Brain Teasers
World Cup
An alien spaceship landed on Earth. They knew that earthlings are divided into three groups: those who always tell the truth, those who always lie, and those who do both, alternating between true and false statements, starting with either.
"Let's go!" said the alien captain.
The aliens approached three earthlings, who each were from a different group, and asked, "Who won the last World Cup? Who came in second? Who came in third?"
One of them responded, "Zaire first. Uruguay second. Spain third."
Another one said, "Zaire first. Spain second. Uruguay third."
The third one said, "Uruguay first. Spain second. Zaire third."
The aliens returned to their spaceship and flew back to where they came from. Do you know which response was the true ranking in the World Cup?
"Let's go!" said the alien captain.
The aliens approached three earthlings, who each were from a different group, and asked, "Who won the last World Cup? Who came in second? Who came in third?"
One of them responded, "Zaire first. Uruguay second. Spain third."
Another one said, "Zaire first. Spain second. Uruguay third."
The third one said, "Uruguay first. Spain second. Zaire third."
The aliens returned to their spaceship and flew back to where they came from. Do you know which response was the true ranking in the World Cup?
Answer
Uruguay came in first, Spain second, Zaire third.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
Feb 26, 2002
Why exactly did these aliens land on earth just to ask who won the World Cup???
Because they already knew the answer
Jul 12, 2002
Well apart from the fact that Zaire is now called the DRC, it's a pretty good brainer, but not hard. Makes you stick to a process of elimination. Hilton
Well, you knew that the center answer had to be duplicated due to the one alternating between wrong, right, wrong (and with three choices you cant have right, wrong, right). And you know there is only one right answer so you choose the only one that was not duplicated for the first or last answer.
I think, you have not checked your teaser carefully, because answer Zaire-Spain-Uruguay is OK too!
SORRY! Zaire-Uruguay-Spain is OK!
well the middle dude makes sense as a sometimes because he agrees with both of the others(right?). but after thati cant prove anything. either could be lying
because the middle cant confirm it(you dont know if he is lying) , and the others will naturally contradict eachother. i see 2 possible solutions (whats wrong with 2 solutions anyway?)
because the middle cant confirm it(you dont know if he is lying) , and the others will naturally contradict eachother. i see 2 possible solutions (whats wrong with 2 solutions anyway?)
well, you know that the first and the thrid don;t agree on anything, so one must be telling the truth and one must be telling lies. You have to assume an answer at this point and check it by seeing if it makes the second one alternate lieing.
Zaire Spain Uruguay cannot be correct or else:
Z U S = True False False (not alternating) and USZ would be False True False (alternating but no 100% false answers between the two)
If U S Z is all true (and it is) then:
Z U S = False False False (100% liar)
Z S U = False True Flase (alternating)
Good teaser.
Z U S = True False False (not alternating) and USZ would be False True False (alternating but no 100% false answers between the two)
If U S Z is all true (and it is) then:
Z U S = False False False (100% liar)
Z S U = False True Flase (alternating)
Good teaser.
firstly i agreee with (user deleted) why would aliens assk about the world cup. secondly this was a good teaser keep up the tough thinking
I designated A tells truth, B lies, C alternates. I set up 6 possibilities A,B,C etc. and eliminated 4 of them because they'd have contradictory information about A and B (each would say that ___ came in Nth place). C would have to say lie,truth,lie because truth,lie,truth is impossible.
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