Tough(er) Riddle!

[fireberd350]

This one is very hard, if you know it simply say so and PM me and let other try if they want, it takes a lot of thought.



There is an island of monks where everyone has either brown eyes or red eyes. Monks who have red eyes are cursed, and are supposed to commit suicide at midnight. However, no one ever talks about what color eyes they have, because the monks have a vow of silence. Also, there are no reflective surfaces on the whole island. Thus, no one knows their own eye color; they can only see the eye colors of other people, and not say anything about them. Life goes on, with brown-eyed monks and red-eyed monks living happily together in peace, and no one ever committing suicide. Then one day a tourist visits the island monastery, and, not knowing that he's not supposed to talk about eyes, he states the observation "At least one of you has red eyes." Having acquired this new information, something dramatic happens among the monks. What happens?

 

[John Larkin]

I guess they all commit suicide that night at midnight.

 

[AZ Vic]

they kill the tourist

 

[fireberd350]

kill the tourist...i like that....lol


way off so far....this one is not easy!

 

[URSPANKED]

Maybe they panic because no one knows when it's midnight, you know, with the sundials to tell time and all.....

 

[turbobuickman]

Any reason why the monks cant point out all the ones with red eyes after the tourist's remark? Probably not the answer but a possible loophole.

 

[The Darkside]

The monks buy some Visine......"it gets the red out".... OR.... They all start wearing dark colored sunglassses....

 

[fireberd350]

OK, here's a hint....at least one person has red eyes so at least one person will commit suicide, it's just a matter of when and how many.

 

[fireberd350]

Another hint: think of the scenario in it's most basic sense (only 1 monk with red eyes) and figure out what will happen, then repeat for n monks w/ red eyes

 

[The Darkside]

Not knowing how many of them had red eyes, but knowing that at least one of them had brown eyes, they committed suicide one by one until there was only one monk left who thought he must have brown eyes & lived happily ever after all by himself..

 

[Homeskillet5]

i would guess that they all committed suicide cause none of them knew wether or not ther were the ones with the red-eye.

 

[The Blob]

Unless there is only one monk with red eyes, the tourist is offering no new information. So any suicides would have already happened. I am taking this as if the tourist said "All monks with red eyes must kill themselves at midnight."

If there is only one, he will see that all the others have brown eyes so will go kill himself on the first night as he is the only one who could have the red eyes. The others will breathe a sigh of relief.


If there are two with red eyes, each of them will see only one other red eyed monk... who is still around the next day. They will each wonder why the other has not killed himself and correctly deduce that it is because they, too, must have red eyes. They will then go and kill themselves on the second night.

All brown eyed monks will see two red eyed monks so will have no clue what color their own eyes are. They will assume brown. When they find the dead red eyed monks on the third morning they will have a party.


If there are three monks with red eyes everybody will see at least two other monks with red eyes. Therefore, there is no clue as to what color anyone's eyes are.

Nobody kills themselves the first night which doesn't surprise anyone. But when nobody kills themselves the second night each red eyed monk will realize that he has red eyes and kill themselves on the third night.

Brown eyed monks will see three red eyed monks so will assume their own are brown. When dead monks are found on the fourth morning they will know they were right.


If four monks have red eyes they will all kill themselves on the fourth night and so on.

Bottom line: Each monk will not kill himself until the number of nights which is one greater than the number of red eyed monks he can see. And when dead monks turn up the survivors know they have brown eyes.

 

[bishir]

Nothing Happens,

Vow of silence, so everyone already knew who it was anyways, and he/they didn't kill himself before, how is he suppose to know now?


or

They all have 1 red eye.

or,

the guy with red eyes is the blind monk that wears sunglasses anyways. The visitor was an eye doctor for the blind guy.

 

[bishir]

Dag, I tried to edit when I reread...

Nothing Happens,


not at first... then bad stuff starts to happen and the monk with red eyes gets left alone by the others... (they can't talk).. then he figures it out over time and kills himself with a non shiney wooden stake...


or

They all have 1 red eye and one brown eye So they all poke 1 eye out

or,

the guy with red eyes is the blind monk that wears sunglasses anyways. The visitor was an eye doctor for the blind guy. So they blind guy kills the silence breaker before his idenity is reveled! I say with a candlestick in the den....

 

[KEVINS]

They all leave the island with the tourist and PARTAY like it's 1999!

or
They all get colored contact lenses..

ks