Color of the Hat Riddle
Here’s a mental riddle to stimulate your brain cells. See if you can solve this easily before you look at the answer.
Four criminals are caught and are to be punished. The Judge allows them to be freed if they can solve a puzzle. If they do not, they will be hung. They agreed.
The four criminals are lined up on some steps (shown in picture). They are all facing in the same direction. A wall separates the fourth man from the other three.
To summarize:
Man 1 can see men 2 and 3.
Man 2 can see man 3.
Man 3 can see none of the others.
Man 4 can see none of the others.
The criminals are wearing hats. They are told that there are two white hats and two black hats. The men initially don’t know what color is the hat they are wearing. They are told to shout out the color of the hat that they are wearing as soon as they know for certain what color it is.
They are not allowed to turn round or move.
They are not allowed to talk to each other.
They are not allowed to take their hats off.
Who is the first person to shout out and why?
Take a few minutes before giving up. It’s not that hard really. Give up?
Scroll down for the answer.
ANSWER:
For sure, 3 and 4 have no chance of knowing correctly what hat they are wearing. This leaves us to choose between 1 and 2.
The first one to shout the correct answer would be Criminal 2.
It’s quite simple really. 2 will rely on 1’s answer.
If 1 sees two black hats, he would surely know that he’s wearing a white hat and vice versa. But since he could not shout a correct answer, this only means that 2 and 3 are wearing different hats. And since 2 can see that 3 is wearing a black hat, he would then knows that he’s wearing a white hat.
Got it? 
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Umm… if 1 sees one white hat and one black hat, then he can just guess. What if he guesses the right color? Eh di sya una mag shout ng correct answer diba? hehehe! :p
calvin: lahat naman can guess eh, 50% chance of getting it right. pero they won’t guess kung buhay kapalit.
Napaikot-ikot ang isipan ko hahaha! I’ve always thought that it would be guy number 2, but I just could not figure a logical explanation why.
calvin: hehe baka pagod lang siguro yung brain mo.
wow! napaisip ako dun ah..
calvin: lingling you’re alive!! ano bago? bisita ako site mo ha.
this is great. my husband loves puzzles like this. he guessed it right. i was so torn between 1 &2.
calvin: i know that it was 2 but i don’t know how to explain it at first. hehehe.