ArcaMax

A rich man left his home, with only a gold chain with 123 links. He decides to stay at an inn. The owner of the inn wants one link for the first week, two links for the second week, three links for the third week, etc. What is the minimum amount of cuts?

Andy dislikes the catcher. Ed's sister is engaged to the second baseman. The center fielder is taller than the right fielder. Harry and the third baseman live in the same building. Paul and Allen each won $20 from the pitcher at pinochle. Ed and the outfielders play poker during their free time. The pitcher's wife is the third baseman's sister. The pitcher, catcher, and infielders except Allen, Harry, and Andy, are shorter than Sam. Paul, Andy, and the shortstop lost $50 each at the racetrack. Paul, Harry, Bill, and the catcher took a trouncing from the second baseman at pool. Sam is involved in a divorce suit. The catcher and the third baseman each have two children. Ed, Paul, Jerry, the...

When is one silver bar preferable over one gold bar?

If a solid piece of iron shaped as a doughnut was placed under extreme heat, what would the hole in the middle do?

The following task involves several steps, but they are out of order. Arrange them so that a person who follows the steps exactly can perform the task:

You have three heavy beams marked A, B, and C, and want to find out which one is the heaviest. You also have a scale that tells you which of any two beams is heavier, but it does not give the specific weight of any beam. In what order must you perform the following steps to determine which beam is the heaviest, and to mark it accordingly? Assume that all three have different weights.

a) Weigh A against B.
b) Weigh B against C.
c) Weigh A against C.
d) If A is heavier, skip the next three statements.
e) If A is...

Five men and five dogs (each man owned a dog) went hiking. They encountered a river that was swift and deep. The only way to cross it was an abandoned boat, left ashore on their side. But it would only hold three living things. Unfortunately, the dogs were edgy and could not be near another person (not even momentarily) unless its owner was present. One of the dogs attended a highly advanced, highly specialized obedience school and therefore knew how to operate the boat (as the men did) -- the other dogs lack this skill. How did the five men and the five dogs cross the river?

In the Yosef family there are 11 children. 7 of them are girls named: Ilana, Tikva, Efrat, Ziva, Lilly, Zahava & Ronit. The rest are boys named: Ofer, Rami, Zalman & Ronny. You have to find out in which order they were born, according to the next 12 statments:

1) The eldest and the youngest are girls.
2) The second youngest starts with an R.
3) The first starts with a Z.
4) Ronny & Ronit were born one after the other, in that order.
5) Ronit is not the youngest, not the 2nd youngest.
6) The youngest child starts with a vowel.
7) The 4th has an M in his/her name.
8) Zalman & Lilly were born one after the other in that order.
9) The 7th ends ...

You're walking down a street, when you see some people gambling on the roadside.

The dealer says:

"There are 10 black balls and 10 white balls in this jar. You are blindfolded and you randomly pick 10 balls. If 5 of the balls you picked are black and the other 5 are white, you lose $2. Otherwise you win $1."

Is the gamble fair?

Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in outer space when President Reagan sent them on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger.

Three astronauts had four jelly beans left among them one night - a black, a yellow, a green and a red. No astronaut ate more than one jelly bean and the red bean was definitely eaten. According to the following statements, determine which astronaut ate which jelly bean.

1. If the second astronaut did not eat the yellow or green jelly bean, then the first astronaut ate the red bean.

2. The second astronaut ate the yellow jelly bean, unless the first astronaut ate the red jelly bean.

3. If the third astronaut did not eat the black or yellow ...

By changing the third letter of each of the words below, can you make another valid word. You have to change each word such that the third letters will reveal a ten letter word when read downwards. Therefore, what now reads KRZSAPROKD will be a real word. What ten letter word is formed?

BAKE
CURE
MAZE
PEST
NEAT
ROPE
PORT
FOOD
POKE
SODA

A man has 3 cards face down on a table. One is a jack and two are aces. He knows the order but you do not. You can ask him one yes or no question, but when you do you have to point to one of the cards. If you point to an ace, he will tell the truth, if you point to the jack, he will randomly say yes or no. You have to find one of the aces.

After you have dealt about half of the 52 cards for a bridge game (with four players), the phone rings. You put down the undealt cards to answer the phone. When you return, none of the cards has been touched, and no one can remember where the last card was dealt. Without counting the cards in any hand, or the number of cards yet to be dealt, how can you finish dealing rapidly and accurately, giving each player exactly the same cards they would have received if you hadn't been interrupted?

A man and a boy who are walking together step out with their right feet. The boy walks three paces while the man walks two. When will they both put their left feet forward together?

Googlebunnies are creatures that come in two types (spooky and flitty) and two genders (male and female). The spooky males and flitty females always tell the truth; flitty males and spooky females always lie.

You come across 3 Googlebunnies. Determine the type and gender of each based on their statements:

A: Ask B what my type is - he will give a truthful answer. C is flitty.

B: A and I are both males. C is a female.

C: A and B are both females. B is spooky.

Which country or nation has a value of 5?