Hard riddles take real thought. These 90 brain-stretching riddles are best for older kids and tweens — perfect for road trips, classroom debates, or sleepover stumpers.
90 hard riddles
Page 1 of 5
A car’s odometer shows 72927 miles, a palindromic number. What are the minimum miles you would need to travel to form another?
Hint: A car’s odometer shows 72927 miles…
A certain number has three digits. The sum of the three digits equals 36 times this number. Seven times the left digit plus 9 is equal to 5 times the sum of the two other digits. 8 times the second digit minus 9 is equal to the sum of the first and third. What is the number?
Hint: A certain number has three digits…
A girl is twice as old as her brother and half as old as her father. In 50 years, her brother will be half as old as his father. How old is the daughter now?
Hint: A girl is twice as old as her brother and half as old as her father…
A hiker comes to a fork in the road and doesn’t know which way to go to reach his destination. There are two men at the fork, one of whom always tells the truth while the other always lies. The hiker doesn’t know which is which, though. He may ask one of the men only one question to find his way. Which man does he ask, and what is the question?
Hint: A hiker comes to a fork in the road and doesn’t know which way to go to reach hi…
A man buys a rope from a woman for $3.00 and hands the woman a $10 bill. The woman goes into the grocery store next door to get change. She returns and gives the man $7.00. After the man leaves, the clerk from the store comes and says, “Hey, that was a counterfeit bill you gave me.”The woman gives the clerk a good bill. How much has the woman lost?
Hint: A man buys a rope from a woman for $3…
A man ordered a length of rope by telephone from his nearest hardware shop. But when he went to collect the rope, he found that the assistant had miswritten the order by interchanging feet and inches. As a result of this, the rope was only 30 percent of the length that the man wanted. What length did he want and what length did he get?
Hint: A man ordered a length of rope by telephone from his nearest hardware shop…
A psychologist goes to a village in Africa and decides to compare foot size to intelligence. He notes that in general, as foot size increases, so does intelligence. How can this be?
Hint: A psychologist goes to a village in Africa and decides to compare foot size to i…
A rubber ball is tossed off the top of a 90 foot building. Every time it bounces, it goes back up half way. How many bounces will the ball take before it stops?
Hint: A rubber ball is tossed off the top of a 90 foot building…
A train just leaves a station and enters a tunnel. Where is the best place for a claustrophobic person to sit?
Hint: A train just leaves a station and enters a tunnel…
A white dove flew down by the castle. Along came a king and picked it up handless, ate it up toothless, and carried it away wingless.
Hint: A white dove flew down by the castle…
Alice is walking throught the forest of forgetfulness. She wants to know what day of the week it is. She stops and asks a lion and a unicorn. Now the lion lies all of the time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The unicorn always lies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alice asks the lion what day it is, he says, “Well, yesterday was one of my lying days.”Alice can’t figure it out just from the lion’s answer so she asks the unicorn and the unicorn says, “Yesterday was also one of my lying days.”What day is it?
Hint: Alice is walking throught the forest of forgetfulness…
An archaeologist finds a coin dated 48 B.C. How did he know it was a fake?
An old man wanted to leave all of his money to one of his three sons, but he didn’t know which one he should give it to. He gave each of them a few coins and told them to buy something that would be able to fill their living room. The first man bought straw, but there was not enough to fill the room. The second bought some sticks, but they still did not fill the room. The third man bought two things that filled the room, so he obtained his father’s fortune. What were the two things that the man bought?
Hint: An old man wanted to leave all of his money to one of his three sons…
As I went across the bridge, I met a man with a load of wood which was neither straight nor crooked. What kind of wood was it?
Hint: As I went across the bridge…
Below are six clues to six words. When arranged in the correct order, each word is an anagram of the previous word with a letter removed. capital of France snake headache tablet single article twisted ankle coarse file equally
Hint: Below are six clues to six words…
Daniel, my son, is exactly one fifth of my age. In 21 years time, I will be exactly twice his age. My wife is exactly seven times older than my daughter, Jessica. In 8 years time, my wife will be three times older then Jessica. How old are Daniel and Jessica now?
Hint: Daniel…
Detective Marty had been trailing three men suspected of committing several fur robberies. He received a message in a sealed envelope delivered by Roscoe, an underworld contact and decided to call Detective Sam, his partner. “I think I found out where the merchandise is stored,”said Detective Marty. Obviously Marty didn’t want Roscoe to know what was in the envelope, so he read it to Sam in code. This is what Marty had said: “Flame mate weighty soak shave comedy debut stake scared.” What did the message say?
Hint: Detective Marty had been trailing three men suspected of committing several fur …
During the Holocaust there is a jewish man who has managed to evade the nazi soldiers fro many months. He has finally made it to the border of Germany, but to his dismay, there is a massive river blocking his way with only one bridge over. The bridge was under nazi control and any person caught trying to exit Germany will be killed on the spot, but any Polish person caught trying to enter Germany without the proper papers will be sent back to Poland. There is only one gaurd on this bridge and he only checks the bridge for people every three minutes. Now, no matter how quickly any person may run, this bridge will always take exactly five minutes to cross. How can the German man exit Germany without being caught and killed?
Hint: During the Holocaust there is a jewish man who has managed to evade the nazi sol…
Find the four digit number in which the first digit is one fourth of the last digit, the second digit is 6 times the first digit, and the third digit is the second digit plus 3.
Hint: Find the four digit number in which the first digit is one fourth of the last di…
Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it, Five in the middle is seen; First of all figures, the first of all letters, Take up their stations between. Join all together, and then you will bring Before you the name of an eminent king.
Hint: Five hundred begins it…