I have been introduced to a logic puzzle that was supposedly written by Albert Einstein. The version I originally read came from the Brain-Fun website. The story that goes along with the puzzle is that Einstein claimed only 2% of the population would be able to solve it.
Some of the other people reading the puzzle mentioned that it is a lot more fun to work on it with a chart. Since I never found a chart posted along with the clues I decided to make one.
You can download a one page PDF of the Wikipedia version of the puzzle below:
The text and image below provide a preview of the PDF. I hope this makes it a little easier for more people to test whether they can solve it.
Brain-fun has the solution posted here.
The Logic Puzzle of Albert Einstein (Possibly)
Five people, each of a different national origin, live in five differently colored houses. All five houses are in a row. Each person owns a different animal, drinks a different beverage, and smokes a different brand of cigarette.
This version of the puzzle is taken from the following source, which also provides information about its history and authorship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_Puzzle
1. The British lives in the red house.
2. The Swedish keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Danish drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green homeowner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
13. The German smokes prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.
Question: Who owns the fish?
You should change the wording of clue #4 to read “The green house is immediately left to the white house”, like in other versions of this riddle.
Otherwise, they are not necessarily neighbours.
Great puzzle. 30 minutes. used both the main table and the house table together.
1 Norwegian, Yellow, Cat, Water, Dunhill
2 Danish, Blue, Horse, Tea, Blend
3 British, Red, Birds, Milk, Pall Mall
4 German, Green, FISH, Coffee, Prince
5 Swedish, White, Dog, Beer, Bluemaster
Let me see if I got everything . . .
1. Norwegian, yellow house, has fish, drinks water, smokes Dunhill
2. Dane, blue house, has horse, drinks tea, smokes Blend
3. Brit, red house, has birds, drinks milk, smokes Pall Mall
4. Swede, green house, has dogs, drinks beer, smokes Bluemaster
5. German, white house, has cats, drinks coffee, smokes Prince
Great puzzle, insane fun!
That’s wrong, just saying
Thanks!!!!!!!!!! You are a genius!