Brain Teasers
Chris Cross's Dead Donkey
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
Chris Cross went to the Buymenot Barn to buy a donkey. He looked and looked until he finally found the one which he wanted costing $500. The stable owner, Scammin' Sam, however, was not ready to take Chris's word and demanded that Chris paid $100 in advance for the donkey. After thinking for a while, Chris agreed to do so.
When Chris went back the next day, he found that the donkey he liked was dead. He asked Scammin' Sam for his money back but was told that it had already been used.
A quick thinker, Chris made a deal with Sam. He said that he would keep the donkey but would not pay the $400 which was left in his payment. Sam readily agreed with this thinking that he was giving someone a dead donkey for $100- not a bad deal for him.
Inquisitive, Sam asked Chris what he was going to do with the dead donkey and was told that Chris was about to raffle it off for $5 per ticket. That made Sam extremely amused. He asked, "I thought that you were a dumb one when you gave me money for a dead donkey. Now you're telling me that you're going to raffle it off. I don't know of anybody who wouldn't complain getting a dead donkey as a prize!"
Chris, however, replied that this wouldn't be a problem for him. What was his plan?
When Chris went back the next day, he found that the donkey he liked was dead. He asked Scammin' Sam for his money back but was told that it had already been used.
A quick thinker, Chris made a deal with Sam. He said that he would keep the donkey but would not pay the $400 which was left in his payment. Sam readily agreed with this thinking that he was giving someone a dead donkey for $100- not a bad deal for him.
Inquisitive, Sam asked Chris what he was going to do with the dead donkey and was told that Chris was about to raffle it off for $5 per ticket. That made Sam extremely amused. He asked, "I thought that you were a dumb one when you gave me money for a dead donkey. Now you're telling me that you're going to raffle it off. I don't know of anybody who wouldn't complain getting a dead donkey as a prize!"
Chris, however, replied that this wouldn't be a problem for him. What was his plan?
Answer
Chris raffled the donkey and 160 people bought tickets. Thus, he received $800 dollars from this. The only person who found out that the donkey was dead was the person who won. Chris gave that person $100 to keep this a secret. So, the person earned $95 if you subtract the ticket price, and Chris ended up earning $600.Note: How much he raffled it off for does not make a difference. The basic answer is the same.
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