My brain’s all fat and lazy from watching TV and playing video games. I’m trying to tone it back up with books and magazines, but some good mental calisthenics would probably be good too.
Any online recommendations would be welcome (instant gratification and all that), but stuff that I could find at the local library would be cool too. Thanks in advance, guys.
Well, you could go with Games magazine, which I’m sure you are familiar with. I just re-subscribed after about a 5 year hiatus. Every issue has such a wide variety of puzzles, from logic, word teasers, math, crypto-codes, crosswords, and (my favorite), the paint-by number logic/art puzzles.
Try an issue. Very clever magazine. Much better than your run-of-the mill magazine stand crosswords and such.
Could an all-powerful deity create a rock so big even he/she/it can’t move it? (No tricks, I mean really, actually move it.)
Can an all-knowing being possess free will?
What is the third common word that ends in -gry?
There’s a good selection of (mainly mathematical and logic) puzzles at William Wu’s site (he doesn’t provide answers though - there is a forum if you get stuck), and the Grey Labyrinth.
If you like chess there’s a good selection of problems at:
You can solve problems (i.e. - White to play and mate in 3 moves)
or you can play a game against the computer.
Good brain exercise.
I’ve always liked this one, it’s a spin on some others that you may have heard:
You are somewhere in the country of Villa de Kid. You aren’t sure whether you are in West Villa or East Villa. All you know is that the people of East Villa always lie and the people of West Villa always tell the truth. What one yes/no question can you ask anyone to determine whether your in West or East Villa?
You are in a room with three light switches, with no markings. Down the hall, there are three light bulbs, not visible from your location. What is the minimum number of trips you must make in order to determine which switch operates a given bulb? (Answer = 1) How do you do this?
The last company I worked for was considering putting this on the skills test (the idea was, I believe, vetoed).
Turn swith 1 on, and leave it on for, say, 30 minutes. Then turn it off. Turn switch 2 on, leaving switch 1 and 3 off. Go check the room. The light that is on is controlled by switch 2, the one that is off and warm is controlled by switch 1, the one that is off and cool is controlled by switch 3.
It took me longer than I would like to admit to figure that one out the first time.
I may be interpreting the question wrong, but I am, hypothetically, already in one of the Villas already, right? If so, I think this may be cheating (or not), but:
[spoiler]Ask abundantly obvious like: “Is the sun bright?” If they answer yes, you’re in West Villa, if they say no, you’re in East.
If you’re in West Villa, they’ll think you’re an idiot, but still. :D[/spoiler]
And since I forgot to say this in my previous post, thanks for the help - I can feel the cobwebs melting away already.
I just might try that. After I get a job and all that positive cash flow stuff squared away, anyway.
I’ve got a pile of Games and Games World of Puzzles magazines that I haven’t made it all the way through. You want to borrow a couple?
Oh, and have you ever played Pandora’s Box? (You need an update to run it on XP but it’s a free download.) Let me know if you’re interested and I can hook ya up for cheap 
L E F T S I D E
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R I G H T S I D E
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD AKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYP BRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPT CYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTO DPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOS ETOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSA FOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSAB GSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABC HABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCD IBCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDE JCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEF KDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFG LEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGH MFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHI NGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJ OHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJL PIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLM QJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMN RLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQ SMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQU TNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUV UQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVW VUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWX WVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ XWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZK YXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKR ZZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRY
Decrypt this and learn a little something…
-Justhink
KKBatusai - whoops, i left one aspect out. East and West Villans intermingle so you never no whether your asking a liar or a truth teller. And yes, you are in one of the villas but you don’t know which one and must find out with one yes or no question.
I don’t know how to make a spoiler box so…
Do you live here?
KKBatusai - whoops, i left one aspect out. East and West Villans intermingle so you never no whether your asking a liar or a truth teller. And yes, you are in one of the villas but you don’t know which one and must find out with one yes or no question.
I don’t know how to make a spoiler box so…
Do you live here?
From the book The Chicken from Minsk:
Two children are born on the same day of the same month of the same year, to the same mother and father. They are not twins. How is this possible.
ans:
They’re two of a set of triplets (or quads, quints, etc.)
Two mathematicians (A and B) see each other for the first time since their school days. “How have you been?” A asks. “Very good. I’m married and have three children” says B. “How old are they?” “Well,” thinks B, “The product of their ages is 72, and the sum is the same as the number of windows in that building over there.”
A thinks about this for a moment and says, “Sorry, I still don’t know the answer.” “The oldest one has red hair” B replies. “Oh, now I know” says A.
How old are the children?
I’ll second the recomendation of Pandora’s box…I have that game and absolutely love it!