Brainteasers

Compiled by Julianne Scibetta, University at Albany

Here are some entertaining brain twisters and teasers for all of you out there who need a holiday break.

1. Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return to the people. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totaling $27. The bellboy has $2, totaling $29. Where is the missing $1?
2. Would you rather a crocodile attack you or an alligator?
3. Well, it's not quite Sudoku…

Tree-Tent is a logical game in which your mission is to locate all of the tents in the grid. Each tree is exactly connected to only one tent. A tent can be found in a horizontally or vertically adjacent square of a tree. Tents are never placed adjacent to each other, neither vertical, horizontal, nor diagonal. The numbers outside the grid give the total number of tents in the corresponding row or column. A tree might be next to two tents, but is only connected to one, and vice versa.

Games 1 and 2 from ZVTU. Game 3 from Yooki Ltd.
Email your answers to Julianne (jscibetta3@hotmail.com) before January 1, 2006!