[For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! A Collection of Tricky Quizzes You’ll Definitely Get Stumped By

I exchanged money.

The key to this puzzle is realizing what the single sheet of paper actually is. In fact, the paper was a 10,000-yen bill. So if you exchange it for 1,000-yen bills, you can turn it into ten 1,000-yen bills without cutting it. Since the word “cut” appears, it might seem tricky, but you could give a hint like, “There are many kinds of paper, right?”

Because you’re the driver

When you hear “packed trains,” you probably imagine that it’s hard to get a seat, right? So why is it that someone can sit down every time without having to stand? The answer to this riddle is: because they’re the driver. We tend to think from a passenger’s perspective, but a driver sits in the driver’s seat, so no matter how crowded the train is, they can always sit.

up; above; on; over; top

The answer is to go to the “upper” floor. Why? Because if you read the question carefully, you’ll notice that “kudaranai” can also be written with the kanji for “down” (下らない). So instead of going down, you go up—it's a trick question! If it seems difficult, emphasizing “It’s a ‘kudaranai’ question!” might help them catch on.

There was no exit, but there was an entrance.

This problem might make you think there’s no way to escape because it says “there’s no exit.” But if you could enter the room, that means there was an entrance, right? So even if there’s no exit, you can still get out through the entrance.

softball

There are various kinds of ball games, but the answer to this riddle is “softball.” That’s because “sofu to booru” (祖父とボール), meaning “grandfather and ball,” sounds like “sofutobōru,” or “softball.” The key is whether you can get from the word “ojīchan” (grandpa) in the riddle to the word “sofu” (祖父, grandfather) in the pun.

sea

The answer is “the sea”! With this question, you might naturally start thinking about which prefecture borders the most other prefectures. But the question doesn’t actually say “which prefecture” it is asking about. So the one that borders the most prefectures is the sea! It’s a riddle unique to an island nation.

Grandfather and grandmother

Momotaro met the dog, the monkey, and the pheasant in that order, made them his retainers, and set off to defeat the ogres. So you might be tempted to answer “the dog,” but that’s the trick! The ones he meets before the animals are, in fact, the old man and the old woman.