Logic

You've invited three or four couples up to your apartment for the evening. Not everyone knows everyone else and conversation begins lagging. You mix a round of drinks and suggest a game. Later in the evening, with guests more relaxed, you may play charades or strip quiz, but what you need right now is something simple that will get everyone talking and enjoying themselves.

Logic is a fascinating game of wits that fills the bill perfectly.

You tell a very brief story that ends with a problem. The guests ask a number of questions about the story and, by eliminating the various possibilities, arrive at the logical solution. No special mathematical or similar skills are required -- only the ability to reason logically. Even the dullards in the crowd will enjoy the game if you tell the stories interestingly enough.

You can try a few of these puzzlers first yourself, if you like, but to be properly played, the game requires a storyteller to answer the questions that will lead a logical mind to the solutions. You'll find the answers on page 35.

I

Let's start with the tale of the bear hunt. This is the granddaddy of all logic problems, and perhaps you've heard it before, but it has always been our favorite.

Two men went on a bear hunt. They left their camp and traveled 25 miles due south; then they traveled 25 miles due east, where they spotted a bear. They shot the beast and returned directly to camp, a distance of 25 miles. What color was the bear?

II

A man lived on the tenth floor of an apartment house. Each morning he rode the elevator down to the main floor and went to work. He returned again each evening, rode the elevator to the seventh floor, and walked up the last three flights. Since each apartment had its own private bathroom and the man had no friends on the seventh floor, why didn't he ride all the way to the tenth?

III

A man took his wife to a movie. During a particularly exciting, noisy part in the picture, he shot and killed her. At the end of the picture, they left together and no one noticed that the woman was dead. Why?

IV

A one-celled amoeba was put into an ordinary drinking glass. This particular amoeba grew at a rate that doubled its size each minute. In one hour, the amoeba completely filled the glass; at what time was the glass half filled?

V

A man in the United States opened up his morning paper and read a report of a woman's suicide in Paris. The wealthy and socially prominent couple was vacationing in Europe, the paper said, and the wife had leaped from their tenth story hotel room window. The man in the U.S. reading the story immediately phoned the police and told them that this was a case, not of suicide, but of murder. How did he know?

VI

Police broke down the door of a small shack. It had been bolted from the inside and there were no windows or other openings in the building. The ceiling was approximately twelve feet high and a hook was screwed into its center. A man was hanging from a rope that was tied to this hook, and his feet were a good three feet from the floor. It was an obvious case of suicide, but since the interior of the building was completely bare, how had the man managed to kill himself?

VII

John awoke in the middle of a nightmare. He was lying on a couch. Beside the couch was a small table and on it, water and some broken pieces of glass. On the floor near the table was more water, glass, and the body of Mary. She was dead. How did she die?

VIII

A boat was sitting in the bay. A ladder hung over its side and four of its rungs were under water. The rungs of the ladder were two feet apart. In the next hour the tide came in and the water level rose three feet. How many rungs were submerged?

IX

The bank closed as usual and at 3:30, John Jones and the other employees went home. When John arrived for work the following day, the president of the bank met him at the door and fired him. Why?

Logic Answers (Problems on page 25)

I

The only place on earth where a man can travel 25 miles due south, then 25 miles due east, and still be just 25 miles from the spot where he began is at the north pole. Since the camp had to be located at the pole, the bear must have been white. If this is confusing, try it on an orange or some other round object. If you travel 25 miles clue south from the top, you can go any distance east or west and you'll still be just 25 miles from where you began.

II

The elevator was an automatic, selfoperating brand and the man was a midget. He couldn't reach any higher than the seventh button. If one of your guests asks whether he always gets off at the seventh floor, you may say that occasionally he rides all the way to the tenth, for occasionally some one else will be in the car too and can push the tenth floor button for him.

III

It was a Drive-In movie and no one noticed the corpse because the couple left as they had come, in their car.

IV

The glass was half filled in 59 minutes, since the next minute when it again doubled its size, it completely filled the glass.

V

The man in the U. S. was a ticket salesman for a steamship line and he sold the wealthy husband the tickets for the European voyage. The husband had purchased two tickets -- a round-trip for himself and a one-way for his wife.

VI

The suicide was an iceman. He stood on a cake of ice, tied the rope around his neck, and stepped off. Later, the ice melted.

VII

Poor Mary was a goldfish and John had accidentally knocked over and broken her fish bowl during his nightmare.

VIII

The same four rings were still submerged since the boat and the ladder on its side rose with the tide.

IX

John Jones was fired for leaving the bank with the other employees at 3:30, because John Jones was the night watchman.