GeekDad Challenge of The Week Solution: Tower of Terror

OK lets get right down to business! This weeks winner is Chris Nye who solved the challenge and beat the odds to win a $50.00 ThinkGeek Gift Certificate ! Her’s the recap form last week. Up in a tower a queen and her two sons are being help captive by an evil wizard. The prisoners […]
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OK lets get right down to business! This weeks winner is Chris Nye who solved the challenge and beat the odds to win a $50.00 ThinkGeek Gift Certificate !

Her's the recap form last week.

Up in a tower a queen and her two sons are being help captive by an evil wizard. The prisoners are fed by means of two baskets on a pulley. One night the queen overhears her guards saying that soon they will no longer need the hostages. The queen did not like the sound of this and decided she needed an escape plan.

After some thought the queen realized she could use the baskets for her escape. As long as the weight difference between the baskets was not greater than 15 lbs. the descent would be safe for the occupant of the basket. The queen weighs 195 lbs. Her son Rodrick weighs 90 lbs. and James weighs 105 lbs. The queen also has a stone that weighs 75 lbs. that was lying around the cell.

The solution to this puzzle is:

  1. Place the stone in the basket sending it to the ground, those of you who assumed the stone would not die were correct
  2. Rodrick rides down with the stone as a counterweight
  3. James rides down with Rodrick as a counterweight
  4. James gets out of the basket and the stone is sent down
  5. James and the stone get into the bottom basket and the Queen rides down using them as a counterweight
  6. Queen gets out and the stone goes back down
  7. Rodrick rides down with stone countering
  8. James gets in and rides down with Roderick going back up
  9. James gets out and joins mom
  10. stone rides down again
  11. Rodrick makes his last trip down and gets out at the bottom joining his mom and his brother
  12. Stone plummets to earth .... Gravity it's the law

While there are other solutions which work and possibly a shorter one. I didn't work through every iteration -- hey I have a life, I played D&D this week.

Finally let me say I am relieved that no one offered this solution:

  1. Queen tosses James and the Stone into the basket
  2. Queen rides empty basket down using Stone and James corpse as a counter weightabandoning Rodrick in the tower

Your good people if that never crossed your mind. As a matter of fact you deserve a reward. Use this code.GEEKDAD37MD and get $10.00 off your next order of $50.00 or more at ThinkGeek.

Drop by and Monday for your next chance to win a Gift Certificate and challenge your brain. Do it for your brain it will thank you for it later in life.