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Illuminations: One Hundred Forty Five Doors

One Hundred Forty Five Doors

A prisoner was thrown into a medieval dungeon with 145 doors. Nine, shown by black bars, are locked, but each one will open if before you reach it you pass through exactly 8 open doors. You don’t have to go through every open door but you do have to go through every cell and all 9 locked doors. If you enter a cell or go through a door a second time, the doors clang shut, trapping you.

The prisoner (in the lower right corner cell) had a drawing of the dungeon. He thought a long time before he set out. He went through all the locked doors and escaped through the last, upper left corner one.

What was his route?

Puzzle provided by Kordemsky: The Moscow Puzzles (Dover)


Math Topics
Deductive Reasoning & Logical Thinking, Problem-Solving
K-6, Middle School, High School
3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade
Descriptions of PDFs

Problem and solution

What are you looking for?

Organization

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Website URL

Type of Resource

Activity Sheet
PDF File

Assigned Categories

Resource k12

Illuminations: One Hundred Forty Five Doors

One Hundred Forty Five Doors

A prisoner was thrown into a medieval dungeon with 145 doors. Nine, shown by black bars, are locked, but each one will open if before you reach it you pass through exactly 8 open doors. You don’t have to go through every open door but you do have to go through every cell and all 9 locked doors. If you enter a cell or go through a door a second time, the doors clang shut, trapping you.

The prisoner (in the lower right corner cell) had a drawing of the dungeon. He thought a long time before he set out. He went through all the locked doors and escaped through the last, upper left corner one.

What was his route?

Puzzle provided by Kordemsky: The Moscow Puzzles (Dover)

Math Topics
Deductive Reasoning & Logical Thinking, Problem-Solving
K-6, Middle School, High School
3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade
Descriptions of PDFs

Problem and solution

What are you looking for?

Organization

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Website URL

Type of Resource

Activity Sheet
PDF File

Assigned Categories