The Hat Trick Albert Cuthbert Egbert Hubert Important – it’s not a trick, but a puzzle which I have heard (but can’t confirm) is ancient. It requires both logic and empathy to solve it. Enjoy!

Four Father Christmas impersonators have been kidnapped by an evil genius who has pogonophobia

pogonophobia fear of beards

He wants revenge on the plump, whiskery men who have terrified him since childhood. So he has buried them up to their necks in snow. Soon they’ll be frozen as solid as Lidl turkeys.

But because it’s his birthday, he’s going to give them one chance to escape…

“I have buried you in the snow, one on one side of the wall, three on the other side. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

You cannot see over the wall. You cannot see round the wall. You cannot see through the wall. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

Now I will remove your red hats, and replace them with two blue hats, and two yellow hats. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

To live, one of you must tell me what colour hat you yourself are wearing. You cannot see your own hat, only the wall and any hat or hats in front of you. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

If you get it wrong, I leave you all to freeze. If you speak or signal to each other, I leave you all to freeze. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

You can only see what is in front of you. You cannot turn round. You can only see what is in front of you. You know you have two blue hats and two yellow hats between you. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

Get it wrong, or if no one calls out: you freeze. You have two minutes for someone to call out the colour of his own hat. Get it wrong, or if no one calls out: you freeze. Get it right: you all live.” Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

That’s Albert, Cuthbert, Egbert and Hubert’s challenge. Your challenge is slightly different…

For a minute, nobody says anything. After one minute, someone calls out his colour. He gets it right, and he isn’t guessing. He KNOWS the colour of his hat. Who calls out, and how does he know? Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

If you’ve worked it out, go forward three slides. If you haven’t worked it out yet, go back a slide. If you’re thinking of giving up, go forward one slide.

Clue number one. What does the silence tell you?

Clue number two. The santa who knows his colour only knows it once he knows nobody else can know theirs. Who’s the last person he knows can’t know, and what does knowing that they can’t know tell him that he didn’t know before he knew nobody else could know.

The answer is on the next slide.

Everyone knows there are two blue hats and two yellow hats. Albert and Cuthbert know nothing else. All they can see is the wall. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

It looks as if Hubert is best placed to know. But it’s Egbert who calls out. Egbert’s thinking goes like this. Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

“If Hubert could see two blue hats, he’d know his must be yellow, so he’d have called out. I’m yellow! Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

But he hasn’t called out, so he must be able to see one yellow and one blue hat. So I’m yellow. $%@*#! I’m yellow! Albert Hubert Egbert Cuthbert

Like many problems in the real world, both their puzzle and yours took two things working together.

the ability to think carefully from one idea to another reason the ability to think carefully from one idea to another

the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes empathy the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes

or to put them together, being thoughtful

Another question for you to chew over… How is knowing different from guessing? Copyright in the presentation, Jason Buckley 2010. Please forward this to anyone you think would enjoy it, and if you are interested in philosophy for children, thinking skills or gifted education, visit the website www.outspark.org.uk or email me jb@outspark.org.uk. Have a good holiday.

and click on “free stuff”. Teachers - for other thoughtful things to use in the classroom, including philosophical thinking games and stories for nursery to KS5 to staff INSET, visit www.thephilosophyman.com and click on “free stuff”. Copyright (in the presentation) Jason Buckley 2010. If you’re interested in philosophy for children (P4C), thinking skills, or just like the idea of getting youngsters excited about tackling difficult questions, email jason@outspark.org.uk Workshops, resources, teacher training and interactive storytelling events. Like a story, a puzzle gets passed on from one person to another. I got this one (with Mexicans rather than Santas) from John Butterworth, writer of a rather good book on Thinking Skills for secondary teachers.