16. Mixed Drinks
class: tweener | impressiveness: 2/5 | factors: big setup, simple puzzle | requires: 6 shot glasses, 3 full
The Setup: Lay out six shot glasses in a row and fill every other one with whiskey as shown.
The Challenge: End up with all six glasses in a row, but with three shots of whiskey on one side, and three empty shot glasses on the other… and do it by touching the fewest possible glasses.
Now, the phrasing of “the fewest possible glasses” is important. It’s ambiguous: I mean after all… how many is the fewest? is 3 few enough? Is there a way to only touch 2? Wait-a-minute… is there a way to touch ZERO glasses? LESS than zero???
It’s this kind of self-doubt that will drive people crazy. Either they’ll be over-confident and convinced their solution touches the fewest, or they’ll be convinced that no matter what they’ve done, there has to be at least one more glass they can cut…
The Answer: The trap here is that most people think in terms of swapping around shot glasses, and they’ll be certain that you can’t do it touching fewer than two. But remember that you said nothing about “swapping glasses.” All you want is the six glasses in a row, with every other glass filled with whiskey…
…which is why all you need to do is pick up the last whiskey on the right side, and pour its contents into the only empty glass on the left side. Set the newly-emptied shot glass back in its original position, and collect your free drink.