Brain teasers that will leave you stumped

Tricky brain teasers

Brain teasers are more than just simple puzzles and riddles. Technically, a brain teaser is a type of puzzle or brain game, often involving lateral thinking. That means to solve it, you’ll have to use a creative, less straightforward thought process and the solution won’t be right in front of you. Below, you’ll find a collection of pictures and word brain teasers for all difficulty levels. Plenty of them aren’t easy, so make sure you have some time to really think about the correct answer. As a heads up, the answers to these brain teasers are right below the question, so make sure you don’t scroll too far and cheat! How many can you get right?

A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he’s bankrupt. Why?

Answer: He’s playing Monopoly.

Try out some of these visual brain teasers from the 1950s too.

You are in a room that has three switches and a closed door. The switches control three light bulbs on the other side of the door. Once you open the door, you may never touch the switches again. How can you definitively tell which switch is connected to each of the light bulbs?

Answer: Turn on the first two switches. Leave them on for five minutes. Once five minutes has passed, turn off the second switch, leaving one switch on. Now go through the door. The light that is still on is connected to the first switch. Whichever of the other two is warm to the touch is connected to the second switch. The bulb that is cold is connected to the switch that was never turned on.

A man describes his daughters, saying, “They are all blonde, but two; all brunette but two; and all redheaded but two.” How many daughters does he have?

Answer: Three. A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead.

Here are more of our best brain training games: riddles, brain teasers, puzzles and more.

What do an island and the letter “t” have in common?

Answer: They are both in the middle of water.

Here’s how to solve a jigsaw puzzle fast.

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 four steps.

Start both hourglasses as you start boiling the egg.

After the 7-minute hourglass runs out, turn it over to start it again.

Four minutes later, when the 11-minute hourglass runs out, turn the 7-minute hourglass again.

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.

Guess the next three letters in the series GTNTL.

Answer: I, T, S. The complete sequence is the first letter of every word in the sentence.

Four people arrive at a river with a narrow bridge that can only hold two people at a time. It’s night-time 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. The group of four must follow these three steps.

First, A and B cross the bridge and A brings the light back. This takes 3 minutes.

Next, C and D cross and B brings the light back. This takes another 10 minutes.

Finally, A and B cross again. This takes another 2 minutes.

You are in a place called Wally’s World and there is only one law. There is a mirror, but no reflection. There is pizza with cheese, but not sausage. There is pepper, but no salt. There is a door, yet no entrance or exit. What is the law?

Answer: Each word in Wally’s World must contain double letters.

Try these 20 rebus puzzles that are almost impossible to solve.