You find yourself playing a game of GreenJack with your friend.
It is played with a deck of only 16 cards, divided into 4 suits:
Red, Blue, Orange, and Green.
There are four cards in each suit:
Ace, King, Queen, and Jack.
All Aces outrank all Kings, which outrank all Queens, which outrank all Jacks, except for the Green Jack, which outranks every other card.
If two cards have the same face value, then Red outranks Blue, which outranks Orange, which outranks Green, again except for the Green Jack, which outranks everything.
Here's how the game is played: you are dealt one card face up, and your friend is dealt one card face down. Your friend then makes some true statements, and you have to work out who has the higher card, you or your friend. It's that simple!
Round 2:
You are dealt the Blue King and your friend makes three statements:
My card would beat a Green King. Knowing this, if my card is more likely to be a Jack than a Queen, then my card is actually a King. Otherwise, it isn't. Given all of the information you now know, if my card is more likely to beat yours than not, then my card is Red card. Otherwise, it isn't.
Who has the higher card, you or your friend?
Hint
List all of the cards, and then eliminate some using (1).
Answer
You.
Reasoning
You were dealt the Blue King.
The possible cards, in order, are:
Green Jack
Red Ace
Blue Ace
Orange Ace
Green Ace
Red King
Blue King (your card)
Orange King
Green King
Red Queen
Blue Queen
Orange Queen
Green Queen
Red Jack
Blue Jack
Orange Jack
By (1), your friend's card is higher than the Green King, so your friend can only have one of the following cards:
Green Jack
Red Ace
Blue Ace
Orange Ace
Green Ace
Red King
Blue King (your card)
Orange King
By (2), their card is more likely to be a Jack (1) than a Queen (0), so their card is a King. Leaving:
Red King
Blue King (your card)
Orange King
By (3), only 1 could beat your card, so it is not more likely to beat yours, therefore their card is not Red. Leaving:
Blue King (your card)
Orange King
So your friend must have the Orange King, which your card beats.
?
Puzzle 2
During a recent club trip to the seaside, I sat at the rear of the bus.
I noticed a strange thing: Ann, Kevin, Matilda, and Nathaniel were all sitting on the left side of the bus.
Even more curious was the fact that Jack, Amelia, Isabella, and Maximilian were all sitting on the right side of the bus.
I really fear lions and tigers, but the aniMAL I fear most though is the mouse.
???
Puzzle 4
Matthew Shelborn frequently has to travel for his company, which gives him a chance to meet many people from all parts of the USA. In April, Matthew flew to five different US cities on business and he flew a different airline each time. During each trip he chatted with the person next to him, and no two people he talked to were in the same profession.
From the information, can you determine the date Matthew made each flight (each was on a Monday exactly one week apart starting on April 2nd), the airline he flew, his destination, and the profession of the person who sat next to him on each flight?
Three consecutive flights were, in order from first to last, the flight Matthew took with WTA Airways, the flight where he sat next to the teacher, and the flight he took to Atlanta. Matthew sat beside the sports coach on a flight some time earlier in the month than the one he took to Seattle. The week he flew Air Express was some time earlier in the month than the trip to Boston, which was some time earlier in the month than the trip where he sat next to the ballet dancer. It wasn't on the trip to San Diego where Matthew sat next to the doctor. Matthew didn't fly Skyways on his trip to Seattle, and he didn't fly WTA Airways on the trip where he sat next to the sports coach. Atlanta was not Matthew's destination on the trip where he made the acquaintance of the ballet dancer. The Fly America flight was exactly two weeks before the flight where Matthew passed the time chatting with the attorney.
Dates : April 2nd, April 9th, April 16th, April 23rd, April 30th
Airline : Air Express, Fly America, MidUSA Air, Skyways, WTA Airways
Destination : Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle
Seat Mate : Attorney, Ballet Dancer, Doctor, Sports Coach, Teacher
Answer Date Airline Destination Seat Mate April 2nd WTA Airways Chicago Doctor April 9th Fly America San Diego Teacher April 16th Air Express Atlanta Sports Coach April 23rd Skyways Boston Attorney April 30th MidUSA Air Seattle Ballet Dancer
The trip to Atlanta (1), the trip where Matthew sat next to the ballet dancer (3), and the trip where Matthew sat next to the attorney (7) were among the last three trips [April 16th, 23rd, and 30th (intro)], and the trip to Atlanta wasn't the one where he met the ballet dancer (6) or the attorney. He flew WTA Airways exactly two weeks before the one to Atlanta, and he flew Fly America exactly two weeks before he sat by the attorney (7), so, these three are separate flights, in some order.
He didn't sit by the teacher on the trip to Atlanta (1), so the flight were he sat by the teacher was on one of the first two flights [April 2nd and April 9th (intro)], but it wasn't first [after WTA Airways](1), therefore, April 2nd flight was the WTA Airways flight, the one where he sat by the teacher was the April 9th flight, and the one to Atlanta was the April 16th flight, and he sat by the ballet dancer and attorney on the April 23rd and April 30th flight, in some order.
He didn't sit beside the sports coach on the WTA Airways flight (5) so that wasn't April 2nd, he sat beside the sports coach on the Atlanta flight [April 16th] and it was the April 2nd flight where he sat next to the doctor.
April 2nd [first flight, WTA Airways, doctor] wasn't to Seattle (2), Boston (3), or San Diego (4), that flight was to Chicago.
The April 9th flight wasn't to Seattle [after sports coach which was April 16th] or to Boston [after Air Express, which would have to be April 2nd, but WTA Airways was April 2nd (1)](3), so, on April 9th he flew to San Diego.
Boston wasn't the last destination (3), so it was his destination on April 23rd and Seattle was his destination on April 30th.
Boston [April 23rd] was before the one where he sat by the ballet dancer (3), so he sat by the ballet dancer on April 30th flight to Seattle, and it was on the April 23rd flight to Boston that he sat by the attorney.
Since he sat by the attorney on the April 23rd flight, then he flew Fly America on the 9th [exactly two weeks before](7).
He flew Air Express before the flight when he flew to Boston [April 23rd](3) so he flew Air Express on the 16th.
He didn't fly Skyways to Seattle [April 30th](5), so, he flew Skyways to Boston on the 23rd and his last flight that month was on MidUSA Air (intro).
