81= 59-22=
• 4. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #4: What was the number sentence for your problem? 29+52 52+29 52-29= 52-49=
• 5. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #1: What was your answer? 24 34 37 23
• 6. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #2: What was your answer? 24 34 37 23
• 7. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #3: What was your answer? 24 34 37 23
• 8. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt #4: What was your answer? 24 34 37 23

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30 Fun Maths Questions with Answers

Table of Contents

Introduction

Mathematics can be fun if you treat it the right way. Maths is nothing less than a game, a game that polishes your intelligence and boosts your concentration. Compared to older times, people have a better and friendly approach to mathematics which makes it more appealing. The golden rule is to know that maths is a mindful activity rather than a task.

There is nothing like hard math problems or tricky maths questions, it’s just that you haven’t explored mathematics well enough to comprehend its easiness and relatability. Maths tricky questions and answers can be transformed into fun math problems if you look at it as if it is a brainstorming session. With the right attitude and friends and teachers, doing math can be most entertaining and delightful.

Math is interesting because a few equations and diagrams can communicate volumes of information. Treat math as a language, while moving to rigorous proof and using logical reason for performing a particular step in a proof or derivation.

Treating maths as a language totally eradicates the concept of hard math problems or tricky maths questions from your mind. Introducing children to fun maths questions can create a strong love and appreciation for maths at an early age. This way you are setting up the child’s successful future. Fun math problems will urge your child to choose to solve it over playing bingo or baking.

Apparently, there are innumerable methods to make easy maths tricky questions and answers. This includes the inception of the ideology that maths is simpler than their fear. This can be done by connecting maths with everyday life. Practising maths with the aid of dice, cards, puzzles and tables reassures that your child effectively approaches Maths.

If you wish to add some fun and excitement into educational activities, also check out

• Check out some mind-blowing Math Magic Tricks!
• Mental Maths: How to Improve it?

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Fun Maths Questions with answers - PDF

Here is the Downloadable PDF that consists of Fun Math questions. Click the Download button to view them.

Here are some fun, tricky and hard to solve maths problems that will challenge your thinking ability.

Answer: is 3, because ‘six’ has three letters

What is the number of parking space covered by the car?

This tricky math problem went viral a few years back after it appeared on an entrance exam in Hong Kong… for six-year-olds. Supposedly the students had just 20 seconds to solve the problem!

Believe it or not, this “math” question actually requires no math whatsoever. If you flip the image upside down, you’ll see that what you’re dealing with is a simple number sequence.

Replace the question mark in the above problem with the appropriate number.

Which number is equivalent to 3^(4)÷3^(2)

This problem comes straight from a standardized test given in New York in 2014.

There are 49 dogs signed up for a dog show. There are 36 more small dogs than large dogs. How many small dogs have signed up to compete? 

This question comes directly from a second grader's math homework.

To figure out how many small dogs are competing, you have to subtract 36 from 49 and then divide that answer, 13 by 2, to get 6.5 dogs, or the number of big dogs competing. But you’re not done yet! You then have to add 6.5 to 36 to get the number of small dogs competing, which is 42.5. Of course, it’s not actually possible for half a dog to compete in a dog show, but for the sake of this math problem let’s assume that it is.

Add 8.563 and 4.8292.

Adding two decimals together is easier than it looks. Don’t let the fact that 8.563 has fewer numbers than 4.8292 trip you up. All you have to do is add a 0 to the end of 8.563 and then add like you normally would.

I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?

Answer:  Seven (take away the ‘s’ and it becomes ‘even’).

Using only an addition, how do you add eight 8’s and get the number 1000?

Answer: 

888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000

Sally is 54 years old and her mother is 80, how many years ago was Sally’s mother times her age?

41 years ago, when Sally was 13 and her mother was 39.

Which 3 numbers have the same answer whether they’re added or multiplied together?

There is a basket containing 5 apples, how do you divide the apples among 5 children so that each child has 1 apple while 1 apple remains in the basket?

4 children get 1 apple each while the fifth child gets the basket with the remaining apple still in it.

There is a three-digit number. The second digit is four times as big as the third digit, while the first digit is three less than the second digit. What is the number?

Fill in the question mark

Two girls were born to the same mother, at the same time, on the same day, in the same month and the same year and yet somehow they’re not twins. Why not?

Because there was a third girl, which makes them triplets!

A ship anchored in a port has a ladder which hangs over the side. The length of the ladder is 200cm, the distance between each rung in 20cm and the bottom rung touches the water. The tide rises at a rate of 10cm an hour. When will the water reach the fifth rung?

The tide raises both the water and the boat so the water will never reach the fifth rung. 

The day before yesterday I was 25. The next year I will be 28. This is true only one day in a year. What day is my Birthday?  

You have a 3-litre bottle and a 5-litre bottle. How can you measure 4 litres of water by using 3L and 5L bottles? 

Solution 1 :

First, fill 3Lt bottle and pour 3 litres into 5Lt bottle.

Again fill the 3Lt bottle. Now pour 2 litres into the 5Lt bottle until it becomes full.

Now empty 5Lt bottle.

Pour remaining 1 litre in 3Lt bottle into 5Lt bottle.

Now again fill 3Lt bottle and pour 3 litres into 5Lt bottle.

Now you have 4 litres in the 5Lt bottle. That’s it.

Solution 2 :

First, fill the 5Lt bottle and pour 3 litres into 3Lt bottle.

Empty 3Lt bottle.

Pour remaining 2 litres in  5Lt bottle into 3Lt bottle.

Again fill the 5Lt bottle and pour 1 litre into 3 Lt bottle until it becomes full.

3 Friends went to a shop and purchased 3 toys. Each person paid Rs.10 which is the cost of one toy. So, they paid Rs.30 i.e. total amount. The shop owner gave a discount of Rs.5 on the total purchase of 3 toys for Rs.30. Then, among Rs.5, Each person has taken Rs.1 and remaining Rs.2 given to the beggar beside the shop. Now, the effective amount paid by each person is Rs.9 and the amount given to the beggar is Rs.2. So, the total effective amount paid is 9*3 = 27 and the amount given to beggar is Rs.2, thus the total is Rs.29. Where has the other Rs.1 gone from the original Rs.30?

The logic is payments should be equal to receipts. We cannot add the amount paid by persons and the amount given to the beggar and compare it to Rs.30.The total amount paid is ₹27. So, from ₹27, the shop owner received 25 rupees and beggar received ₹ 2. Thus, payments are equal to receipts.

How to get a number 100 by using four sevens (7’s) and a one (1)?

Answer 1:   177 – 77 = 100 ;

Answer 2: (7+7) * (7 + (1/7)) = 100 

Move any four matches to get 3 equilateral triangles only (don’t remove matches)

Find the area of the red triangle.

To solve this fun maths question, you need to understand how the area of a parallelogram works. If you already know how the area of a parallelogram and the area of a triangle are related, then adding 79 and 10 and subsequently subtracting 72 and 8 to get 9 should make sense.

 How many feet are in a mile? 

Solve  - 15+ (-5x) =0

What is 1.92÷3

A man is climbing up a mountain which is inclined. He has to travel 100 km to reach the top of the mountain. Every day He climbs up 2 km forward in the day time. Exhausted, he then takes rest there at night time. At night, while he is asleep, he slips down 1 km backwards because the mountain is inclined. Then how many days does it take him to reach the mountain top? 

 If 72 x 96 = 6927, 58 x 87 = 7885, then 79 x 86 = ?

Answer:  

Look at this series: 36, 34, 30, 28, 24, … What number should come next?

  Look at this series: 22, 21, 23, 22, 24, 23, … What number should come next?

If 13 x 12 = 651 & 41 x 23 = 448, then, 24 x 22 =?

Look at this series: 53, 53, 40, 40, 27, 27, … What number should come next?

The ultimate goals of mathematics instruction are students understanding the material presented, applying the skills, and recalling the concepts in the future. There's little benefit in students recalling a formula or procedure to prepare for an assessment tomorrow only to forget the core concept by next week.

Teachers must focus on making sure that the students understand the material and not just memorize the procedures. After you learn the answers to a fun maths question, you begin to ask yourself how you could have missed something so easy. The truth is, most trick questions are designed to trick your mind, which is why the answers to fun maths questions are logical and easy. 

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Unit 2: solving equations & inequalities, unit 3: working with units, unit 4: linear equations & graphs, unit 5: forms of linear equations, unit 6: systems of equations, unit 7: inequalities (systems & graphs), unit 8: functions, unit 9: sequences, unit 10: absolute value & piecewise functions, unit 11: exponents & radicals, unit 12: exponential growth & decay, unit 13: quadratics: multiplying & factoring, unit 14: quadratic functions & equations, unit 15: irrational numbers, unit 16: creativity in algebra.

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Looking to improve outcomes in a way that kids will enjoy? This educational game takes K-12 students on a time-traveling adventure to meet some of the most influential mathematicians in history. (Monthly or annual subscription plans for families; schools request price quote)

Duck Duck Moose Reading

Based on Common Core State Standards, this app teaches phonics including the letter sounds for all consonants, short vowels, and long vowels. Kids will also practice spelling consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. If you like this one, check out Duck Duck Moose’s whole collection of school games online. (Apps are free to download and play.)

Test your knowledge while earning rice for those in need! Each time you play, you’re helping the United Nations World Food Programme provide food to those around the world who need it. The game offers a variety of subjects and difficulty levels. (Free)

Dive into a coral reef or be a star climber on this great site that features a wide assortment of free online games for kids. These educational games focus mainly on reading and math, but you’ll find lots of fun activities here with options for pre-K through grade 8. (Free)

Gamestar Mechanic

Do you have gamers in your class? This site helps kids ages 7 through 14 learn how to design their very own video games through game-based quests and courses. (Free)

Whether they’re jetpacking through the stars in Zapp Von Doubler’s Space Race or clearing weeds in the garden in Om Petalhead’s Flower Power, kids will enjoy this collection of fun educational games that get them up and moving! (Free)

KUBO Play – Coding for Kids

KUBO Play is an interactive online platform that teaches coding and computational thinking to early learners. Its three activity modes (Free Play, Practice, and Story) include more than 100 coding tasks combined. You can even customize your students’ learning pathways. (Contact for pricing)

Learning Games for Kids: Health Games

Kids in grades K-5 can learn about a range of health topics, from body parts to staying fit, with these interactive online games. They’re perfect for science learning enrichment. (Free)

Little Alchemy 2

This deceptively simple game is actually a lot of fun. Kids (and teachers!) can experiment with combining different elements, such as fire or dirt, to create something entirely new. It encourages creative thinking as well as knowledge of the world around us. (Free)

Minecraft: Education Edition

Kids love the regular Minecraft video game, but this education-focused version takes learning to the next level. With lessons, STEM curriculum, and project-based challenges, this immersive digital environment promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. (Priced per user, per year)

Moose Math engages kids in a mathematical adventure and teaches counting, addition, subtraction, sorting, geometry, and more. While playing five multi-level activities in the Moose Juice Store, Puck’s Pet Shop, and Lost & Found, kids can earn rewards to help build their own city and decorate buildings. (Free)

Multiplication.com

Need to master your multiplication facts? This is the site to try! Fun games and memory-building strategies will help students tackle this key skill. (Free, with Premium membership available for extra features)

National Geographic Kids

Head out on the trail with Captain John Smith, explore Ancient Greece with Zeus the Mighty, or just take a quiz about sharks on this robust site filled with great educational games for students. (Free)

PBS Kids Games

You’ll find everything from social studies to teamwork and feelings in this incredible collection of games that vary in degree of difficulty. The website is truly filled with some of the very best educational games centering on science, social studies, history, and art. (Free)

Prodigy Math

Looking for personalized math lessons for your students? Kids in grades 1-8 take a Prodigy placement test that generates games tailored to their strengths and weaknesses. They’ll build confidence by solving math challenges to progress in the game. (Free)

RoomRecess.com

Access over 140 online educational games for kids in grades K-6 on this site, which was developed by an elementary school teacher with a focus on reinforcing fundamental learning concepts in math, reading, spelling, language arts, typing, and problem-solving. (Free)

Roy: Tale of a Singing Zebra

Kids pre-K to grade 2 will enjoy the punctuation, reading, and spelling games on this cute, simple site. You’ll also find online guided-reading stories and lesson plans for teachers. (Free)

Starfall activities are research-based and align with individual and Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. There are engaging and interactive games for students in grades K-3. (Some free content with subscriptions available)

Teachers love this great site that offers personalized math and spelling practice for kids ages 5 through 13 through adaptive learning and multi-player games. This is definitely one of the best online educational game sites out there! (Monthly subscription fee)

How good are your airbrush skills? Which famous artist should design your bedroom? Are you a master of street art? Kids can explore these questions and more with the cool quizzes and games on this art-focused site from the Tate Gallery. (Free)

Toy Theater

How would your students like to learn multiplication while shooting hoops? They can do that and more at Toy Theater, which teaches early math concepts through game-based learning. (Free)

Turtle Diary

Introduce kids to new, exciting ways of learning with the help of fun online games, videos, experiments, puzzles, coloring sheets, and more! Turtle Diary activities pair with the appropriate grade level to enhance retention of material and increase success in the classroom. (Free)

The games and challenges on Tynker give kids ages 5 and up a fun and easy way to build coding skills. This is one of the top online educational games for young coders— see more of our favorites here . (Subscription required)

Vocabulary A-Z

Dive into engaging learning activities and games for kids in first through sixth grades, designed to promote vocabulary, spelling, phonics, and language arts. (Free basic access; Premium membership unlocks complete library)

Algebraic Reasoning Sweet Shop

Who doesn’t like candy? Buy and sell sweet treats in this game that helps students grasp concepts related to price and purchasing. (Free)

Boat Coordinates

Use this fun boating game to learn and practice concepts related to grids and quadrants. Race along the X and Y axes to get to the finish line as fast as you can! (Free)

Cells Alive

This information website provides all sorts of interactive ways to learn about cells! Interactive models, puzzles, and more all help tell the story of this building block of life. (Free)

This guessing game uses maps and photos from around the world to educate kids on world locations as well as historical landmarks and famous cities. User-made quizzes add to the guessing fun! (Free)

Get the Math

Explore all the ways you really do use algebra in the real world. Students see how professionals use math in music, fashion, video games, restaurants, basketball, and special effects. Then take on interactive challenges related to those careers. (Free)

Created by a high school student, this interactive review game is something kids can play on their own devices, earning in-game money for correct answers that they can use to buy upgrades and power-ups! (Free, with Pro subscriptions available)

High-Stakes Heist

Kids use their knowledge of the order of operations to crack the safes and help hero Kit Foxtail return the townspeoples’ money that was stolen by the evil Duke von Wolfington. They’ll have to think fast as they try to solve equations in the correct order before time runs out! (Free)

Help kids learn the foundations of civics and government with this collection of highly interactive games including Court Quest, Newsfeed Defenders, and Do I Have the Right? (Free)

Kids Environment Kids Health

Through a wide assortment of puzzles, riddles, brainteasers, and more, kids can learn about their own health and the health of the environment on this website from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. (Free)

NASA STEM Engagement

With a variety of games, activities, and educational options to choose from, the NASA Stem Engagement site offers options for all grades. Learn, discover, and play online educational games related to space technology and exploration. (Free)

Physicsgames.net

This website offers dozens of different simple games to choose from that help educate kids on the mechanics of physics. Whether they are shooting pigs, knocking down walls, or trying to balance a building, they’ll learn and have fun at the same time. (Free)

Science Vocabulary Hangman

Use the clues to guess the scientific term before the cellular hangman disappears. Choose from literally hundreds of subject sets that include grade-specific vocab, state-level standardized tests, and more. (Free)

smokeSCREEN

As part of their #BeTheFirst Initiative, smokeSCREEN was developed by the play2PREVENT Lab, 1stPlayable, and Schell Games and funded by the NIH/FDA and the CVS Health Foundation. The game addresses the range of challenges that young teens face, with a dedicated focus on youth decision-making around smoking and vaping and strategies for both smoking prevention and cessation. Educators can request free access to the web-based game here . (Free)

Sortify: Angles

Learning about angles can be tricky, but this game uses cue cards and sorting bins to help students learn to properly classify angles into different categories. Make sure they’re all correct and then submit the responses to earn the most points. (Free)

Though Quizlet is known for its huge array of digital flash cards, this educational site offers much more for students. AI tutors help kids learn more about tricky subjects, plus transform their own notes into interactive learning activities. (Free; Quizlet Plus has more features available for a subscription fee)

Trigonometry Minigolf

Trigonometry has never been more fun than in this game that uses correct answers to power your golf swing as you aim for a hole in one! Miss an answer? The game will let you know what you did wrong and give you another shot. (Free)

Wrecks Factor

S.O.S.! Ships are sailing into your harbor and you need to help keep them from sinking! Solve the quadratic equations to keep the boats afloat and clear the board … if you take too long, boats start to sink and you lose a life. (Free)

Did we miss one of your favorite online educational games? Share in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

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