Only 2% of People Can Solve Einstein’s Riddle—Can You?

There’s nothing like a good riddle to stimulate your mind and give you an excuse to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes. Regularly doing logic and crossword puzzles can even keep your brain young as you age, and while the thrill of solving puzzles may not give you the adrenaline rush of a skydive, they’re a lot of fun just the same.

Now you can take your problem-solving skills to the next level with a riddle that Albert Einstein (supposedly) invented himself. The story goes that a young Einstein wrote this complicated logic puzzle, and he estimated that only 2% of the people who tried to solve it would successfully do so.

Reader’s Digest breaks down the riddle and walks you through tips, tricks and hints for finding the solution.

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What is Einstein’s riddle?

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This brain teaser has been stumping people for decades. There’s no real proof that he wrote it, but it’s hard enough that the name fits. If you can crack it, you’re in rare company.

Here’s the setup: There are five houses, each a different color. In each house lives a person of a different nationality. These five owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain kind of pet. For the record, no owners have the same pet, smoke the same cigar or drink the same beverage.

Here’s the question: Who owns the fish?

The clues

Use these 15 clues from Einstein’s riddle to figure out who owns the fish:

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes BlueMaster drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Think you got it? Again, you’re trying to figure out who owns the fish. If you need a little help to get started, we walk you through Einstein’s riddle below.

How to approach the puzzle

To solve Einstein’s riddle, it helps to use a 5×5 chart. (Trust us, it’s worth the effort.) Across the top, label each column with house numbers 1 through 5. Down the side, label the rows: color, nationality, drink, cigar and pet. This helps you keep track of which clues apply to each house. Then, just start working through the clues.

Need a bit more help? Here’s exactly how to start the puzzle:

Step-by-step solution

Start by filling in the most direct clues:

• The Norwegian lives in the first house.
• The house next to the Norwegian’s—the second one—is blue.
• The man living in the center house drinks milk.

Next, focus on the green house, which must be to the left of the white house (and whose owner drinks coffee):

• The green house can’t be the first one, since the second house is blue.
• The green house can’t be the last house, since it wouldn’t be to the left of any house.
• The green house can’t be the center house, because that man drinks milk.

So, the green house must be the fourth house. Now, just work through the rest of the clues in Einstein’s riddle. As you fill in the chart using the process of elimination, the answer will reveal itself.

Still stumped, or prefer visual learning? Here’s a video walkthrough that breaks it down clearly. We also put the answer in the FAQ at the bottom. Don’t peek if you don’t want to know!

Tips for Solving Logic Puzzles

• Use a grid: Keep your facts organized.
• Start with the obvious clues: Fill in what you know for sure first.
• Eliminate the impossible: Cross it out if it can’t be true.
• Work slowly and double-check: It’s not a race!

FAQ

Why do some people call it the Zebra Puzzle?

In a different version, the question at the end is “Who owns the zebra?” Same exact setup, just a different animal.

What’s the best strategy to solve it?

Use a grid and fill it out methodically, starting with the most concrete clues.

Who owns the fish?

The German owns the fish.

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Reader’s Digest is known for our humor and brain games, including quizzes, puzzles, riddles, word games, trivia, math, pattern and logic puzzles, guessing games, crosswords, rebus, hidden objects and spot-the-difference challenges. We’ve earned prestigious ASME awards for our entertainment content and have produced dozens of brainteaser books, including Word Searches, Word Power, Use Your Words, Fun Puzzles and Brain Ticklers, Mind Stretchers, Ultimate Christmas Puzzles and more. Our 10 published volumes of Mind Stretchers were edited by Allen D. Bragdon, founder of The Brainwaves Center and editor of Games magazine. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Highbrow: “Einstein Riddle Solution”
• Brainzilla: “Einstein’s Riddle Step-by-Step”
• YouTube: “Can You Solve Einstein’s Riddle?”

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