brain teasers for problem solving

14 challenging brainteasers and riddles only smart people can solve

• Insider compiled a list of challenging logic problems, riddles, and word puzzles.
• We've also included the answers below each picture, so don't scroll too quickly.
• Some are a play on words, while others need multiple steps to figure out.

Get ready for a challenge. 

The 14 puzzles below are a mix of riddles, logic problems, and word games, but they all have one thing in common: They'll take brainpower to solve.

Keep reading to see if you can figure out the answers — and to see how smart you really are.

1. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don't have me. What am I?

Answer : A secret.

Source: RhinoBarbarian, Reddit

2. You're escaping a labyrinth, and there are three doors in front of you. The door on the left leads to a raging inferno. The door in the center leads to a deadly assassin. The door on the right leads to a lion that hasn't eaten in three months. Which door do you choose?

Answer: The door on the right.

Explanation:  The lion would be dead after not eating for three months.

Source:  AntmanIV, Reddit

3. If I am holding a bee, what do I have in my eye?

Answer: Beauty.

Explanation:  This riddle is a play on the proverb, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." In this case, you are the "bee-holder." Thus, beauty is in your eye.

Source: lipwiggler, Reddit

4. An old man dies, leaving behind two sons. In his will, he orders his sons to race with their horses, and the one with the slower horse will receive his inheritance. The two sons race, but since they're both holding their horses back, they go to a wise man and ask him what they should do. After that, the brothers race again — this time at full speed. What did the wise man tell them?

Answer: To switch horses.

Explanation:  After they switch horses, whoever wins the race will get the inheritance because they still technically own the losing (i.e., slower) horse.

Source:  qweiopasd, Reddit

5. Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?

Answer: The number 8.

Explanation:  On its side, the number 8 looks like an infinity symbol. Cut in half, the number 8 becomes two zeros.

Source: romz7, Reddit

6. A farmer needs to take a fox, a chicken, and a sack of grain across a river. The only way across the river is by a small boat, which can only hold the farmer and one of the three items. Left unsupervised, the chicken will eat the grain, and the fox will eat the chicken. However, the fox won't try to eat the grain, and neither the fox nor the chicken will wander off. How does the farmer get everything across the river?

Answer: The farmer must follow these steps.

1. Take the chicken across the river. 2. Come back with an empty boat. 3. Take the grain across the river. 4. Bring the chicken back. 5. Take the fox across the river. 6. Come back with an empty boat. 7. Take the chicken across the river.

Source: someguyinworld, Reddit

7. If you have a 7-minute hourglass and an 11-minute hourglass, how can you boil an egg in exactly 15 minutes?

Answer: To boil the egg in exactly 15 minutes, follow these steps.

1. Start both hourglasses as you start boiling the egg. 2. After the 7-minute hourglass runs out, turn it to start it again. 3. Four minutes later, when the 11-minute hourglass runs out, turn the 7-minute hourglass again. 4. Wait for the 7-minute hourglass to run out, which will take another four minutes and get you to exactly 15 minutes of boiling time.

Source:  DarylHannahMontana, Reddit

8. You are walking down a road and come to a fork. One path leads to certain death; the other leads to eternal happiness. You don't know which is which. In the middle of the fork, you come across two brothers who know which road is which. One brother always tells the truth and the other always lies. You can only ask them one question. How would you determine which road to take?

Answer: Ask each brother, "If you were your brother, which road would you say leads to eternal happiness?"

Explanation:  Let's say the path on the right leads to eternal happiness. After you ask your question, both brothers will tell you the exact same thing: "He would say the left path leads to eternal happiness."

As Reddit user OnscreenForecaster explained, "In either case ... you would pick the opposite of what they both say because one is telling the truth about it being a lie, and one is lying about it being the truth."

Source:  SneeKeeFahk, Reddit

9. What is next in this sequence of numbers: 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, ______?

Answer: 13112221.

Explanation:  Each sequence of numbers is a verbal representation of the sequence before it. Thus, starting with 1, the next sequence would be "one one," or "11." That sequence is followed by "two one," or "21," and so on and so forth.

Still confused? Here's a good explanation by Reddit user hankthetank921 :

The first number is just ONE (amount) "1" (0-9 numeral). So if you say there's ONE "1" (seriously just say it aloud) the next number would be an 11. Then there are TWO "1's", creating 21. Then ONE "2" and ONE "1" which creates 1,211. Then ONE "1", ONE "2", and TWO "1's" creating 111,221 ... and so on.

Source: arsenal7777, Reddit

10. Four people arrive at a river with a narrow bridge that can only hold two people at a time. It's nighttime and they have one torch that has to be used when crossing the bridge. Person A can cross the bridge in one minute, B in two minutes, C in five minutes, and D in eight minutes. When two people cross the bridge together, they must move at the slower person's pace. Can they all get across the bridge in 15 minutes or less?

Answer: Yes, they can cross in exactly 15 minutes.

Explanation:  The group of four must follow these steps.

1. First, A and B cross the bridge and A brings the light back. This takes 3 minutes. 2. Next, C and D cross and B brings the light back. This takes another 10 minutes. 3. Finally, A and B cross again. This takes another 2 minutes.

Source:  bananaslayer100, Reddit

11. A rebus is a pictogram that represents a word, phrase, or saying. For example, "Ci ii" represents "See eye to eye." What word or phrase does the following rebus represent: O_ER_T_O_?

Answer: Painless operation.

Explanation :  The letters missing in O_ER _T _O_ (OPERATION) spell out PAIN. Thus, "pain-less" operation.

Source:  kjivxx, Reddit

12. During a recent census, a man told the census taker that he had three children. When asked their ages, he replied, "The product of their ages is 72. The sum of their ages is the same as my house number." The census taker ran to the man's front door and looked at the house number. "I still can't tell," she complained. The man replied, "Oh that's right, I forgot to tell you that the oldest one likes chocolate pudding." The census taker then promptly wrote down the ages of the three children. How old are they?

Answer: 3, 3, and 8.

Explanation:  As Reddit users  TT1103 and RedditRage explained, the key to this brain teaser is that the census taker looks at the house number. In other words, she knows the sum of the children's ages.

However, at that point of the riddle, she still can't tell how old the man's children are. Therefore, she has to be stuck between multiple possibilities. To narrow it down further, only two sets of numbers that multiply to 72 share the same sum: (2,6,6) and (3,3,8).

After the man reveals that his oldest   child likes chocolate pudding, however, the census taker can differentiate between the two options. That is, only the latter of those two sets has a distinct "oldest" child.

Source: mikebrown_pelican, Reddit

13. You're in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove, and a gas lamp. You only have one match, so what do you light first?

Answer: The match.

Source: notarobot45, Reddit

14. There are five bags of gold that all look identical, and each has 10 gold pieces in it. One of the five bags has fake gold in it. The real gold, fake gold, and all five bags are identical in every way, except the pieces of fake gold each weigh 1.1 grams, and the real gold pieces each weigh 1 gram. You have a perfectly accurate digital gram scale and can use it only once. How do you determine which bag has the fake gold?

Answer: Take one gold piece from the first bag, two from the second bag, three from the third bag, four from the fourth bag, and five from the fifth bag. If the weight on the scale ends in .1, then you know the first bag has the fake gold. If the weight on the scale ends in .2, then the second bag has the fake gold, and so on and so forth.

Source: dankability, Reddit

• Main content

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

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

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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How Many of these 25 Brain Teasers Can You Solve?

By chris higgins | aug 17, 2017.

1. THE POLE-CLIMBING SLOTH

A slippery sloth climbs six feet up a utility pole during the day, then slides back down five feet during the night. If the pole is 30 feet high and the sloth starts from the ground (zero feet), how many days does it take the sloth to reach the top of the pole?

Answer : 25 days. The math here boils down to a net gain of one foot per day, along with a threshold (24 feet at the beginning of a day) that must be attained so that the sloth can get to the 30-foot mark within a given day. After 24 days and 24 nights, the sloth is 24 feet up. On that 25th day, the sloth scrambles up six feet, attaining the 30-foot top of the pole. Left to the reader is a motivation for the sloth to attempt this feat in the first place. Perhaps there is something tasty atop the pole?

(Adapted from a brain teaser by Carl Proujan.)

2. THE PIRATE RIDDLE

A group of five pirates have to divide up their bounty of 100 coins, as described in the video below. The captain gets to propose a distribution plan, and all five of the pirates vote "yarr" or "nay" on the proposal. If a majority votes "nay," the captain walks the plank. The pirates are arranged in order, and vote in that order: the captain, Bart, Charlotte, Daniel, and Eliza. If a majority vote "nay" and the captain walks the plank, the captain's hat goes to Bart, and the process repeats down the line, with a series of proposals, votes, and other acceptance or plank-walking.

How can the captain stay alive, while getting as much gold as possible? (In other words, what is the optimal amount of gold the captain should offer to each pirate, himself included, in his proposal?) Watch the video below for all the rules.

Answer : The captain should propose that he keep 98 coins, distribute one coin each to Charlotte and Eliza, and offer nothing to Bart and Daniel. Bart and Daniel will vote nay, but Charlotte and Eliza have done the math and vote yarr, knowing that the alternative would get them even less booty.

3. THE HIKER'S DILEMMA

A hiker comes across an intersection where three roads cross. He looks for the sign indicating the direction to his destination city. He finds that the pole carrying three city names and arrows pointing to them has fallen. He picks it up, considers it, and pops it back into place, pointing out the correct direction for his destination. How did he do it?

Answer : He knew which city he had just come from. He pointed that arrow back toward his origin point, which oriented the signs properly for his destination and a third city.

(Adapted from a brain teaser by Jan Weaver.)

4. THE PASSCODE RIDDLE

In the video below, the rules of this riddle are laid out. Here's a snippet: Three team members are imprisoned, and one is allowed the opportunity to escape by facing a challenge. Given perfect logical skills, how can the remaining two team members listen in on what the chosen team member does, and infer the three-digit passcode to get them out?

Answer : The passcode is 2-2-9, for hallway 13.

5. COUNTING BILLS

I had a wad of money in my pocket. I gave half away and of what remained, I spent half. Then, I lost five dollars. That left me with just five bucks. How much money did I start with?

Answer : 40 dollars.

(Adapted from a brain teaser by Charles Booth-Jones.)

6. THE AIRPLANE FUEL RIDDLE

Professor Fukanō plans to circumnavigate the world in his new airplane, as shown in the video below. But the plane's fuel tank doesn't hold enough for the trip—in fact, it holds only enough for half the trip. Fukanō has two identical support planes, piloted by his assistants Fugori and Orokana. The planes can transfer fuel in midair, and they must all take off from and land at the same airport on the equator.

How can the three cooperate and share fuel so that Fukanō gets all the way around the world and nobody crashes? (Check the video for more details.)

Answer : All three planes took off at noon, flying west, fully loaded with fuel (180 kiloliters each). At 12:45, each plane has 135 kl remaining. Orokana gives 45 kl to each of the other two planes, then heads back to the airport. At 14:15, Fugori gives another 45 kl to the professor, then heads back to the airport. At 15:00, Orokana flies east , effectively flying toward the professor around the globe. At precisely 16:30, Orokana gives him 45 kl and flips around, now flying alongside the professor. Meanwhile, Fugori takes off and heads for the pair. He meets them at 17:15 and transfers 45 kl to each plane. All three planes now have 45 kl and make it back to the airport.

7. THE HAYSTACK PROBLEM

A farmer has a field with six haystacks in one corner, a third as many in another corner, twice as many in a third corner, and five in the fourth corner. While piling the hay together in the center of the field, the farmer let one of the stacks get scattered all over the field by the wind. How many haystacks did the farmer end up with?

Answer : Just one. The farmer had piled them all up the middle, remember? 

8. THE THREE ALIENS RIDDLE

In this video riddle, you have crashed landed on a planet with three alien overlords named Tee, Eff, and Arr. There are also three artifacts on the planet, each matching a single alien. To appease the aliens, you need to match up the artifacts with the aliens—but you don't know which alien is which.

You are allowed to ask three yes-or-no questions, each addressed to any one alien. You can choose to ask the same alien multiple questions, but you don't have to.

It gets more complex, though, and this wickedly tricky riddle is best explained (both its problem and its solution) by watching the video above.

9. THE FARMER'S WILL

One day, a farmer decided to do some estate planning. He sought to apportion his farmland among his three daughters. He had twin daughters, as well as a younger daughter. His land formed a 9-acre square. He wanted the eldest daughters to get equally sized pieces of land, and the younger daughter to get a smaller piece. How can he divide up the land to accomplish this goal?

Answer : Shown above are three possible solutions. In each, the box marked 1 is a perfect square for one twin, and the two sections marked 2 combine to make a square of the same size for the second twin. The area marked 3 is a small perfect square for the youngest child.

In my hand I have two American coins that are currently minted. Together, they total 55 cents. One isn't a nickel. What are the coins?

Answer : A nickel and a 50-cent piece. (Lately the U.S. 50-cent piece features John F. Kennedy.)

11. THE BRIDGE RIDDLE

A student, a lab assistant, a janitor, and an old man need to cross a bridge to avoid being eaten by zombies, as shown in the video below. The student can cross the bridge in one minute, the lab assistant takes two minutes, the janitor takes five minutes, and the professor takes 10 minutes. The group only has one lantern, which needs to be carried on any trip across. The zombies arrive in 17 minutes, and the bridge can only hold two people at a time. How can you get across in the time allotted, so you can cut the rope bridge and prevent the zombies from stepping on the bridge and/or eating your brains? (See the video for more details!)

Answer : The student and lab assistant go together first, and the student returns, putting three minutes total on the clock. Then, the professor and the janitor take the lantern and cross together, taking 10 minutes, putting the total clock at 13 minutes. The lab assistant grabs the lantern, crosses in two minutes, then the student and lab assistant cross together just in the nick of time—a total of 17 minutes.

12. LITTLE NANCY ETTICOAT

Here's a nursery rhyme riddle:

Little Nancy Etticoat In her white petticoat With a red nose— The longer she stands The shorter she grows

Given this rhyme, what is "she?"

Answer : A candle.

(Adapted from a brain teaser by J. Michael Shannon.)

13. THE GREEN-EYED LOGIC PUZZLE

In the green-eyed logic puzzle, there is an island of 100 perfectly logical prisoners who have green eyes—but they don't know that. They have been trapped on the island since birth, have never seen a mirror, and have never discussed their eye color.

On the island, green-eyed people are allowed to leave, but only if they go alone, at night, to a guard booth, where the guard will examine eye color and either let the person go (green eyes) or throw them in the volcano (non-green eyes). The people don't know their own eye color; they can never discuss or learn their own eye color; they can only leave at night; and they are given only a single hint when someone from the outside visits the island. That's a tough life!

One day, a visitor comes to the island. The visitor tells the prisoners: "At least one of you has green eyes." On the 100th morning after, all the prisoners are gone, all having asked to leave on the night before. How did they figure it out?

Watch the video for a visual explanation of the puzzle and its solution.

Answer : Each person can't be sure whether they have green eyes. They can only deduce this fact by observing the behavior of the other members of the group. If each person looks at the group and sees 99 others with green eyes, then logically speaking, they must wait 100 nights to give the others opportunities to stay or leave (and for each to make that calculation independently). By the 100th night, using inductive reasoning, the entire group has offered every person in the group an opportunity to leave, and can figure that it's safe to go.

14. THE NUMBER ROW

The numbers one through 10, below, are listed in an order. What is the rule that causes them to be in this order?

8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2

Answer : The numbers are ordered alphabetically, based on their English spelling: eight, five, four, nine, one, seven, six, ten, three, two.

15. THE COUNTERFEIT COIN PUZZLE

In the video below, you must find a single counterfeit coin among a dozen candidates. You're allowed the use of a marker (to make notes on the coins, which doesn't change their weight), and just three uses of a balance scale. How can you find the one counterfeit—which is slightly lighter or heavier than the legitimate coins—among the set?

Answer : First, divide the coins into three equal piles of four. Put one pile on each side of the balance scale. If the sides balance (let's call this Case 1), all eight of those coins are real and the fake must be in the other pile of four. Mark the legitimate coins with a zero (circle) using your marker, take three of them, and weigh against three of the remaining unmarked coins. If they balance, the remaining unmarked coin is counterfeit. If they don't, make a different mark (the video above suggests a plus sign for heavier, minus for lighter) on the three new coins on the scale. Test two of these coins on the scale (one on each side)—if they have plus marks, the heavier of those tested will be the fake. If they have minus marks, the lighter is the fake. (If they balance, the coin not tested is the fake.) For Case 2, check out the video.

16. THE ESCALATOR RUNNER

Each step of an escalator is 8 inches taller than the previous step. The total vertical height of the escalator is 20 feet. The escalator moves upward one half step per second. If I step on the lowest step at the moment it is level with the lower floor, and run up at a rate of one step per second, how many steps do I take to reach the upper floor? (Note: Do not include the steps taken to step on and off the escalator.)

Answer : 20 steps. To understand the math, take a period of two seconds. Within that two seconds, I run up two steps on my own power, and the escalator lifts me the height of an extra step, for a total of three steps—this could also be expressed as 3 times 8 inches, or two feet. Therefore, over 20 seconds I reach the upper floor having taken 20 steps.

17. A RIVER CROSSING PUZZLE

In the video riddle below, three lions and three wildebeest are stranded on the east bank of a river and need to reach the west. A raft is available, which can carry a maximum of two animals at a time and needs at least one animal onboard to row it across. If the lions ever outnumber the wildebeest on either side of the river (including the animals in the boat if it's on that side), the lions will eat the wildebeest.

Given these rules, how can all the animals make the crossing and survive?

Answer : There are two optimal solutions. Let's take one solution first. In the first crossing, one of each animal goes from east to west. In the second crossing, one wildebeest returns from west to east. Then on the third crossing, two lions cross from east to west. One lion returns (west to east). On crossing five, two wildebeest cross from east to west. On crossing six, one lion and one wildebeest return from west to east. On crossing seven, two wildebeest go from east to west. Now all three wildebeest are on the west bank, and the sole lion on the west bank rafts back to the east. From there (crossings eight through eleven), lions simply ferry back and forth, until all the animals make it.

For the other solution, consult the video.

18. THE THREE WATCHES

I am marooned on an island with three watches, all of which were set to the correct time before I got stuck here. One watch is broken and doesn't run at all. One runs slow, losing one minute every day. The final watch runs fast, gaining one minute every day.

After being marooned for a moment, I begin to worry about timekeeping. Which watch is most likely to show the correct time if I glance at the watches at any particular moment? Which would be least likely to show the correct time?

Answer : We know that the stopped watch must tell the correct time twice a day—every 12 hours. The watch that loses one minute per day will not show the correct time until 720 days into its cycle of time loss (60 minutes in an hour times 12 hours), when it will momentarily be exactly 12 hours behind schedule. Similarly, the watch that gains one minute a day is also wrong until 720 days after its journey into incorrectness, when it will be 12 hours ahead of schedule. Because of this, the watch that doesn't run at all is most likely to show the correct time. The other two are equally likely to be incorrect.

19. EINSTEIN'S RIDDLE

In this riddle, erroneously attributed to Albert Einstein, you're presented with a series of facts and must deduce one fact that's not presented. In the case of the video below, a fish has been kidnapped. There are five identical-looking houses in a row (numbered one through five), and one of them contains the fish.

Watch the video for the various bits of information about the occupants of each house, the rules for deducing new information, and figure out where that fish is hiding! (Note: You really need to watch the video to understand this one, and the list of clues is helpful too.)

Answer : The fish is in House 4, where the German lives.

20. MONKEY MATH

Three castaways and a monkey are marooned together on a tropical island. They spend a day collecting a large pile of bananas, numbering between 50 and 100. The castaways agree that the next morning the three of them will divide up the bananas equally among them.

During the night, one of the castaways wakes up. He fears that the others might cheat him, so he takes his one-third share and hides it. Since there is one banana more than a quantity which could be divided equally into thirds, he gives the extra banana to the monkey and goes back to sleep.

Later in the night, a second castaway awakes and repeats the same behavior, plagued by the same fear. Again, he takes one-third of the bananas in the pile and again the quantity is one greater than would allow an even split into thirds, so he hands the extra banana to the monkey and hides his share.

Still later, the final castaway gets up and repeats the exact same procedure, unaware that the other two have already done it. Yet again, he takes a third of the bananas and ends up with one extra, which he gives to the monkey. The monkey is most pleased.

When the castaways meet in the morning to divide the banana loot, they all see that the pile has shrunk considerably, but say nothing—they're each afraid of admitting their nighttime banana thievery. They divide the remaining bananas three ways, and end up with one extra for the monkey.

Given all this, how many bananas were there in the original pile? (Note: There are no fractional bananas in this problem. We are always dealing with whole bananas.)

Answer : 79. Note that if the pile were bigger, the next possible number that would meet the criteria above would be 160—but that's outside the scope listed in the second sentence ("between 50 and 100") of the puzzle.

21. THE VIRUS RIDDLE

In the video below, a virus has gotten loose in a lab. The lab is a single story building, built as a 4x4 grid of rooms, for a total of 16 rooms—15 of which are contaminated. (The entrance room is still safe.) There's an entrance at the northwest corner and an exit at the southeast corner. Only the entrance and exit rooms are connected to the outside. Each room is connected to its adjacent rooms by airlocks. Once you enter a contaminated room, you must pull a self-destruct switch, which destroys the room and the virus within it—as soon as you leave for the next room. You cannot re-enter a room after its switch has been activated.

If you enter via the entrance room and exit via the exit room, how can you be sure to decontaminate the entire lab? What route can you take? See the video for a great visual explanation of the problem and the solution.

Answer : The key lies in the entrance room, which is not contaminated and which you may therefore re-enter after exiting it. If you enter that room, move one room to the east (or the south) and decontaminate it, then re-enter the entrance room and destroy it on your way to the next room. From there, your path becomes clear—you actually have four options to complete the path, which are shown in the video above. (Sketching this one on paper is an easy way to see the routes.)

22. THE IN-LAW CONUNDRUM

According to puzzle book author Carl Proujan, this one was a favorite of author Lewis Carroll.

The prime minister is planning a dinner party, but he wants it to be small. He doesn't like crowds. He plans to invite his father's brother-in-law, his brother's father-in-law, his father-in-law's brother, and his brother-in-law's father.

If the relationships in the prime minister's family happened to be arranged in the most optimal manner, what would be the minimum possible number of guests be at the party? Note that we should assume that cousin marriages are permitted.

Answer : One. It is possible, through some complex paths in the prime minister's family, to get the guest list down to one person. Here's what must be true: The PM's mother has two brothers. Let's call them brother 1 and brother 2. The PM also has a brother who married the daughter of brother 1, a cousin. The PM also has a sister who married the son of brother 1. The host himself is married to the daughter of brother 2. Because of all this, brother 1 is the PM's father's brother-in-law, the PM's brother's father-in-law, the PM's father-in-law's brother, and the PM's brother-in-law's father. Brother 1 is the sole guest at the party.

23. THE PRISONER BOXES RIDDLE

In the video, ten band members have had their musical instruments randomly placed in boxes marked with pictures of musical instruments. Those pictures may or may not match up with the contents.

Each member gets five shots at opening boxes, trying to find their own instrument. Then, they must close the boxes. They're not allowed to communicate about what they find. If the entire band fails to find their instruments, they'll all be fired. The odds of them randomly guessing their way through this is one in 1024. But the drummer has an idea that will radically increase their odds of success, to more than 35 percent. What's his idea?

Answer : The drummer told everyone to first open the box with the picture of their instrument. If their instrument is inside, they're done. If not, the band member observes what instrument is found, then opens the box with that instrument's picture on it—and so forth. Watch the video for more on why this works mathematically.

24. S-N-O-W-I-N-G

One snowy morning, Jane awoke to find that her bedroom window was misty with condensation. She drew the word "SNOWING" on it with her finger. Then she crossed out the letter N, turning it into another English word: "SOWING." She continued this way, removing one letter at a time, until there was just one letter remaining, which is itself a word. What words did Jane make, and in what order?

Answer : Snowing, sowing, owing, wing, win, in, I.

(Adapted from a brain teaser by Martin Gardner.)

25. THE MYSTERY STAMPS

While on vacation on the island of Bima, I visited the post office to send some packages home. The currency on Bima is called the pim, and the postmaster told me that he only had stamps of five different values, though these values are not printed on the stamps. Instead, the stamps have colors.

The stamps were black, red, green, violet, and yellow, in descending order of value. (Thus the black stamps had the highest denomination and yellow the lowest.)

One package required 100 pims worth of stamps, and the postmaster handed me nine stamps: five black stamps, one green stamp, and three violet stamps.

The other two packages required 50 pims worth each; for those, the postmaster handed me two different sets of nine stamps. One set comprised one black stamp and two each of the other colors. The other set was five green stamps, and one each of the other colors.

What would be the smallest number of stamps needed to mail a 50-pim package, and what colors would they be?

Answer : Two black stamps, one red stamp, one green stamp, and one yellow stamp. (It may help to write out the stamp formulas given above using the various b, r, g, v, and y. Because we know that b > r > g > v > y, and we have three described cases, we can do some algebra to arrive at values for each stamp. Black stamps are worth 18 pim, red are worth 9, green are worth 4, violet are worth 2, and yellow are worth 1.)

(Adapted from a brain teaser by Victor Bryant and Ronald Postill.)

Sources: Brain Teasers by Jan Weaver; Brain Teasers & Mind Benders by Charles Booth-Jones; Riddles and More Riddles by J. Michael Shannon; Brain Teasers Galore: Puzzles, Quizzes, and Crosswords from Science World Magazine , edited by Carl Proujan; The Arrow Book of Brain Teasers by Martin Gardner; The Sunday Times Book of Brain Teasers , edited by Victor Bryant and Ronald Postill.

100+ BRAIN TEASERS FOR KIDS AND ADULTS (WITH ANSWERS)

Brain teasers that require thought, intellect, and a dab of creativity. Moreover, teasing your brain will require you to think hard and sometimes think outside the box.

• Brain Teasers

Brain Teasers to Solve

A brain teaser is a type of puzzle that requires thinking outside of the box and using logic, creativity, and problem-solving skills to solve. It is designed to challenge and stimulate the brain, often requiring a combination of math, language, and visual skills. Brain teasers can come in many different forms, such as riddles , puzzles, and games. They can range in difficulty from easy to extremely challenging and can be solved individually or as a group. The goal of a brain teaser is often to find a hidden solution or pattern that is not immediately obvious and to use critical thinking and reasoning to arrive at the answer. Solving brain teasers can improve cognitive function, memory, and creativity, and can also be a fun and entertaining way to pass the time.

In addition, parents introduce their children to riddles for many reasons.  Solving riddles for kids can significantly accelerate brain development.

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Carnival Trick Riddle

The mustard family riddle.

Six Faces 21 Eyes

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There Are 10 People In A Room

Always In You, Sometimes On You; If I Surround You I Can Kill You

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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
• The benefits of brain teasers for kids

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.

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?

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10 Brilliant Math Brain Teasers

Tap into rigorous problem-solving and critical thinking with these playful math brain teasers for middle and high school students.  

To break the ice during the first few awkward moments of class in the new school year, high school math teacher Lorenzo Robinson uses an unusual strategy: He reads his students’ minds.

Here’s how the mystical feat unfolds: Each student picks a number between 1 and 100. Next, they use calculators to add, subtract, multiply, and divide their way through a set of predetermined numbers. At the end, everyone ends up with the same answer: 427. Robinson isn’t psychic, of course, but because the mechanics of the teaser are always the same, regardless of which initial numbers his students select, he’s able to correctly “guess” their final result—much to their amazement. 

Starting off the lesson with a math brain teaser sets a playful tone and lowers the stakes for kids, “generating a buzz around my class,” Robinson says. “It makes students feel as though this class is not going to be scary, it’s going to be interesting. ‘We’re going to be learning, but we’re also going to have some fun.’” 

Robinson thinks of math brain teasers as a variation on brain breaks —a brief respite from dense curricular material that gives kids time to pause and process. They can also provide an opportunity to build relationships and community as kids put their heads together to find solutions. Good brain teasers can be sneaky: They get kids developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. 

Meanwhile, before introducing a new one, Robinson works through the problem himself, identifying questions that students might have along the way and making sure his class has the background knowledge to understand how the teaser works. It’s important, he says, to provide a few minutes for kids to examine and discuss the teaser. Ask them to observe, highlight, and share things that stand out. 

“The most powerful reaction is when a kid doesn’t get the correct answer,” Robinson says, and they ask to try the problem again. “They want to feel what the other kids are feeling, that educational euphoria. They want to do it again because they want to be right.” That organic intellectual curiosity is hugely helpful in high school math, Robinson says, because it can be “parlayed into the other stuff that we do.”

We combed through dozens of math brain teasers to find 10 good ones—including several of Robinson’s tried-and-true favorites.  

Number Magic: I’ll Bet Your Number is… 427

• Start by having students pick any number between 1 and 100. 
• Add 28. 
• Multiply that number by 6. 
• Subtract 3. 
• Divide that number by 3. 
• Subtract 3 more than your original number. 
• Add 8. 
• Subtract 1 less than your original number. 
• Multiply that number by 7. 

And voilà, you’ll correctly identify each student’s final result as 427. Courtesy of: Lorenzo Robinson  

Can Your Shoe Size Tell Your Age? 

• Start with your shoe size. If you are a half size—for example, size 8.5—round up to 9.
• Multiply your shoe size by 5. 
• Add 50. 
• Multiply that number by 20. 
• Subtract the year you were born—for example, 1991. Add 1 if you already had your birthday this year. 

The first digit(s) are your shoe size, and the last two digits are your age.  Courtesy of: Lorenzo Robinson.  

Cutting Across a Cross

Ask students to draw a cross on a sheet of paper. Drawing one on the board as a point of reference is helpful. Next, ask students to draw two straight lines that will segment or cut the cross into pieces. The goal is to produce the most pieces.

The solution can be found here .  Sourced from: MathisFun.com .

Number Magic: I’ll Bet Your Final Number is… 5  

• Start with a positive number. Students shouldn’t say the number out loud.
• Square that number. 
• Add 10x the original number to what you have now. 
• Add 25 to the result of the previous step. 
• Now take the square root of that number, rounding to the nearest whole number. 
• Subtract your original number.
• Before students share their final figure, reveal that you guess their collective result is 5. 

Courtesy of: Lorenzo Robinson.

Birthday Math 

Have students work in pairs and share the following instructions with their partner:

• Start with the number 7.
• Multiply that by the month of your birth. For example, if you were born in September, you’d use the number 9 to represent your birth month. 
• Subtract 1. 
• Multiply that number by 13. 
• Add the day of your birth. 
• Add 3. 
• Multiply that number by 11. 
• Subtract the month of your birth. 
• Subtract the day of your birth. 
• Divide by 10.
• Add 11 to that number. 
• Divide by 100. 

The result on the calculator screen should be their partner’s birthday.  Sourced from: Dr. Mike’s Math Games for Kids .

Coin Conundrum

Ask students to imagine that they have two coins that total 30 cents in value. Have them try to figure out what the two coins are, only providing them with a singular piece of information: One of the coins is not a nickel. The answer: A quarter and a nickel. (Only one of the coins is not a nickel.)

Sourced from: WeAreTeachers .

The Phone Number Trick  

• Ignoring your area code, type the first three digits of your phone number into a calculator.
• Multiply that number by 80. 
• Add 1. 
• Multiply that number by 250. 
• Add the last four digits of your phone number. 
• Add the last four digits of your phone number again. 
• Subtract 250. 
• Divide this number by 2. Do you recognize your phone number?

Courtesy of: Lorenzo Robinson. 

A Number Challenge

For a slightly more independent teaser, challenge students to produce a math equation that works using these four numbers—2, 3, 4, and 5—as well as a plus (+) and equal sign (=). Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups as they try to create a valid equation. The answer: 2 + 5 = 3 + 4.

Sourced from: WeAreTeachers .  

Math Mind Reader 

Students can work in pairs with this teaser. One person will start off by holding the calculator so their partner cannot see it; the other person can read the steps aloud to the partner with the calculator. 

• The student with the calculator starts by choosing a whole number from 1 to 20 and writing it down on a piece of paper without letting their partner see it. 
• Next, the student with the calculator enters their secret number into the calculator. 
• Multiply that number by 3. 
• Add the secret number, then subtract 5. 
• Multiply by 3, then multiply by 3 again. 
• Add the secret number, then subtract the number of their favorite month (you don’t have to know what month it is). For example, 9 represents the ninth month of the year, September. 
• Multiply by 3, then multiply by 3 again, and then again a third time. 
• Add the secret number, then subtract their favorite day of the month (again, you don’t have to know what it is on your end). 
• Ask them to show the non-calculator partner the result. At this stage, the non-calculator partner can guess the original secret number, even though what appears on the screen may be a very large number. 

If the result is negative, their secret number is 1.

If the result has only three digits, their secret number is 2.

In all other cases, ignore the last three digits, and then add 2 to get the secret number! 

Sourced from: Dr. Mike’s Math Games for Kids .

What’s Unique About This Number?

After writing the number 8,549,176,320 on the board, ask students to observe the number and tell you everything they think is unique about the number.

Answer: It is the digits 0 to 9 in alphabetical order (eight, five, four, nine, one, seven, six, three, two, zero), but it’s surprising and fun to see what students come up with. This number can also be evenly divided by the digits 1 through 9 except for the number 7, for example. 

Sourced from: MathisFun.com . 

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36 Rebus Puzzles With Answers (Free Printable)

Decode the fun and boost kids’ brainpower!

Adding rebus puzzles to your lesson plans is just as effective as using other language games that make learning fun . These puzzles provide unique opportunities for creative engagement and facilitate learning in disguise . 

Find out how to use these rebus puzzles for learning and fun in the classroom below, but first fill out the form on this page to download our free printable worksheets featuring 36 entertaining printable rebus puzzles with answers.

What Are Rebus Puzzles?

Helpful rebus puzzle-solving strategies, how to use rebus puzzles in the classroom.

A rebus puzzle is a visual riddle that cleverly uses pictures and words to convey a word, phrase, or saying. It’s a fun challenge that prompts students to flex their problem-solving muscles by deciphering the hidden meaning behind image and word combinations.

Here’s an example: picture the word ‘head’ surrounded by several clouds. The clever placement of the word ‘head’ and the clear imagery tell a lot. 

Can you decipher this rebus puzzle? It’s a tricky one! Download the free rebus puzzle printable to reveal the answer!

Mastering rebus puzzles becomes a breeze when you follow a few solving guidelines. Share these with your students:

Start with the Visual

Closely examine the images or symbols within the puzzle. These visual cues often hold the key to unraveling the riddle. The fundamental question to ask is, “What do these images represent?” This approach cultivates a critical-thinking mindset right from the beginning.

Break It Down

Suggest taking on each element of the riddle individually before putting the pieces together to form a coherent answer.

Context Matters

Consider the context of the rebus puzzle. Encourage students to think about where the words and images might fit within a sentence or story. Emphasize the importance of looking beyond individual elements to grasp the overall context.

Locate the Prepositions

Discover the subtle hints embedded in rebus puzzles by focusing on prepositions. These little words, guiding us in spatial relationships, play a vital role in deciphering the puzzle’s meaning. Keep a keen eye on how words, numbers, or images are positioned within the rebus.

Rebus puzzles aren’t just brain teasers – they’re powerful teaching tools that can transform the classroom experience.  After guiding students through strategies to solve rebus puzzles, check out these ways you can use rebus puzzles in the classroom.

Build vocabulary

Introduce a new rebus puzzle daily for one month and have students document it in their notebooks. Alongside solving the daily picture puzzle, encourage them to write a short explanation of the word or phrase. Take it a step further and have students write a story using the answer to their rebus puzzle or have them do some research on the phrase to learn what it means, where it comes from, and how it can be used. This process reinforces the vocabulary in multiple ways, from visual recognition to contextual understanding.

Explore the parts of speech

These versatile riddles range from full sentences to phrases and single-word rebuses, providing a dynamic way for kids to explore the parts of speech . As students decode each riddle, encourage them to simultaneously identify the parts of speech involved in the answer.

Rebus puzzles aren’t just fun; they’re a gentle nudge to the brain that wakes students up and prepares them for the day.  These puzzles spark creativity, encourage smart thinking, and set the stage for a lesson filled with enjoyment and open-minded exploration.

Explore math with a playful twist

Rebus puzzles sometimes feature common and not-so-common math symbols, equations, number patterns, and word problems. Whether it’s symbols for greater than or less than , pi, measurement, or even square root, rebus puzzles aren’t just about problem-solving; they’re about transforming the often stressful nature of math into an opportunity for curious exploration and fun.

Study cultural subjects

In the classroom, rebus puzzles serve as exciting tools that seamlessly blend visual elements and words to depict historical events, famous landmarks, or natural wonders. Deciphering a rebus representing the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, or Taiwan adds an interactive twist to cultural studies.

Engage in healthy classroom competition

Transform those extra minutes before recess into challenges by organizing rebus puzzle competitions. Split the class into teams and present them with a mix of easy and challenging puzzles. The team that successfully solves the most puzzles within a set time frame earns recognition. 

Write positive secret messages

You can brighten a child’s day by creating positive secret messages through rebus puzzles. These puzzles offer a playful and creative platform to convey uplifting compliments or positive affirmations to kids . Imagine the joy on their faces when they uncover a hidden message designed for them – it not only brings a smile but also instills a sense of pride and happiness. 

Give a rebus puzzle card as a reward

Make task completion even more rewarding by offering rebus puzzle cards as classroom rewards . This approach not only motivates kids to accomplish their goals or assignments but also infuses an element of fun into the process.

Learn about idioms

Rebus puzzles cleverly show common idioms, turning language lessons into exciting challenges. Students learn idioms and gain a deeper appreciation for figurative language in a way that sparks their curiosity.

Learn about compound words.

Rebus puzzles often put words together, making it a fun way for kids to learn about compound words . Picture puzzles teach students how words blend and make learning about language easier to grasp by making it exciting as words come alive through pictures.

Share the fun with families

Take the excitement of rebus puzzles out of the classroom and send that fun home so students can take their family game nights up a notch. This educational activity not only sparks joy but also fosters collaboration and critical thinking.

Get a free set of worksheets with 36 puzzles and answers

Rebus puzzles are a great way to build skills and engage young minds. With our free printable rebus puzzles with answers, your students will flex their brains and gain confidence in no time. Just fill out the form on this page to get instant access to your printables. Happy puzzling!

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Math and Logic Puzzles

If you REALLY like exercising your brain, figuring things 'round and 'round till you explode, then this is the page for you !

Whosoever shall solve these puzzles shall Rule The Universe!

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Critical Thinking and Decision-Making  - Using Brain Teasers to Build Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking and decision-making  -, using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills, critical thinking and decision-making using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills.

Critical Thinking and Decision-Making: Using Brain Teasers to Build Critical Thinking Skills

Lesson 4: using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills.

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Using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills

Here's a brain teaser: A rooster is on the roof of a barn facing east. The wind is blowing to the west at 10 miles per hour. The rooster lays an egg. Which direction does the egg roll?

The answer appears below the image.

Answer: There is no egg. The rooster didn't lay one because roosters are male. Did you get it right? Let's pick this apart and see why so many people have difficulty with this brain teaser, and so many others.

Watch the video below to learn more about how you can use brain teasers to improve your critical thinking.

The answer is in the details

It's easy to overlook details or accept them without questioning. In the brain teaser above, the answer could be found in the second word: r ooster .

In hindsight, we realize it's impossible for roosters to lay eggs. But it's easy to overlook this when it's casually mentioned in the brain teaser.

Misdirection

Another process at work in this brain teaser is misdirection . There were several details included that we may have paid too much attention to: The fact that the rooster was facing east, and that the wind was blowing west at 10 miles per hour.

In the end, these details had nothing to do with the actual answer. However, they seemed important in the context of the brain teaser! This directed us away from the relevant information.

Applying these ideas to the real world

The same techniques we use to solve brain teasers can also be applied to real-world situations . When you're trying to figure something out, it's important to analyze the information that's available to you and ask the following questions:

• Are there any key details I may be missing?
• Am I being misled by something?
• Could I be thinking about this in another way?

Brain teasers not only help to keep your mind sharp, but can help improve your critical thinking skills as well.

Let's finish things off with another brain teaser...

You are in a dark room with a single match. The only objects available to you are a candle, an oil lamp, and a gas stove. Which item do you light first?

Answer: The match!

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7 Great Team Building Brain Teasers for Work in 2024

You found our list of the best team building brain teasers !

Team building brain teasers are games or activities that push teams to creatively problem solve. Because teams work together to solve brain teasers, the activities help bring colleagues together and foster team bonding at the office.

These brain teasers are a type of team building puzzle , are similar to riddles for team building and team building problems , and are a great way to develop team building skills .

This list includes:

• brain teasers for team building
• team building brain teasers with answers
• fun brain teasers for teams
• group brain teasers

So, here is the list!

List of team building brain teasers

From games that are hands-on to games that train your eye, here is our list of fun brain teasers for teams.

1. Spot the Difference: Office Edition

You may remember Spot the Difference games in magazines when you were a kid. Spot the Difference: Office Edition plays with a similar concept, but transplants the game to your real-life office.

Here’s how to play:

• Take your team to a corner of the office with items in it. This corner can be anywhere from the kitchen area to a workmate’s desk.
• Ask your team to memorize what they see, and then close their eyes.
• While everyone’s eyes stay shut, rearrange a few items.
• Keep track of the changes you made.
• Let your colleagues open their eyes.
• Have your coworkers list as many changes as possible.
• The player who spots the most differences accurately wins.

Spot the Difference: Office Edition is a fun brain teaser for teams because it transforms the office from a workplace to a puzzle. Also, any number of people can play, and you do not need specialized skills to win. Best of all, when team members rack their brains together, it facilitates team bonding .

2. Rebus or Bust

Rebus or Bust is a fun brain teaser for teams, where you and your coworkers solve rebuses. Rebuses are words, illustrations, and symbols that represent words or phrases. To play this game, split your team into groups, and have the groups compete to solve rebuses as quickly as possible. You can create your own rebuses or look for rebuses online. The group that solves the most puzzles by the end of the game wins.

Rebus or Bust is a great team building brain teaser because it spurs creative thinking, and your team needs to put their brains together to win. Not only will your team have a great time, but the event will help develop employee friendships.

Check out these example rebuses for inspiration. If you’re looking for a facilitated team building event with challenges (and a rebus puzzle!), then check out our Murder in Ancient Egypt activity .

Get our free team building toolbox

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3. Utilitarian Test

The University of Texas at Austin says that utilitarianism is a philosophical concept that “holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number.” The Utilitarian Test takes the most famous utilitarian ethical questions, such as the trolley problem, fat man, transplant surgeon, and Heinz dilemma, and asks your coworkers to reveal how each person would handle each scenario.

You can also transform Utilitarian Test into a debate-centered activity by splitting your team into two groups to present arguments for their choice. Because you need to consider choosing from two controversial options, these group brain teasers are great team building games , which reveal a lot about how your team members think and what they value.

For more information on utilitarian questions to try, check out these resources:

• The trolley dilemma
• Heinz dilemma

Or, try searching for “utilitarian tests.”

4. Rube Goldberg Off

If you have seen videos where a complicated contraption accomplishes a simple task, then you have seen a Rube Goldberg machine. Rube Goldberg Off is a stellar brain teaser for team building, where teams compete to come up with the most inventive Rube Goldberg contraption.

To make judging between machines easier, set the task in advance that the mechanism needs to achieve, so all the Rube Goldberg machines have the same purpose. Rube Goldberg Off also works well for large group icebreakers that gives your team an opportunity to unleash their innovative spirit together, and taps back into a childlike appreciation for crafting and building things with their hands.

5. Fun with Logos

Have you ever noticed the hidden messages in logos? From FedEx to Toblerone, Fun with Logos asks your team to determine the hidden symbolism in famous logos. You can either compete in teams, or work together to spot the symbols.

Fun with Logos is exciting because it gives logos that you see every day new context, and gets people to think outside the box. Your team members will have fun deciphering the logo imagery together, and gain some new knowledge through participating in this brain teaser.

Get started with these logos and their hidden meanings .

6. Team Crosswords

Team Crosswords is when your team collectively solves crossword puzzles together. Crosswords can be notoriously difficult, so why not harness a bit of teamwork to solve them? Since Team Crosswords only requires you to select a puzzle and assemble your team, hosting a crosswords session at the end of every week is a simple way for your team to unwind.

Regularly playing Team Crosswords enhances your team’s trivia knowledge, and is a team building exercise that gives your colleagues the opportunity to gather once a week and work on a low pressure task together. This togetherness not only improves team bonding, but also boosts productivity and motivation.

Download free crossword puzzles for your team or make your own .

7. Seven Degrees of Separation

If you have ever heard of the game, “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, then Seven Degrees of Separation operates on similar rules, except that connecting to Kevin Bacon is not the only ultimate goal.

• Compile a bunch of objects or ideas that have no relation to each other.
• Write the objects or ideas on scraps of paper.
• Place the scraps of paper in an opaque container.
• Ask two different team members to pick a scrap of paper each.

Your team’s objective is to try to find some way to connect the two objects or ideas in less than seven steps.

Seven Degrees of Separation challenges your team to exercise their minds to find links that may not be apparent at first. This group brain teaser is a simple way to get everyone together that does not require any additional materials or much planning. If you feel your office having a slow day, then you can pull out Seven Degrees of Separation to break up the lull in activity.

Brain teasers are a fun way for your team to stay sharp by getting everyone to think on their feet. By getting your team to work together to solve these teasers, your team will also enjoy the benefits of team building , which will help make your company stronger than ever.

Next, check out this list of problem solving activities for groups , these work riddles , and this one with team building games to play at work .

Book wildly fun team building events with expert hosts

FAQ: Team Building Brain Teasers

Here are a few commonly asked questions about brain teasers for team building.

What are team building brain teasers?

Team building brain teasers are activities or competitions that teams solve together. The purpose of these activities is to develop employee friendships through cooperation and teamwork.

What are some good brain teasers for team building?

Some good brain teasers for team building are:

• Spot the Difference, Office Edition
• Rebus or Bust
• Utilitarian Test
• Rube Goldberg Off
• Fun with Logos
• Team Crosswords
• Seven Degrees of Separation

These group brain teasers are fun ways for teams to solve puzzles together, and encourage employees to explore their creative and intellectual sides.Through playing together, you may discover team member skills that you did not know about before.

What are the best group brain teasers?

The best group brain teasers are:

These brain teasers do not require purchasing additional materials and can be set up with the help of some research. These activities also exercise different skills, making them suitable for a wide range of companies.

How do you do brain teasers with teams?

To do brain teasers with teams, you need to:

• Audit your group’s strengths
• Research brain teasers that test your team’s minds
• Gather the necessary materials
• Set a time to hold the brain teaser
• Bring everyone together to solve the brain teaser

If you follow these guidelines, then you can find suitable brain teasers to play with your team. When selecting brain teasers, be sure to find ones that involve everyone, celebrate ingenuity, and will not make people feel bad if they cannot solve them.

Author: Jessica Chen

Content Expert at teambuilding.com. Team building content expert. Jessica has a double major in English and Asian Studies, and experience working with teams across cultures; including 3+ years in Taiwan.

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Brain Teasers: 10 Innovative Puzzles Boosting Your IQ in 2024

• October 23, 2023
• Uncategorized

Brain Teasers: Modern Mind Enhancers in 2024

When we think of modern mind enhancers, one might naturally steer the conversation towards the burgeoning market of nootropics or smart drugs. But today, we’re going old-school, bringing the spotlight firmly on the tried-and-tested realm of brain teasers. Their roots stretch back to ancient times, with Sudoku and crosswords gracing our newspapers and books to the modern digital arenas offering a pantheon of puzzles like BrainTwister.

Brain Teasers are anything but a new kid on the block. But ask yourself, “Why are they still relevant, especially in 2024?” Well, their impact is not merely entertainment—it’s about intellectual elevation and stimulating cognitive muscles.

So now you might be asking, “How can seemingly simple brain teasers elevate my IQ?” The magic lies in their ability to jolt your intellect out of autopilot, sharpening cognitive skills such as memory, attention, and problem-solving abilities. By consistently flexing these figurative muscles, brain teasers can help enhance your IQ, giving it the much-needed boost in today’s competitive world.

Benchmarking Today’s Best Brain Teasers for Adults

Jumbo pad of brain teasers (highlights jumbo books & pads).

The Jumbo Pad of Brain Teasers is an engaging and challenging product from Highlights Jumbo Books & Pads series, designed to provide endless fun for young minds in a joyful learning environment. This jumbo pad is packed with a wide variety of entertaining puzzles, riddles, logic problems, and picture mysteries that are perfect for anyone who loves a good brain workout. It encourages mental agility, problem-solving skills, and individual creativity, making it not only a fun activity but also an educational tool.

Each page of this Jumbo Pad is filled with colourful illustrations, intricate details, and a range of difficulty levels, ensuring that it caters to all age groups, especially children aged 7 and up. Every puzzle has been carefully crafted to challenge young minds and encourage their intellectual growth. The pad is perfect for long journeys, vacations, or simply a quiet day at home; it will not fail to keep children engaged and mentally stimulated.

The Jumbo Pad of Brain Teasers from Highlights Jumbo Books & Pads is not just a pad; it’s a journey into a world of puzzles, riddles, and mysteries where every turn of the page is a new adventure waiting to unfold. This product assures quality fun time while promoting cognitive development and critical thinking. Indeed, it’s the perfect gift for a budding problem solver, making learning a delightful experience.

Under the Spotlight: Nature of Puzzles in 2024

Fast forward to 2024, where brain teasers have evolved, boasting exciting iterations that balance fun and complexity. The traditional ones continue rocking the craniums of many adults, including Sudoku and crosswords, engaging our gray matter and serving as excellent mental workouts.

Meanwhile, a fascinating logic game called BrainTwister is making waves, pitting players against sequences of colorful geometric shapes. Attempting to predict the following stages of the pattern, this game engages our cognitive flexibility, maintaining the delicate balance between complex thinking and straightforward fun. Just like a pair of well-fitted Womens Hey Dudes or your favorite set of tank tops , these puzzles make you feel comfortable yet stylishly challenged.

Brain Teasers vs. Traditional Puzzles: Comparative Analysis

When we compare modern brain teasers to traditional puzzles, an intriguing pattern emerges. While both bank on cognitive acuity, modern games have started adopting adaptive difficulty settings, providing a personalized challenge to players. Traditional puzzles like Sudoku maintain the same challenge level, regardless of who’s attempting to solve them.

Diving into the Top 10 Innovative Brain Teasers in 2024

Pieces d maze ball maze puzzle ball magic brain teasers games sphere educational puzzle toys maze puzzle cube ball for adults and students teens and hard challenges game lover.

The Pieces D Maze Ball is an innovative and engaging game designed to test your mental skills and dexterity. This ingenious, spherical magic brain teaser game is not only a stimulating challenge but also an excellent way to improve focus, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving abilities. Its complex labyrinth tucked within a transparent sphere, this maze puzzle ball brings fun and education together, making it an ideal toy for both adults and teenagers.

This game sphere is truly impressive, not just in design but also in the myriad of challenges it offers. The intricate network of paths and barriers tucked inside the ball is sure to confound even the most sharp-minded game lovers, providing hours of intriguing gameplay. This spherical, hard challenge game, therefore, tour-de-force in puzzle design, is a perfect twist on traditional flat puzzles, as it requires players to think in three dimensions.

The Pieces D Maze Ball Puzzle is an excellent educational toy for students. This captivating gadget helps them develop and refine their spatial awareness, patience, and strategic thinking. Moreover, the lively and intense nature of the game makes it an enjoyable and productive break from routine studies. Aptly designed to challenge and delight game lovers of all age groups, this educational puzzle toy is indeed a must-have in every game collection!

Puzzle One: A Detailed Overview and Analysis

Brain teasers such as jigsaw puzzles are increasingly popular, projecting a simple image but requiring strategic assembly. Deciphering the proper arrangement can enhance spatial reasoning and hand-eye coordination.

Puzzle Two: Deep Dive into its Innovative Components

Twisty puzzles, commonly known as Rubik’s cubes, are an engaging spatial puzzle. Enhanced versions available in 2024 offer multi-dimensional cubes to challenge spatial logic further, compelling enthusiasts to twist their way to success.

Puzzle Three: Unfolding the Layers of this Brain Teaser

Trivia quizzes are old-fashioned brain teasers that have stood the test of time. However, with the infusion of technology, the quizzes of 2024 are interactive, engagement-driven, and knowledge-boosting tools.

Puzzle Four: An Empirical Approach to Solving it

BrainTwister, a sequence-solving puzzle, excites players with colorful geometric shapes. It boosts cognitive flexibility, anticipating what comes next in the pattern.

Puzzle Five: Analysis and Solving Techniques

Crosswords, the timeless puzzles extracted from newspapers or books, are a staple in brain teasers. In 2024, digital crosswords have the flexibility to adapt to user preferences and complexities.

Puzzle Six: Exploring the Unique Elements

The no-frills game of Sudoku offers grid-based challenges to number enthusiasts. The digital iterations in 2024 come with adjustable difficulty levels, making them palatable for beginners and seasoned solvers alike.

Puzzle Seven: A Comprehensive Breakdown

Optical illusions, a visual treat, and a boon for brain teasers engage players’ perceptive abilities, requiring keen eyes to decipher the hidden elements.

Puzzle Eight: Decoding the Inner Workings

Picture riddles, combining words and pictures, challenge our thinking by demanding lateral interpretations. Having a repository of such hard Riddles is essential to boost multilayered understanding.

Puzzle Nine: A Profound Look into its Design

Word searches, while appearing simple, are an excruciating test of one’s vocabulary and concentration. With word lists growing in 2024, these search games offer an expansive language challenge to the players.

Puzzle Ten: The Final Piece of our Intellectual Journey

Finally, Brain Test: An eccentric brain teaser demands unconventional problem-solving methods, such as dragging crackers to the word “cat” to solve a puzzle. Displaying an uncanny twist on conventional logic, it showcases the innovation in brain teasers of 2024.

BePuzzled Infinity Hanayama Metal Brainteaser Puzzle Mensa Rated Level , for Ages and Up

The BePuzzled Infinity Hanayama Metal Brainteaser Puzzle is a mesmerizingly intricate puzzle designed to engage your mind and challenge your cognitive abilities. Crafted from high-quality metal and intricately assembled, this intricate game is rated Level 6 by Mensa, the international society known for its high IQ members, indicating its extreme challenge level. It is recommended for ages 12 and up, which makes it an ideal gift for puzzle enthusiasts, hobbyists, or anyone looking for a satisfying mental workout.

The design of this sheer metal puzzle represents the concept of infinity, with its twisting and turning metal pieces that interlock in a seemingly endless loop. The goal: disassemble and then re-assemble this complex structure. This brainteaser not only gives you a unique moment of relief and achievement once solved, but also offers valuable lessons in patience, perseverance, and problem-solving skills.

The BePuzzled Infinity Hanayama Metal Brainteaser Puzzle is not just a difficult challenge but also a work of art. The polished metal gives it a sleek, stylish look that will complement any shelf or desk. In addition, its compact size (with dimensions of 4.72 x 2.99 x 1.77 inches) makes it convenient to carry around, transforming dull moments into exciting puzzle-solving sessions. This special puzzle is a must-have for all puzzle lovers and those who are up for an exceptional brain-busting experience.

Unlocking Mysteries: Behind the Scenes of Brain Teasers with Answers

Role of answers in puzzles: a psychological perspective.

“Answers to brain teasers,” sounds relieving, doesn’t it? The sense of closure bestowed by answers is psychologically satisfying, akin to finally finding the missing piece of a complex jigsaw puzzle. Decoding Riddles stimulates our problem-solving skills, while the answers offer a retrospective understanding, bridging the gap between confusion and comprehension.

Making or Breaking the Experience: The Timing of Answers

Ever solved a brain teaser and instantly flipped to find the answer? We’ve all been there. When constructing brain teasers with answers, the timing of revealing the solutions is crucial. Releasing explanatory solutions prematurely could suppress the opportunity for multiple attempts, thereby stunting the cognitive benefits derived from grappling with the challenge.

Brain Teasers: The Verdict on Effective IQ Boosting

Findings corroborate the effectiveness of brain teasers in boosting IQ, as our brain is like a muscle—the more you use it, the stronger it gets. The diverse puzzles, each unique in its workings, have stimulated various cognitive abilities, making them reliable mind gym tools.

Now, brain teasers are no passing fad. Their gripping presence is evident, with digital platforms providing an accessible gateway for enthusiasts, ranging from casual gamers to intellect geeks, making them an integral part of our culture.

Predicting the evolution of these thought-provoking puzzles, they’re bound to become more interactive, immersive, and engaging, catering to the increasing demand for intellectual stimulation.

Train Your Brain Logic Games (Brain Teasers for Kids, Math Skills, Activity Books for Kids Ages +)

The Train Your Brain Logic Games is an engaging activity book designed to foster and enhance the cognitive abilities of kids over the age group of ages 4 and up. This book consists of an assortment of mathematical problems, puzzles, brain teasers, and a plethora of activities aimed at developing your child’s analytical and problem-solving skills. It is intelligently curated to stimulate their curiosity and maintain their interest while having fun tackling the challenges subtly hidden in each activity. The brain teasers illustrate the fun side of learning and inspire children to build essential math skills required for their age.

Delving deeply into the book, children are introduced to various logical games developed on logic and context clues. This serves to refine their logical reasoning and deduction capabilities, making them sharper thinkers. These activities can range from simple sorting games to complex coding problems, providing a suitable challenge for every child. This diversity ensures the book remains exciting and interesting, regardless of their comprehension level.

The Train Your Brain Logic Games is a beneficial tool for parents, educators, and kids alike. It can be used as an enjoyable teaching tool reinforcing fundamental math concepts and logical thinking skills outside the traditional classroom environment. More so, for the kids, it offers a pleasurable distraction from on-screen entertainment and gadgets, serving as an excellent way to challenge their young minds, increase their focus, and enhance their learning experience and creativity.

Crossroads of Cerebral Conundrums: Decoding the IQ Bridge

Brain Teasers stimulate your cognitive muscles, pushing you to think beyond conventional norms. As we anticipate future developments in these mind games, we’d wager smart interjections, unique interfaces, and adaptive difficulty settings. Essential capabilities like lateral thinking, logical reasoning, and problem-solving will persist, and budding puzzle designers will concoct more innovative, engaging, and effective brain teasers for adults.

Being neck-deep in brain teasers isn’t about temporarily enhancing your cognitive faculties—it’s the start of a lifelong intellectual journey that will undoubtedly transform your cognitive culture, paving the way towards the ever-dynamic future. So, gear up, let’s get those neurons firing, and take a stride up the ladder to higher IQs in the 21st Century.

What are some good brain teasers?

Oh, you’re after some brain teasers, are ya? Well, there’s plenty to choose from. Riddles, Sudoku, crosswords, the classic Rubik’s cube – heck, even optical illusions can give that grey matter of yours a good workout.

What brain teasers improve memory?

Interested in boosting your memory? Try out puzzles that require recall, such as the Matchstick Game or the Card flipping memory game. These little nuggets of fun keep your mind sharp.

What is brain twister game?

A brain twister game – sounds puzzling, eh? It’s usually a problem or a puzzle that requires some serious thinking, often involving a tricky or unexpected solution. Think riddles and tricky logic puzzles – a real mindbender!

What is the answer to level 8 brain test?

Ah, level 8 in brain test? That’s got a few folks scratching their heads, hasn’t it? The answer, my friend, might vary based on the game you’re playing. Could be anything: solving a math problem, finding a hidden object – you name it.

What can run but not walk?

What can run but not walk? Gee, that’s a tricky one! But, if you think about it, the answer is quite simple: It’s water! It can run in rivers and down your kitchen faucet, but walk? Not so much.

What has a head but never talks?

What has a head but never talks, you ask? The answer’s not as tough as it may seem. It’s a nail, mate! Yep, your everyday hammer and nail. Pretty cool, right?

What is the most effective memory skill?

Wondering about the most effective memory skill? It’s actually a method called spaced repetition. This involves reviewing information over increasing periods of time. It’s like planting a seed, and regularly watering it for growth.

Which puzzle is best for brain?

Looking for a puzzle that’s ace for the brain? The mighty crossword is your bet. It boosts vocabulary and memory, improves mood, and even slows down mental aging. Now, isn’t that something?

What has really good memory?

“Elephant” might pop up first in your mind when you think of something with a really good memory. Fact or fiction, it’s a commonly held belief that these massive critters have ace recall.

Why is the letter F like death?

Why is the letter F like death? Sounds a touch grim, doesn’t it? This question is more of a riddle, and the answer is – “They both are at the end of life.”

What’s in front of you but Cannot be seen?

What’s in front of you but cannot be seen? It’s a bit of a mind-boggler isn’t it? But the answer’s future. Always before us, yet unseen. Deep stuff, huh?

What is the brain game with straws?

No straws involved in a typical brain game, but if we are talking about the classic drinking straw game, it’s all about using your problem-solving skills to build structures.

What grade level is my brain?

“What grade level is my brain is” an odd question, ain’t it? Scientifically speaking, there’s no direct correlation between your brain and a certain grade. The brain is a complex organ and can’t be simply graded.

What is unusual in this picture level 10?

What is unusual in this picture level 10? Ah, the one with the…wait! We ain’t spoilin’ it. You’ll find out with a keen eye and a dose of patience.

What is the hidden number game?

The hidden number game: a numerical version of the classic hide-and-seek. The aim? Find all concealed figures across digital landscapes. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

What has a head and tail but?

What has a head and tail but… no body? That’s your good ol’ coin – heads on one side, tail on the other, but no body in sight. Clever, ain’t it?

What do you put on the table and cut but never eat?

What do you put on the table and cut but never eat? This one gotcha, hasn’t it? Fear not, friend! It’s a deck of cards.

What has a head or a tail but no legs?

What has a head or a tail but no legs? You’ve nigh-on answered it yourself there, mate! It’s a coin – no legs here.

What has a head and a tail but no hands?

Now, what has a head and a tail but no hands? Bingo! Once again, it’s a coin. They seem to pop up quite a lot in these riddles, don’t they?

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Challenging brain teasers with solutions: long list.

This is a rather long list of challenging brain teasers with solutions. The brain teasers are hand-picked and solutions focus on systematic problem solving.

Know how to solve difficult problems easily without wasting time on random attempts

Our ebook on puzzle solutions by innovative methods will show you just that.

Puzzles for Adults: 50 Brain Teasers with Step-by-Step Solutions: Boost Your Power of Problem Solving

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Second book on Innovative Solutions to Matchstick Puzzles from Suresolv

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Puzzles and Riddles That You may Find Interesting

It is a growing list of puzzles and riddles that I felt attracted to and solved. The puzzles belong to all major categories. Each puzzle is divided into two parts - the puzzle and its solution.

A solution focuses on each little step of thought that leads to the solution. And it relies heavily on problem solving strategies and techniques as well as reasoning . Reasoning is my favorite topic - there is so many types and forms of reasoning!

Problem solving techniques are merrily used. But these days, that is during last part of 2021, I favor Question, answer and analysis technique to crack many hard nuts.

Enough of monologue. Go ahead. Taste for yourself. Who is not fond of challenging brain teasers!

Quick jump links to the categories are,

Mathematical puzzles

Logic puzzles, river crossing puzzles, ball weighing puzzles.

• Matchstick puzzles.

Just click on any of the above links to go through the particular category chosen and to return click on your browser back button.

These are the puzzles that I couldn't categorize comfortably. Usually a riddle is small having a small number of key mysteries to unravel. But you will find some of the riddles not easy to conquer.

Two jugs riddle

The tramcar reunion riddle

Riddle of 4 persons crossing a bridge over a river at night

Three boxes riddle

Riddle of PROBLEMSOLVING - Creation and application of Repetition pattern based technique

Airplane riddle of flying around the world

Riddle of lying and truth-telling twins

Two jugs riddle of delivering 1 quart of milk each

How could Sonia sell half a poodle riddle

Transfer a pile of 15 numbered discs riddle

Two burning ropes timer riddle

Riddle of four coins touching

Pick up in turns riddle

Devotee and three temples riddle

Big game hunting riddle: How many animals were bagged?

Knight and calculator keypad riddle

Riddle of all around handshakes in a dinner party

Open the lock riddle with 682 in clues

Connect the nine dots riddle: step by step solution

Open the lock riddle with 154 in clues

Number lock puzzle: Can you crack the code?

Two circles and a line riddle: can you traverse?

The ten barrel face number puzzle

Stepping stone crossing riddle step by step solution

Odd numbered and even numbered piles riddle

Make a circular chain riddle

Catch the cat hiding in 5 boxes riddle

4 digit number lock riddle: Can you crack the code

Remove discs from 10 touching discs riddle

Each of these puzzles is predominantly math heavy. Some amount of math you would surely need to solve a puzzle of this category.

But I have taken special care to keep the math simple (simply because I don't know complex math). Even such a hard one like Monkey and coconuts I have solved using Class ten level math that should be understood by most if not all.

Reverse cheque puzzle

Reverse cheque puzzle solution

Counting eggs puzzles based on Euclid's division lemma

Monkey and the coconuts puzzle with solutions

10 digit Conway number puzzle with solution

World's Hardest Easy Geometry Puzzle Solved with Techniques Explained Step by Step

Hard Algebra Puzzles Solved by Basic Exponent Concepts and Reasoning

Three squares in a triangle puzzle

3 digit number math puzzle

9 squares in a rectangle math puzzle

How many addition signs needed to make sum of 99

Solve 3 puzzles by solving only one: Domain mapping

Minimum number of heads with same number of hairs riddle

Playing card math puzzle

Change money math puzzle

Sharing a bicycle puzzle step by step solution

Ship carpenter's problem of plugging a square hole puzzle

Half and half money math puzzle

What is the weight of the fish?

The archery match math puzzle

The cat and mouse game with advisor dog

The puzzle of a purchase in the local market

Just like math puzzles, these are logic heavy. I mean heavily dependent on formal logic that involves truth, falsity, implications and so on.

Though logic is a part of math only, in puzzles, logic demands a separate category. These are especially interesting.

Method based solution to Einstein's logic analysis puzzle, whose fish

How to solve Einstein's puzzle whose fish confidently, improved method based solution

Logic puzzle, When is Cheryl's birthday

Liar and truth-teller riddle with step by step easy solution

4 Prisoners and Hats Puzzle

Liar, Truth-teller, Random-answerer riddle

Flipping coins to heads or tails logic puzzle

Six wrong labeled bottles logic puzzle

Riddle of Name of the Engineer

Who wears which shirt color logic puzzle

Whose birthday on which day logic puzzle

4 logicians and 11 fish fries logic puzzle

This category has a small number of puzzles but these are highly popular and engaging ones.

Farmer with fox, goose and bag of corn crossing the river puzzle

Two pigs and two hens crossing river puzzle

3 monkeys and 3 humans crossing river puzzle

King queen minister washerman river crossing puzzle

This is also a small category with only a few puzzles. But again these are of a kind as the saying goes.

None of these are easy to solve, but again not too hard to understand the solution also.

Find the heavier among 8 identical balls in 2 weighing puzzle

Find the fake ball among 8 identical balls in 3 weighing puzzle

Find the fake ball among 9 identical balls in 3 weighing puzzle

Find the fake ball among 12 identical balls in 3 weighing hard puzzle with solution

Matchstick puzzles

This is my favorite category and I always keep a large box of matchsticks within reach to play with when I feel the need.

It is a wonder how many engaging creations can be made with these innocuous little sticks!

Solution to 6 triangles to 5 triangles in 2 moves, first matchstick puzzle

Matchstick puzzle 5 squares to 4 squares in 2 moves

Matchstick puzzle 5 squares to 4 squares in 3 moves

Matchstick puzzle, Turn around the fish in 3 moves

Fifth Matchstick puzzle, Move 3 sticks in tic-tac-toe figure to form 3 perfect squares

Hexagonal wheel to 3 triangles by removing 4 sticks

Convert 5 squares to 4 squares in 3 stick moves, third 5 square matchstick puzzle

Matchstick Puzzle - Make the kite nose-dive in 5 stick moves

Make 5 squares from 6 in 2 stick moves - 6 square matchstick puzzle

Move 3 sticks and convert 5 squares to 4 squares in 4th 5 square matchstick puzzle

Move 3 sticks and convert 4 squares to 3 squares matchstick puzzle

Move 8 sticks and convert 5 squares to 2 squares matchstick puzzle

First Move 3 sticks and make 2 squares matchstick puzzle

Second Move 3 sticks and make 2 squares matchstick puzzle

Remove 2 matchsticks to leave 6 triangles puzzle

Add 3 matchsticks to make 4 triangles - lateral thinking stick puzzle

Move 1 stick to make 4 closed shapes each with 3 or 4 sides

Move 2 sticks to make 5 closed shapes matchstick puzzle

Move 2 to make 7 squares matchstick puzzle - solution based on problem solving and innovation model

Move 4 to turn the tower upside down Matchstick puzzle

Move 2 matches to make 6 squares and move 8 matches to make 6 squares - a pair of matchstick puzzles

Move 3 matches to take the cherry out of wine glass and move 2 matches to take the cherry out - a pair of matchstick puzzles

Move 6 matches to make 5 squares

Move 2 matches and add 1 to make 2 diamonds puzzle

Move 4 matches to make 5 triangles matchstick puzzle

Remove 4 matches to leave 4 equal triangles puzzle

Transfer 1 match in two matchstick groups puzzle

Move 3 matches to make 5 equal squares puzzle

Matchstick puzzle move 4 to make 10 squares

Matchstick puzzle Move 2 for form 11 squares

Move 2 matches to make 3 triangles

Remove 3 matches to leave 3 triangles

Add 9 matches to make 8 nodes

Move 3 matches to make 7 squares matchstick puzzle

Move 4 to make 6 squares matchstick puzzle

Move 4 matches to form 3 square area

Move 4 matches to make 4 squares matchstick puzzle

Move 2 matches to form 4 equal squares matchstick puzzle

Move 3 matches to create 3 squares of different sizes

Matchstick star puzzle - Move 2 matches to form 6 triangles

Move 2 matches to form 5 triangles from 6 triangles puzzle

Remove 3 and move 2 matches to form 3 squares puzzle

Enclose maximum number of triangles by 9 matchsticks

Remove 4 matches to leave 6 diamonds matchstick puzzle

Turn around the face of the pig in 2 moves puzzle

Add 10 matches to create 5 diamonds matchstick puzzle

Move 3 matches of 6 squares to create 5 squares puzzle

Turn the Westerly fish to Southerly swimming fish in 2 moves

Remove 5 matches to leave 5 squares matchstick puzzle

Move 4 matches to make 6 triangles matchstick puzzle

Remove 6 matches to leave exactly 2 squares puzzle

Move 3 matches to form 6 squares matchstick puzzle

Move 3 Matches to Form Exactly 3 Rectangles Puzzle

Move 4 matches to leave 2 triangles matchstick puzzle

Move 3 sticks to form six squares matchstick puzzle

Move 3 matches to form 2 large and 1 small triangle puzzle

Business Brain Teasers: Enhance Your Problem-Solving Skills

Looking to improve your problem-solving skills in the business world? Check out our collection of brain teasers designed to challenge your critical thinking abilities and help you develop effective problem-solving strategies.

Posted May 11, 2023

Consulting Week (Apr 15-18)

Monday, april 15.

10:00 PM UTC · 60 minutes

As a business professional, you are constantly facing challenges that require creative and effective solutions to solve. One of the key skills that can help you overcome these hurdles and achieve success is problem-solving. The ability to analyze situations, identify potential issues, and develop innovative solutions is a highly valued skill in the business world. In this article, we will explore how brain teasers can improve your problem-solving abilities and enhance your overall effectiveness in the workplace.

Understanding the Importance of Problem-Solving Skills in Business

Problem-solving is a critical skill for any business professional to possess, regardless of their industry or role. The daily operations of a business can be full of challenges and obstacles, and having strong problem-solving abilities can help you overcome these barriers and achieve success. Whether it's developing a new product, managing a team, or dealing with customers, problem-solving skills can help you navigate any situation with confidence and ease.

One of the key benefits of problem-solving skills in business is the ability to identify and address issues before they become major problems. By being proactive and addressing potential issues early on, you can save time, money, and resources in the long run. This can also help you build a reputation as a reliable and effective problem-solver, which can lead to new opportunities and career advancement.

Another important aspect of problem-solving skills in business is the ability to think creatively and outside the box. Sometimes, the most effective solutions to a problem are not immediately obvious, and it takes a creative approach to find the best solution. By developing your problem-solving skills, you can become more innovative and find new ways to tackle challenges, which can give you a competitive edge in the marketplace.

How Brain Teasers Can Help Improve Your Problem-Solving Abilities

Brain teasers are puzzles or games designed to challenge your cognitive abilities and critical thinking skills. They come in many different forms, including math problems, riddles, and logic puzzles. By regularly engaging in brain teasers, you can exercise your brain and improve your problem-solving abilities. These teasers require you to think outside the box, consider multiple perspectives, and develop strategic approaches to solving complex problems.

Moreover, brain teasers can also help improve your memory and concentration. When you engage in brain teasers, you are required to pay close attention to details and remember important information. This can help strengthen your memory and improve your ability to concentrate on tasks for longer periods of time. Additionally, solving brain teasers can be a fun and rewarding way to challenge yourself and boost your confidence in your problem-solving abilities.

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The Science Behind Brain Teasers and Problem-Solving

Research has shown that regularly engaging in brain teasers can have a positive impact on cognitive function and problem-solving abilities. When you solve a brain teaser, your brain releases dopamine, a chemical that can enhance cognitive processing and improve your mood. Regular engagement in brain teasers can also increase your overall intelligence and ability to think creatively, leading to more effective problem-solving abilities in the workplace.

Furthermore, brain teasers can also improve your memory and concentration. When you engage in a brain teaser, you are required to focus your attention on the task at hand, which can improve your ability to concentrate for longer periods of time. Additionally, solving brain teasers requires you to remember information and apply it in new ways, which can improve your memory retention and recall abilities.

Brain teasers can also be a fun and engaging way to challenge yourself and improve your mental agility. They can be done alone or with others, making them a great activity for team building and socializing. With the availability of brain teaser apps and websites, it's easier than ever to incorporate brain teasers into your daily routine and reap the benefits of improved cognitive function and problem-solving abilities.

Different Types of Brain Teasers to Boost Your Business Problem-Solving Skills

There are many different types of brain teasers that you can use to improve your problem-solving abilities. Some popular examples include Sudoku puzzles, logic puzzles, and riddles. Each of these teasers challenges different types of problem-solving skills, such as logical reasoning, spatial cognition, and lateral thinking. By trying out different types of brain teasers, you can improve your overall problem-solving ability and develop a more diverse set of skills.

Another type of brain teaser that can be beneficial for business problem-solving is visual puzzles. These puzzles require you to analyze and interpret visual information, which is a crucial skill in many industries. Additionally, word puzzles, such as crosswords and anagrams, can improve your vocabulary and language skills, which can be useful in communication and negotiation.

It's important to note that brain teasers should not be the only method used to improve problem-solving skills. They should be used in conjunction with other techniques, such as brainstorming, collaboration, and critical thinking. By combining different approaches, you can develop a well-rounded problem-solving skill set that can benefit your business and career.

Tips to Improve Your Business Problem-Solving Skills with Brain Teasers

If you want to improve your problem-solving skills with brain teasers, there are a few tips you should keep in mind. First, make sure to challenge yourself with increasingly difficult teasers over time. This will help you steadily build and improve your problem-solving abilities. Second, try to approach each teaser from multiple angles, considering different perspectives and strategies until you find the most effective solution. Finally, regularly engage in brain teasers to keep your skills sharp and your mind agile.

Another tip to improve your problem-solving skills with brain teasers is to collaborate with others. Working with a team can help you see different approaches and solutions to a problem. It can also help you learn from others and improve your own problem-solving abilities. Additionally, taking breaks and stepping away from a problem can help you come back with a fresh perspective and new ideas.

It's important to remember that problem-solving skills are not just important in business, but in all aspects of life. By regularly engaging in brain teasers and practicing problem-solving, you can improve your ability to think critically and creatively, which can benefit you in both your personal and professional life.

How to Incorporate Brain Teasers in Your Team Building and Training Programs

Brain teasers can be a fun and effective way to incorporate problem-solving skills into your team building and training activities. By introducing brain teasers in these programs, you can help your team members develop creative thinking skills and foster a more collaborative and innovative work environment. You can also use brain teasers as a way to evaluate individual and team problem-solving abilities, identifying areas for improvement and growth.

Another benefit of incorporating brain teasers in your team building and training programs is that they can help break up the monotony of traditional training methods. By adding a fun and challenging element to your training sessions, you can keep your team members engaged and motivated to learn. Additionally, brain teasers can be a great icebreaker activity, helping team members get to know each other better and build stronger relationships.

The Role of Brain Teasers in Developing Creativity and Innovation in Business

Brain teasers can also play a critical role in developing creativity and innovation in the workplace. By regularly engaging in these teasers, you can exercise your brain and develop new ways of thinking. This can lead to more creative solutions to business challenges and help you stay ahead of the competition. Additionally, by encouraging your team members to engage in brain teasers, you can foster a culture of creativity and innovation within your organization.

Furthermore, brain teasers can also improve problem-solving skills. When faced with a difficult brain teaser, you are forced to think outside the box and come up with unique solutions. This type of thinking can be applied to real-world business problems, allowing you to approach challenges with a fresh perspective and find innovative solutions.

Finally, engaging in brain teasers can also improve teamwork and collaboration. Many brain teasers require multiple people to work together to solve the problem. By working together, team members can learn to communicate effectively, share ideas, and build trust. These skills can then be applied to other areas of the business, leading to a more cohesive and productive team.

Common Mistakes to Avoid While Solving Business Brain Teasers

While brain teasers can be an effective way to improve your problem-solving skills, there are some common mistakes you should avoid while solving them. One common mistake is becoming too fixated on one solution, without considering alternate approaches. Another mistake is rushing through the teaser without taking the time to fully analyze the problem and potential solutions. To avoid these mistakes, make sure to approach each teaser with an open mind and take the time to thoroughly evaluate different strategies and perspectives.

Additionally, it is important to avoid making assumptions about the problem or the information provided. Brain teasers often include misleading or irrelevant information, and assuming certain details can lead to incorrect solutions. It is also helpful to break down the problem into smaller parts and identify any patterns or relationships between them. This can lead to a more systematic and organized approach to solving the teaser.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Brain Teasers in Enhancing Business Problem-Solving Skills

Measuring the effectiveness of brain teasers in enhancing business problem-solving skills can be challenging, as there are many different factors that can impact skill development. However, by regularly engaging in brain teasers and tracking your progress over time, you can measure the impact of these teasers on your problem-solving abilities. Additionally, by incorporating brain teasers into your team building and training programs, you can evaluate the impact on your team's problem-solving abilities and overall performance.

In conclusion, brain teasers can be an effective way to improve your problem-solving abilities and enhance your overall effectiveness in the workplace. By understanding the importance of problem-solving skills in business and regularly engaging in brain teasers, you can develop the critical thinking skills necessary to overcome any challenge and achieve success.

It is important to note that not all brain teasers are created equal. Some may be too easy or too difficult for certain individuals or teams, which can impact their effectiveness in enhancing problem-solving skills. Therefore, it is important to carefully select brain teasers that are appropriate for your skill level and team dynamics.

Furthermore, it is important to incorporate a variety of brain teasers that challenge different types of problem-solving skills, such as logical reasoning, creativity, and lateral thinking. This can help to ensure a well-rounded development of problem-solving abilities and prevent individuals or teams from becoming too reliant on a specific type of problem-solving approach.

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14 Best Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities For 2024

The best teams see solutions where others see problems. A great company culture is built around a collaborative spirit and the type of unity it takes to find answers to the big business questions.

So how can you get team members working together?

How can you develop a mentality that will help them overcome obstacles they have yet to encounter?

One of the best ways to improve your teams’ problem solving skills is through team building problem solving activities .

“86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.” — Bit.AI

These activities can simulate true-to-life scenarios they’ll find themselves in, or the scenarios can call on your employees or coworkers to dig deep and get creative in a more general sense.

The truth is, on a day-to-day basis, you have to prepare for the unexpected. It just happens that team building activities help with that, but are so fun that they don’t have to feel like work ( consider how you don’t even feel like you’re working out when you’re playing your favorite sport or doing an exercise you actually enjoy! )

What are the benefits of group problem-solving activities?

The benefits of group problem-solving activities for team building include:

• Better communication
• Improved collaboration and teamwork
• More flexible thinking
• Faster problem-solving
• Better proactivity and decision making

Without further ado, check out this list of the 14 best team-building problem-solving group activities for 2024!

Page Contents (Click To Jump)

Popular Problem Solving Activities

1. virtual team challenge.

Virtual Team Challenges are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team brainstorming, discussing, and creating solutions for a given problem.

Participants work both individually and collaboratively to come up with ideas and strategies that will help them reach their goals.

Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Participants can interact and communicate with each other in a virtual environment while simultaneously engaging with the problem-solving activities. This makes it an enjoyable experience that allows people to use their creative thinking skills, build team spirit, and gain valuable insights into the issue at hand.

Problem-solving activities such as Virtual Team Challenges offer a great way for teams to come together, collaborate, and develop creative solutions to complex problems.

2. Problem-Solving Templates

Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team utilizing pre-made templates and creating solutions for a given problem with the help of visual aids.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey.

Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Problem-Solving Templates offer teams an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing. The visual aids that come with the templates help team members better understand the issue at hand and easily come up with solutions together.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey, as it provides an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing.

Problem Solving Group Activities & Games For Team Building

3. coworker feud, “it’s all fun and games”.

Coworker Feud is a twist on the classic Family Feud game show! This multiple rapid round game keeps the action flowing and the questions going. You can choose from a variety of customizations, including picking the teams yourself, randomized teams, custom themes, and custom rounds.

Best for: Hybrid teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Coworker Feud comes with digital game materials, a digital buzzer, an expert host, and a zoom link to get the participants ready for action! Teams compete with each other to correctly answer the survey questions. At the end of the game, the team with the most competitive answers is declared the winner of the Feud.

How to get started:

• Sign up for Coworker Feud
• Break into teams of 4 to 10 people
• Get the competitive juices flowing and let the games begin!

Learn more here: Coworker Feud

4. Crack The Case

“who’s a bad mamma jamma”.

Crack The Case is a classic WhoDoneIt game that forces employees to depend on their collective wit to stop a deadly murderer dead in his tracks! Remote employees and office commuters can join forces to end this crime spree.

Best for: Remote teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: The Virtual Clue Murder Mystery is an online problem solving activity that uses a proprietary videoconferencing platform to offer the chance for employees and coworkers to study case files, analyze clues, and race to find the motive, the method, and the individual behind the murder of Neil Davidson.

• Get a custom quote here
• Download the app
• Let the mystery-solving collaboration begin!

Learn more here: Crack The Case

5. Catch Meme If You Can

“can’t touch this”.

Purposefully created to enhance leadership skills and team bonding , Catch Meme If You Can is a hybrid between a scavenger hunt and an escape room . Teammates join together to search for clues, solve riddles, and get out — just in time!

Best for: Small teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Catch Meme If You Can is an adventure with a backstory. Each team has to submit their answer to the puzzle in order to continue to the next part of the sequence. May the best team escape!

• The teams will be given instructions and the full storyline
• Teams will be split into a handful of people each
• The moderator will kick off the action!

Learn more here: Catch Meme If You Can

6. Puzzle Games

“just something to puzzle over”.

Puzzle Games is the fresh trivia game to test your employees and blow their minds with puzzles, jokes , and fun facts!

Best for: In-person teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Eight mini brain teaser and trivia style games include word puzzles, name that nonsense, name that tune, and much more. Plus, the points each team earns will go towards planting trees in the precious ecosystems and forests of Uganda

• Get a free consultation for your team
• Get a custom designed invitation for your members
• Use the game link
• Dedicated support will help your team enjoy Puzzle Games to the fullest!

Learn more here: Puzzle Games

7. Virtual Code Break

“for virtual teams”.

Virtual Code Break is a virtual team building activity designed for remote participants around the globe. Using a smart video conferencing solution, virtual teams compete against each other to complete challenges, answer trivia questions, and solve brain-busters!

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Virtual Code Break can be played by groups as small as 4 people all the way up to more than 1,000 people at once. However, every team will improve their communication and problem-solving skills as they race against the clock and depend on each other’s strengths to win!

• Reach out for a free consultation to align the needs of your team
• An event facilitator will be assigned to handle all of the set-up and logistics
• They will also provide you with logins and a play-by-play of what to expect
• Sign into the Outback video conferencing platform and join your pre-assigned team
• Lastly, let the games begin!

Learn more here: Virtual Code Break

8. Stranded

“survivor: office edition”.

Stranded is the perfect scenario-based problem solving group activity. The doors of the office are locked and obviously your team can’t just knock them down or break the windows.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Your team has less than half an hour to choose 10 items around the office that will help them survive. They then rank the items in order of importance. It’s a bit like the classic game of being lost at sea without a lifeboat.

• Get everyone together in the office
• Lock the doors
• Let them start working together to plan their survival

Learn more here: Stranded

9. Letting Go Game

“for conscious healing”.

The Letting Go Game is a game of meditation and mindfulness training for helping teammates thrive under pressure and reduce stress in the process. The tasks of the Letting Go Game boost resiliency, attentiveness, and collaboration.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Expert-guided activities and awareness exercises encourage team members to think altruistically and demonstrate acts of kindness. Between yoga, face painting, and fun photography, your employees or coworkers will have more than enough to keep them laughing and growing together with this mindfulness activity!

• Reach out for a free consultation
• A guide will then help lead the exercises
• Let the funny videos, pictures, and playing begin!

Learn more here: Letting Go Game

10. Wild Goose Chase

“city time”.

Wild Goose Chase is the creative problem solving activity that will take teams all around your city and bring them together as a group! This scavenger hunt works for teams as small as 10 up to groups of over 5000 people.

Best for: Large teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: As employees and group members are coming back to the office, there are going to be times that they’re itching to get outside. Wild Goose Chase is the perfect excuse to satisfy the desire to go out-of-office every now and then. Plus, having things to look at and see around the city will get employees talking in ways they never have before.

• Download the Outback app to access the Wild Goose Chase
• Take photos and videos from around the city
• The most successful team at completing challenges on time is the champ!

Learn more here: Wild Goose Chase

11. Human Knot

“for a knotty good time”.

The Human Knot is one of the best icebreaker team building activities! In fact, there’s a decent chance you played it in grade school. It’s fun, silly, and best of all — free!

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: Participants start in a circle and connect hands with two other people in the group to form a human knot. The team then has to work together and focus on clear communication to unravel the human knot by maneuvering their way out of this hands-on conundrum. But there’s a catch — they can’t let go of each other’s hands in this team building exercise.

• Form a circle
• Tell each person to grab a random hand until all hands are holding another
• They can’t hold anyone’s hand who is directly next to them
• Now they have to get to untangling
• If the chain breaks before everyone is untangled, they have to start over again

Learn more here: Human Knot

12. What Would You Do?

“because it’s fun to imagine”.

What Would You Do? Is the hypothetical question game that gets your team talking and brainstorming about what they’d do in a variety of fun, intriguing, and sometimes, whacky scenarios.

Best for: Distributed teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: After employees or coworkers start talking about their What Would You Do? responses, they won’t be able to stop. That’s what makes this such an incredible team building activity . For example, you could ask questions like “If you could live forever, what would you do with your time?” or “If you never had to sleep, what would you do?”

• In addition to hypothetical questions, you could also give teammates some optional answers to get them started
• After that, let them do the talking — then they’ll be laughing and thinking and dreaming, too!

13. Crossing The River

“quite the conundrum”.

Crossing The River is a river-crossing challenge with one correct answer. Your team gets five essential elements — a chicken, a fox, a rowboat, a woman, and a bag of corn. You see, the woman has a bit of a problem, you tell them. She has to get the fox, the bag of corn, and the chicken to the other side of the river as efficiently as possible.

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: She has a rowboat, but it can only carry her and one other item at a time. She cannot leave the chicken and the fox alone — for obvious reasons. And she can’t leave the chicken with the corn because it will gobble it right up. So the question for your team is how does the woman get all five elements to the other side of the river safely in this fun activity?

• Form teams of 2 to 5 people
• Each team has to solve the imaginary riddle
• Just make sure that each group understands that the rowboat can only carry one animal and one item at a time; the fox and chicken can’t be alone; and the bag of corn and the chicken cannot be left alone
• Give the verbal instructions for getting everything over to the other side

14. End-Hunger Games

“philanthropic fun”.

Does anything bond people quite like acts of kindness and compassion? The End-Hunger Games will get your team to rally around solving the serious problem of hunger.

Best for: Medium-sized teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Teams join forces to complete challenges based around non-perishable food items in the End-Hunger Games. Groups can range in size from 25 to more than 2000 people, who will all work together to collect food for the local food bank.

• Split into teams and compete to earn boxes and cans of non-perishable food
• Each team attempts to build the most impressive food item construction
• Donate all of the non-perishable foods to a local food bank

Learn more here: End-Hunger Games

People Also Ask These Questions About Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

Q: what are some problem solving group activities.

• A: Some problem solving group activities can include riddles, egg drop, reverse pyramid, tallest tower, trivia, and other moderator-led activities.

Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?

• A: Group problem solving activities and games improve collaboration, leadership, and communication skills.

Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?

• A: Problem solving based team building activities and games are activities that challenge teams to work together in order to complete them.

Q: What are some fun free problem solving games for groups?

• A: Some fun free problem solving games for groups are kinesthetic puzzles like the human knot game, which you can read more about in this article. You can also use all sorts of random items like whiteboards, straws, building blocks, sticky notes, blindfolds, rubber bands, and legos to invent a game that will get the whole team involved.

Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?

• A: The most effective problem solving exercise for your team is one that will challenge them to be their best selves and expand their creative thinking.

Q: How do I know if my group problem solving activity was successful?

• A: In the short-term, you’ll know if your group problem solving activity was successful because your team will bond over it; however, that should also translate to more productivity in the mid to long-term.

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How eagle-eyed are YOU? Put your prowess to the ultimate test by solving these baffling 'spot the emoji' brain teasers in 20 seconds or less

• You can show off your brain power with these optical illusions
• The puzzles feature various images that have a hidden emoji
• You must find the emoji in under 20 seconds 

A new series of baffling brain teasers is giving you the chance to put your mind to the ultimate test - and see just how eagle-eyed you really are.  

Show off your brain power by spotting the various emojis hidden in these three images. 

The photos depict a sunflower field, a pile of seashells, and an orchestra. 

However, within each snap, there is a carefully camouflaged emoji that only those with the keenest of observational skills can spot within 20 seconds or less. 

The first puzzle shows a group of people playing their instruments. 

Hidden on one of the player's faces is a penguin emoji. 

The brain teaser is extra difficult because the similarities between the emoji and the coloring of the photo tricks your eyes and causes you to glance right past it. 

You will have to look closely to spot it, but if you do end up finding it in less than 20 seconds, you may just have 20/20 vision. 

If you haven't found it yet, here's a hint, look to the right side of the conductor. 

If you're still struggling, you can find the penguin covering a member of the orchestra's face on the third row from the right.

Did you solve it? If not, don't worry you can put your skills to the test with another spot the emoji optical illusion. 

This is one is bit more difficult because the emoji blends in more. 

The image is a pile of seashells that are all various shapes and colors. 

Hidden between the real shells is a seashell emoji. 

This teaser is another way way to strengthen and test your brain power. 

But, the catch is that you must find the emoji is under 20 seconds. 

Don't worry if you can't find it, you will have one more chance to show off your skills with another emoji optical illusion. 

If you still haven't found it, try look towards the bottom left side of the snap. 

Hidden in the left corner is the seashell emoji. 

If you found the fake shell, then you have great observation skills. 

If you didn't spot, don't worry you still have one more chance. 

The last optical illusion that will help you heighten your thinking abilities. 

It depicts a sunflower field. 

Camouflaged within the row of flowers is a sunflower emoji. 

Similarly to the other optical illusions, you will have 20 seconds to find the deceiving emoji. 

Have you spotted it? 

If you haven't found it yet, here's a hint, look towards the back of the sunflower field. 

Still no luck? Here's the solution, the sunflower emoji can be found at the very back of the row. 

You will have to look very closely. 

At the back right, the sunflower emoji is hidden behind two real flowers. 

This optical illusion is extremely difficult because it deceives your eyes. 

Your brain has a difficult time recognizing the difference in the field after seeing the so many of the same exact flower. 

So, if you did find the emoji, give yourself a pat on the back. 

If not, don't worry there are plenty of illusions you can improve your skills with.  

Optical illusions are known to test your observation skills. 

The puzzles help to show you how your brain and your eyes can work together to find a solution to a problem. 

Teasers can also help you develop better cognitive abilities while heightening your thinking abilities. 

Illusions can not only test your brain and vision, but they can also reveal many parts of your personality. 

Math Puzzle & Brain Riddles 4+

Solving math puzzle and riddle, huseyin sahinli, screenshots, description.

Solving Math puzzles and Math Riddles allows you to make fast and accurate decisions. Solving a Mathematical Puzzle improves analytical thinking and allows us to use both sides of our brain. Math Puzzles and Riddles improve people of all ages. All questions of this math study game contain math tricks with answers, hints, and Math Solutions to solve Math Riddles. Math solutions make mental math problems very easy. Playing tricky Puzzle games will improve knowledge, memory, and logic. Solving Math puzzles and riddles can be a fun and engaging way to learn and practice mathematical concepts. By engaging both sides of the brain, these types of games can help improve analytical thinking, decision-making skills, and logical reasoning ability. In addition to the cognitive benefits, solving Math puzzles and riddles can also provide a sense of accomplishment and boost self-confidence. Math puzzles and riddles come in many different forms and can focus on a variety of mathematical concepts. Some examples include logic puzzles that require logical reasoning to solve, mental math challenges that test calculation skills, and word problems that apply mathematical concepts to real-world scenarios. Riddles that use mathematical language and concepts to create a puzzle or joke are another popular type of Math puzzle. Educational games are very knowledge-enhancing for students. Mathematics is of course fun for easy learners. Here Math Puzzles are the first step to learning Math easily. Benefits of solving Maths Puzzles - It will increase your processing speed. - Brain teasers strengthen memory. - Math Puzzles give you different thinking. - Math Riddle games help increase logical reasoning ability. - Logic games improve mental math calculation. - Logical reasoning math games, Solving Math puzzles increase the IQ level. - It increases the speed of learning and comprehension. - Math Puzzles strengthen your mind and keep your spirit young. To talk more about the benefits of Math Puzzles. Since solving Maths Puzzles forces our brains, the development will be very fast. Math Riddles enable quick and solution-oriented thinking. Each of the math questions has a different solution and focuses on finding them and improving yourself. Solving Math Puzzles keeps the mental age young. Math Riddles allows you to do quick calculations. You will improve your quick problem-solving skills. Solving Mathematics Puzzles gives people self-confidence. The main goal of Math Puzzles is to make people think faster and more logically. In addition to the cognitive benefits, solving Math puzzles and riddles can also provide a sense of accomplishment and boost self-confidence. These types of games can be a great way to learn and practice math in a fun and engaging way. Contents of Math Puzzle Math puzzles are a fun and engaging way to improve your mathematical skills and critical thinking abilities. With 100 unique and challenging questions, this Math puzzle game offers a range of difficulties and special formulas to solve. As you progress through the game, your progress will be recorded and the mathematical operations will become more difficult. To solve the puzzles, players can use their analytical skills and logical reasoning to find the formulas specific to each question. For added support, the game also offers hints to help players when they get stuck. The questions are thought-provoking and designed to challenge players of all levels. In addition to the cognitive benefits, this Math puzzle game also offers a simple and user-friendly interface that is easy on the eyes. Players can enjoy hours of engaging and educational gameplay without straining their eyes or attention span. Overall, this Math puzzle game is a great way to improve your mathematical skills, critical thinking abilities, and overall brain power. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced player, this game offers something for everyone. Give it a try and see how far you can go!

Version 1.8

- Updated ad designs. - Optimized.

App Privacy

The developer, Huseyin Sahinli , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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• Developer Website
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• Privacy Policy

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The Sunday Read: ‘Sure, It Won an Oscar. But Is It Criterion?’

How the criterion collection became the film world’s arbiter of taste..

Narrated by Shaun Taylor-Corbett

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In October 2022, amid a flurry of media appearances promoting their film “Tàr,” the director Todd Field and the star Cate Blanchett made time to visit a cramped closet in Manhattan. This closet, which has become a sacred space for movie buffs, was once a disused bathroom at the headquarters of the Criterion Collection, a 40-year-old company dedicated to “gathering the greatest films from around the world” and making high-quality editions available to the public on DVD and Blu-ray and, more recently, through its streaming service, the Criterion Channel. Today Criterion uses the closet as its stockroom, housing films by some 600 directors from more than 50 countries — a catalog so synonymous with cinematic achievement that it has come to function as a kind of film Hall of Fame. Through a combination of luck, obsession and good taste, this 55-person company has become the arbiter of what makes a great movie, more so than any Hollywood studio or awards ceremony.

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