60 Brain Teasers That Will Leave You Scratching Your Head

Who doesn’t love a good brain teaser? There is no better way to test your mind than with challenging brain teasers or logic puzzles. These types of activities, be they math games, visual brain teasers, or fun riddles, are a fantastic way to get your mind ticking over and your brain cells functioning.

While recent research suggests brain teasers don’t actually impact your critical thinking skills or make you smarter, a fun brain teaser does keep your mind active and is a fun activity to help pass the time. You might not end up with an Einstein-level IQ, but by trying to solve a logic puzzle or math brain teaser, you will work your brain while learning something new. What’s more, kids love a brain teaser and they are a great mental exercise for keeping them busy that doesn’t involve watching a screen. 

So if you think you’re ready to play some brain games and test out your lateral thinking skills, here is a collection of brain teasers sure to get you thinking.

1. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named Sarah. The bus driver had to go on a long bus trip that would last a week. Before he left, he gave Sarah seven apples. Why?

An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

2. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

The letter M.

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

4. I left my campsite and hiked south for 3 miles. Then I turned east and hiked for 3 miles. I then turned north and hiked for 3 miles, at which time I came upon a bear inside my tent eating my food! What color was the bear?

White, as the North Pole is the only place you can hike like that and come back to your tent. Plus polar bears are the only kind of bear that lives there.

5. I have keys, but no locks. I have space, but no room. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?

A computer keyboard.

6. What always ends everything?

The letter G.

7. A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, “Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who was in the photograph?

His son.

8. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him underwater for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry.

9. What coat is best put on wet?

A coat of paint.

10. Imagine you’re 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 can’t touch the switches again. How can you tell which switch is connected to each of the light bulbs?

Flip the first two switches on. Leave them that way for five minutes. Once five minutes have 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.

11. I have seas without water, coasts without sand, towns without people, and mountains without land. What am I?

A map.

12. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it?

The river was frozen.

13. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I?

Pencil lead.

14. A clerk in a butcher shop stands 5’10” and wears size 13 shoes. What does he weigh?

Meat.

15. In 1990, a person is 15 years old. In 1995, that same person is 10 years old. How can this be?

The person was born in 2005 BC.

16. A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?

An hourglass – it has thousands of grains of sand.

17. I can’t be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?

Love.

18. How much dirt is in a hole that measures 2 feet by 3 feet by 4 feet?

None.

19. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a long one. Michael J. Fox has a short one. Madonna does not use hers. Bill Clinton always uses his. The Pope never uses his. What is it?

Their surname.

20. No matter how little or how much you use me, you change me every month. What am I?

A calendar.

21. A lift is on the ground floor. There are four people in the lift including me. When the lift reaches the first floor one person gets out and three people get in. The lift goes up to the second floor, two people get out and six people get in. It then goes up to the next floor up, and no one gets out but 12 people get in. Halfway up to the next floor the lift cable snaps, and it crashes to the floor. Everyone else dies in the lift. How did I survive?

I got out on the second floor.

22. Which is correct to say: “The yolk of the egg is white” or “The yolk of the egg are white?”

Neither as egg yolk is yellow.

23. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Short.

24. I have no voice, yet I speak to you. I tell of all things in the world that people do. I have leaves, but I am not a tree. I have pages, but I am not a bride. I have a spine, but I am not a man. I have hinges, but I am not a door. I have told you all. I cannot tell you more. What am I?

A book.

25. What disappears as soon as you say its name?

Silence.

26. Your parents have six sons including you and each son has one sister. How many people are in the family?

Nine – two parents, six sons, and one daughter.

27. A red house is made from red bricks. A blue house is made from blue bricks. A yellow house is made from yellow bricks. What is a greenhouse made from? 

Glass.

28. What belongs to you but everyone uses more than you do?

Your name.

29. You are a cyclist in a cross-country race. Just before the crossing finish line, you overtake the person in second place. In what place did you finish?

30. There is a word in the English language in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four signify a great man, and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word?

Heroine.

31. Crime Scene: A large wooden box was built with one door. The door was locked from the inside, and then nailed shut from the inside. The police break into the room. In the middle of the room there is a dead man hanging from the ceiling, with his shoes 3 feet off the ground. The only other thing in the room is a hammer lying in a puddle of water. Can you explain what happened?

32. I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always at risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of the darkness.

The letter S.

33. What is harder to catch the faster you run?

Your breath.

34. You’re escaping a labyrinth and there are three exits. Exit A leads to an inferno. Exit B leads to an assassin. Exit C leads to a lion that hasn’t eaten in three years. Which exit do you pick? 

Exit C. If a lion hasn’t eaten in three years, it has more than likely starved to death.

35. What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you?

Pride.

36. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Mt. Everest.

37. First I am dried, then I am wet. The longer I swim, the more taste you get. What am I? 

Tea.

38. An Arab sheik is old and must leave his fortune to one of his two sons. He makes a proposition: Both sons will ride their camels in a race, and whichever camel crosses the finish line LAST will win the fortune for its owner. During the race, the two brothers wander aimlessly for days, neither willing to cross the finish line. In desperation, they ask a wise man for advice. He tells them something; then the brothers leap onto the camels and charge toward the finish line. What did the wise man say?

The rules of the race were that the owner of the camel that crosses the finish line last wins the fortune. The wise man simply told them to switch camels.

39. You see a boat filled with people. It has not capsized, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?

Everyone on the boat is married.

40. What goes all the way around the world, but stays in the corner?

A stamp.

41. A man was walking in the rain. He was in the middle of nowhere. He had nothing and nowhere to hide. He came home all wet, but not a single hair on his head was wet. Why is that?

The man was bald.

42. My voice is tender, my waist is slender and I’m often invited to play. Yet wherever I go I must take my bow or else I have nothing to say. What am I?

A violin.

43. The man who built it doesn’t use it, the man who bought it doesn’t need it, and the man who uses it doesn’t know it. What is it?

A coffin.

44. There is a fishing trawler, with a ladder in it, leaning against a wall at the harbor. There are five oars and two fishing nets in the trawler. The distance between two consecutive steps on the ladder is 1 meter. If waves lashing against the wall rise half a meter every half hour, in how much time will six steps of the ladder get under the waves?

45. What can never be put into a saucepan?

Its lid.

46. Fourteen of the kids in the class are girls. Eight of the kids wear blue shirts. Two of the kids are neither girls nor wear a blue shirt. If five of the kids are girls who wear blue shirts, how many kids are in the class?

19.

47. What runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

A river.

48. A boy is walking down the road with a doctor. While the boy is the doctor’s son, the doctor is not the boy’s father. Then who is the doctor?

49. Many have heard me, but nobody has seen me. I will not speak until spoken to first. What am I?

An echo.

50. Joseph and Lena are found dead on the floor with some water around them. The windows are open and a strong wind draft is blowing the curtains around. How did they die?

51. I have a big mouth and I am also quite loud! I am not a gossip but I do get involved with everyone’s dirty business. What am I?

A vacuum cleaner.

52. What can you hold in your left hand, but never in your right?

Your right hand.

53. A man is headed to a mountain along with a lion, a goat, and a basket of vegetables. On the way, he needs to cross a river and the boat can only carry two things at a time. If he takes the vegetables, the lion will eat the goat. If he takes the lion, the goat will eat the vegetables. How does he cross the river?

First, he takes the goat with him, leaving the lion and the vegetables behind. He leaves the goat on the other side of the riverbank and comes back for the lion, leaving the vegetables behind. On reaching the riverbank this time, he drops off the lion and takes the goat back with him. He drops off the goat again, this time at the original location, and takes the vegetables with him to the other shore. Lastly, he comes back alone for the goat.

54. 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?

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

55. How far can a squirrel run into the woods?

Halfway. After that, he’s running back out of the woods.

56. During which month do people sleep the least?

February.

57. What can be stolen, mistaken, or altered, yet never leaves you your entire life?

Your identity.

58. Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?

A match.

59. I can be short and sometimes hot. When displayed, I rarely impress. What am I?

Temper.

60. A man is the owner of a winery who recently passed away. In his will, he left 21 barrels (seven of which are filled with wine, seven of which are half full, and seven of which are empty) to his three sons. However, the wine and barrels must be split, so that each son has the same number of full barrels, the same number of half-full barrels, and the same number of empty barrels. Note that there are no measuring devices handy. How can the barrels and wine be evenly divided?