Two High-Stakes Gamblers Meet an Untimely Demise at a Drink-Off: A Lateral Thinking Puzzle
In a puzzling turn of events, two top poisons manufacturers, Smith and Jones, met their untimely demise in a seemingly straightforward ceremony. The Queen had asked them to bring a vial of their strongest poison to a drink-off where they would both take turns swigging from each other's containers and then their own before being watched for an hour.
The key to the puzzle lies in understanding that Smith and Jones, unaware of each other's poisons' strengths, were trying to outsmart the system. If one person brings a strong poison, it could potentially cure them if they ingest the weaker poison from the other. However, this came at the cost of their opponent's life.
Smith's strategy was to trick Jones into bringing a weaker poison by also bringing a weak vial, thereby increasing his chances of survival. Conversely, Jones had planned to do the same thing – bring a water-based potion in hopes that Smith wouldn't think of it either – assuming both would keep up appearances.
In this cleverly crafted trap, however, neither participant's plan succeeded. They all ended up dead from their own poison, rather than one single person living and the other dying as intended by the Queen.
This brain-twisting puzzle was created in the 1980s by Michael Rabin but recently resurfaced through mathematician Timothy Chow, highlighting its timeless appeal for those willing to challenge their problem-solving skills.
In a puzzling turn of events, two top poisons manufacturers, Smith and Jones, met their untimely demise in a seemingly straightforward ceremony. The Queen had asked them to bring a vial of their strongest poison to a drink-off where they would both take turns swigging from each other's containers and then their own before being watched for an hour.
The key to the puzzle lies in understanding that Smith and Jones, unaware of each other's poisons' strengths, were trying to outsmart the system. If one person brings a strong poison, it could potentially cure them if they ingest the weaker poison from the other. However, this came at the cost of their opponent's life.
Smith's strategy was to trick Jones into bringing a weaker poison by also bringing a weak vial, thereby increasing his chances of survival. Conversely, Jones had planned to do the same thing – bring a water-based potion in hopes that Smith wouldn't think of it either – assuming both would keep up appearances.
In this cleverly crafted trap, however, neither participant's plan succeeded. They all ended up dead from their own poison, rather than one single person living and the other dying as intended by the Queen.
This brain-twisting puzzle was created in the 1980s by Michael Rabin but recently resurfaced through mathematician Timothy Chow, highlighting its timeless appeal for those willing to challenge their problem-solving skills.
it sounds like some wild reality tv gone wrong. Like what was the queen thinking? I mean, I know she's got a good sense of humor and all, but this is just reckless. Both guys ended up dead over their own pride and desperation. It's like they didn't even read the fine print... or should i say, the poison label 
. This puzzle thingy might be old, like 35 yrs old, but its still mind-blowing how these two could mess this up so royally.
. It's like they're tryin' to solve a math equation on the fly, but instead of gettin' an answer, they end up dead 
. It's like they're in this crazy dance of death, and neither one knows the steps 
. Anyway, it's pretty cool that this puzzle still has people stumped after all these years 
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if both guys bring a vial of poison, one strong and one weak, then who's gonna be left alive at the end? 
it just goes to show how complex life can get when you're trying to game the system 
i mean, what if they had thought about the whole "which poison would cure which" thing from a different angle? maybe there's some kind of solution out there that we haven't considered yet 
I mean, who tries to kill each other in a drink-off? 
Sounds like they needed to work on their social skills... or maybe just listen to the Queen 
. Like, come on guys, it's not that hard to figure out if you're going to die from a poison that's 100 times stronger than what you brought 
.
The fact that they both thought their plan would work but ended up dead is just so... human 
. It's like trying to outsmart a physics problem without actually understanding the science behind it.
. But hey, if you're into that sort of thing, go ahead and try to solve it. Just don't say I didn't warn you 
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. it's just so... gruesome 
. on a lighter note, this puzzle is actually pretty cool and i can see why mathematicians would be stoked about it 
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. But at the same time, I guess it's also interesting to see how clever people like Smith and Jones were in trying to outwit each other 
... any way, not something I'd wanna try out in real life 
I mean, can you even imagine walking into a situation where you're trying to outsmart people with poison and you end up killing all three of you? It's like they say, "pride comes before a fall"... or in this case, a fatal dose. The Queen must have had some dark humor going on here. And what's with the whole "keeping up appearances" vibe? Like, did they really think each other would just play along and not figure out the trap? 
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. The irony is that their attempts to outsmart each other ultimately led to their downfall – talk about a toxic friendship 
. I can only imagine how each of them must have felt when they realized their opponent's plan wasn't going to work out as they had hoped 
instead of letting them off with their lives. anyway, this puzzle is still super impressive, shows you how complex human thinking can be 
It's mind-bending stuff! If you haven't checked out Timothy Chow's work, you gotta give it a look - he's like the Elon Musk of puzzle creators 
!
. So, who's up for some online puzzle-solving action? 