You need to be one smart cookie to solve this long riddle!

There is a basket full of hats. Three are white and two are black. Three men, Tom, Tim, and Jim, each take a hat out of the basket and put it on their heads without seeing the hat they selected or the hats the other men selected. The men arrange themselves so Tom can see Tim and Jim’s hats, Tim can see Jim’s hat, and Jim can’t see anyone’s hat. Tom is asked what color his hat is and he says he doesn’t know. Tim is asked the same question, and he also doesn’t know. Finally, Jim is asked the question, and he does know. What color is his hat?

Answer: The hat is white. If Tom doesn’t know his hat color then the other two men’s hats cannot be both black otherwise he would know his hat is white. When Tim doesn’t know his hat color either, that means Jim’s hat could not be black otherwise Tim would have to know his hat was white based on Tom’s answer.

[ embedpost slug=”this-riddle-stumped-so-many-on-social-media-gone-viral/”]