One hundred people, one hundred boxes, and no chance to communicate once the game starts. At first glance, the odds seem overwhelming. However, there is a strategy that transforms the seemingly impossible into something that happens almost one in three times.
The hundred numbered boxes
Riddle statement
There are 100 prisoners numbered from 1 to 100 and 100 boxes also numbered from 1 to 100. Inside each box there is a different number from 1 to 100, placed at random.
Before starting, the prisoners can agree on a common strategy. Then they enter the room one by one. Each prisoner can open a maximum of 50 boxes, must close them as they were and leave without communicating anything to the others. Prisoner i is successful if he finds the number i inside any of the boxes he opens.
The entire group is saved only if all 100 prisoners are successful. Which strategy gives them the greatest chance of being saved?