Riddles for Middle School

Ten riddles for middle schoolers with answers and hints under a cover: think, then tap Show answer.

A woman has seven children, and half of them are boys. How is that possible?
I am the answer to an equation, and I am a liquid with something dissolved in it. What one word am I?
On January 1 a boy says: "The day before yesterday I was 11, and next year I will turn 14." When is his birthday?
I am a small part inside a living cell, and my nickname is the powerhouse of the cell. What am I?
The essay question was "What is courage?" One student handed in two words and walked out with full credit. What did the paper say?
On a house plan, a quarter of an inch stands for 1 foot. A wall is 5 inches long on the plan. How long is the real wall?
I am a crack in the Earth where an earthquake can start, and I am a mistake that is yours. What one word am I?
Five friends read a mean of 6 books each over the summer. Four of them read 4, 5, 7 and 8 books. How many did the fifth read?
I was counted as a planet until 2006, when astronomers changed what the word planet means. Now I am called a dwarf planet. What am I?
Which is greater: negative 10 or negative 2?

Next step Science trivia for kids Trivia for middle school

How it works

These riddles for middle school students are sorted by kind and by grade: wordplay, lateral thinking, logic, numbers at grade level, and science and history. Each has a hint to read out before the answer.

Read the full guide

Riddles for 6th graders, 7th graders and 8th graders

Choose More filters in the menu under the button, then Level. The 6th grade riddles take one idea each. The riddles for 8th graders add negative numbers, a first equation, a longer chain of logic. The grade names are the editors' judgment.

Two sets from the school day

The same menu keeps one kind. Numbers at grade level covers ratios, negative numbers and simple equations, with the steps shown. Science and history riddles each rest on one fact, checked in the encyclopedia article named in the source note below the list.

Tips

Open the cover where only you can see, read the hint aloud, and give the class a second try.
Print gives the riddles with a line under each and the answers on a page of their own.

Questions and answers

What are some good riddles for middle school?

Three to try. I end a statement, and I am one slice of the school day: a period. How can you stand behind your friend while your friend stands behind you? Back to back. What is half of a third of 60? Ten.

Are these good riddles for junior high?

Yes. Many schools call grades 7 and 8 junior high, and the 7th grade and 8th grade levels are written for those years: two-step logic, negative numbers and a first equation.

Do these riddles come with answers and hints?

Yes. Under each riddle a cover hides the answer, one line that says why it fits, and a hint. Show all answers opens every cover at once, and the full list under the tool prints every riddle with its answer.

Where do the science and history facts come from?

Each of those riddles rests on one fact that was read in the English Wikipedia article on its subject on the day the list was written. The articles are named in the source note under the full list.

All 100 riddles

Wordplay and double meanings 20

A judge hands me down, and an English teacher asks you to diagram me. What one word am I? Answer: A sentence. A sentence is a punishment set by a court, and a group of words with a subject and a verb. Hint: This hint is one.
I am a cold breeze under the door, and I am the first try at your essay. What one word am I? Answer: Draft. A draft is a current of air and an early version of a piece of writing. Hint: The final one comes after me.
I am a crack in the Earth where an earthquake can start, and I am a mistake that is yours. What one word am I? Answer: Fault. A fault is a break in rock, and to be at fault is to be to blame. Hint: People say: it is not my ___.
I am a line of mountains, a kitchen stove, and the gap between the largest and smallest numbers in a set. What one word am I? Answer: Range. A mountain range, a cooking range, and the range of a set of data. Hint: A cook stands at one, and a hiker crosses one.
I am a part of your body with a job to do, such as the heart, and I am a keyboard instrument with pipes. What one word am I? Answer: Organ. The heart and lungs are organs, and an organ is played with keys and pedals. Hint: The skin is the largest one you have.
I am a table with no legs. Chemistry class hangs me on the wall, and every element has a seat at me. What am I? Answer: The periodic table. A table can be a chart as well as furniture. Hint: Hydrogen sits in my top left corner.
I am how high a note sounds, and I am a throw in baseball. What one word am I? Answer: Pitch. Pitch is the highness of a sound and the throw to the batter. Hint: A singer can be on me or off me.
I am how loud the music is, how much the bottle holds, and one book of an encyclopedia. What one word am I? Answer: Volume. Volume means loudness, the space inside something, and one book of a set. Hint: A remote control has a button for me.
I am how you feel before a big test, and I tell you whether a verb is past, present or future. What one word am I? Answer: Tense. Tense means nervous, and tense is the time a verb shows. Hint: Walked and will walk differ in me.
I am the answer to an equation, and I am a liquid with something dissolved in it. What one word am I? Answer: Solution. You solve for a solution in math and mix a solution in science. Hint: Salt water is one.
I am the city where a government sits, and I am the tall form of a letter. What one word am I? Answer: Capital. A capital city and a capital letter. Hint: Every sentence starts with one.
I am the edge of a pizza, and I am the outer layer of the Earth. What one word am I? Answer: Crust. Bread and pizza have a crust, and so does the planet. Hint: Some people leave me on the plate.
I am the small raised number that tells a base how many times to multiply itself, and I share my name with strength. What one word am I? Answer: Power. Three to the second power: the word also means strength. Hint: Electricity is called this too.
I am the smallest unit of life, a small locked room, and a short name for a mobile phone. What one word am I? Answer: Cell. A living cell, a prison cell, and a cell phone. Hint: Biology class looks at me under a microscope.
I am the story of a novel, a small piece of ground, and what you do with points on a graph. What one word am I? Answer: Plot. The plot of a book, a plot of land, and to plot points. Hint: Mystery books are famous for a twist in me.
I am what a factory makes, and I am what you get when you multiply. What one word am I? Answer: Product. A product is something made for sale and the result of a multiplication. Hint: The product of 3 and 4 is 12.
I dig tunnels under the lawn, I am a small dark spot on the skin, and chemists count atoms with me. What one word am I? Answer: Mole. A mole is a burrowing animal, a mark on the skin and a unit in chemistry. Hint: I rhyme with hole.
I end a statement, and I am also one slice of the school day. What one word am I? Answer: A period. A period is the dot at the end of a sentence and a class slot in the schedule. Hint: You have a first one and a last one every day.
I have a key that opens nothing and a scale that weighs nothing. Geography class unfolds me. What am I? Answer: A map. A map's key explains its symbols, and its scale tells you distances. Hint: I show roads and rivers.
I mean strange, and I am every whole number that 2 cannot split evenly. What one word am I? Answer: Odd. Odd means unusual, and odd numbers are 1, 3, 5 and so on. Hint: The opposite word is even.

Lateral thinking 20

A boy is hurt and taken to a hospital. The surgeon says: "I cannot operate on this boy. He is my son." The surgeon is not the boy's father. Who is the surgeon? Answer: His mother. The surgeon is a woman: the boy's mother. Hint: What are you assuming about the surgeon?
A coach says: "I can tell you the score of tomorrow's game before it starts." She is right. What is the score? Answer: 0 to 0. Before any game starts, nobody has scored. Hint: Listen again to the last three words she says.
A dealer offers a museum an old coin stamped with the date 46 B.C. The curator knows at once that it is a fake. How? Answer: Nobody could have stamped B.C. on a coin at the time. B.C. counts backward from a year that had not happened yet, so no coin maker could have used it. Hint: Think about what the two letters mean.
A drawing shows a school bus from the side: windows and wheels, but no door. The bus in the drawing is on a road in the United States. Is it heading left or right? Answer: Left. American school buses have the door on the right-hand side. No door means we see the driver's side, so the front of the bus is to the left. Hint: Which side do children get on?
A sundial is the clock with the fewest moving parts. Which kind of clock has the most? Answer: An hourglass. Every grain of sand in an hourglass is a moving part. Hint: It has no gears, no hands and no battery.
A teacher seats her class so that every student has a neighbor on the left and a neighbor on the right, and nobody sits at an end. How? Answer: In a circle. A circle has no ends. Hint: Think of a shape, not a row.
A two-volume dictionary stands on a shelf in the usual order, volume 1 on the left. A bookworm eats straight through from the first page of volume 1 to the last page of volume 2. How many covers does it chew, and how many pages? Answer: Two covers and no pages. On a shelf, the first page of volume 1 lies against its right-hand cover, next to volume 2, and the last page of volume 2 lies against its left-hand cover. Only those two covers are between them. Hint: Take two books off a shelf and look where page 1 really is.
A woman has seven children, and half of them are boys. How is that possible? Answer: All seven are boys. If every child is a boy, then half of them are boys, and so is the other half. Hint: What is the other half?
Dana says she can lay a pencil on the classroom floor where nobody can jump over it. Where does she put it? Answer: Against the wall. Nobody can jump over something that lies along the foot of a wall. Hint: The pencil is not what stops you.
The essay question was "What is courage?" One student handed in two words and walked out with full credit. What did the paper say? Answer: "This is". Handing in two words for an essay takes courage, which answers the question. Hint: The answer points at itself.
How can two people stand on the same sheet of newspaper, face to face, and still be unable to touch each other? Answer: Put the sheet under a closed door. Each stands on one half of the sheet with the door shut between them. Hint: Something is between them.
How can you always name a bigger whole number than the one your friend just named? Answer: Add one to it. Whatever number is said, that number plus one is bigger. Hint: You do not need to know the number in advance.
How can you stand behind your friend while your friend stands behind you? Answer: Stand back to back. Back to back, each of you is behind the other. Hint: Think about which way each of you faces.
I have two United States coins that add up to 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins? Answer: A quarter and a nickel. One of them is not a nickel: the quarter. The other one is. Hint: Read the second sentence again, slowly.
The power is out in the whole school. There is no lamp, no flashlight and no candle, yet the class reads the board with ease. How? Answer: It is daytime. Sunlight comes in through the windows. Hint: Nobody said it was dark.
Three students walk to school under one small umbrella, and not one of them gets wet. How? Answer: It is not raining. Nothing in the riddle says it rained. Hint: Why do you assume they needed it?
Two girls were born to the same mother on the same day of the same year, and they are not twins. How? Answer: They are two of three triplets. Twins means exactly two. With a third baby born that day, they are triplets. Hint: Count the babies again.
Two soccer teams play a full game. The final score is 3 to 1, and yet no man on either team scored a goal. How? Answer: Both teams are women's or girls' teams. The players who scored were not men. Hint: Who else plays soccer?
What do you throw away the outside of, cook the inside of, then eat the outside of and throw away the inside of? Answer: An ear of corn. You throw away the husk, cook the ear, eat the kernels and throw away the cob. Hint: It grows in a field in tall rows.
What goes up at the end of a count that goes down? Answer: A rocket. A launch is counted down: ten, nine, eight. At zero the rocket goes up. Hint: Listen for the words: three, two, one.

Logic told in words 20

A bag holds 3 red pens and 3 green pens. Without looking, how many must you take out to be sure of having one of each color? Answer: 4. The first three could all be one color. The fourth must be the other. Hint: Imagine the unluckiest draws.
A clock loses 5 minutes every hour. It is set to the right time at noon. What time does it show when the real time is 6 in the evening? Answer: 5:30. Six hours pass, and 6 x 5 = 30 minutes are lost. The clock shows half past five. Hint: How many hours go by?
A locker code uses the digits 2, 5 and 8 once each. The code is an even number bigger than 550, and the 5 is not in the middle. What is the code? Answer: 582. Even means it ends in 2 or 8. With the 5 not in the middle that leaves 528 and 582, and only 582 is above 550. Hint: Start with the last digit.
A whole number from 1 to 6 is written on a card. Jo says: "It is even." Kai says: "It is more than 4." Lee says: "It is 4 or 5." Exactly one of the three is right. What is the number? Answer: 2. Try each number. 1 and 3 make nobody right, and 4, 5 and 6 each make two of them right. Only 2 makes exactly one right: Jo. Hint: Test all six numbers and count who is right.
AB is a two-digit number, and BA is the same two digits swapped. AB + BA = 99, and A is 1 less than B. What number is AB? Answer: 45. The digits must add up to 9 and be 1 apart: 4 and 5. Check: 45 + 54 = 99. Hint: What must A plus B equal?
Ada says: "Bea is telling the truth." Bea says: "Cal is lying." Cal says: "Ada and Bea are either both truthful or both lying." Each of the three is either telling the truth or lying. Who is telling the truth? Answer: Only Cal. Ada vouches for Bea. If Ada is truthful, so is Bea; if Ada lies, Bea lies too. Either way the two match, so Cal's line is true. Then Bea, who calls Cal a liar, is lying, and so is Ada. Hint: Start with Ada: can she and Bea ever differ?
All squares are rectangles. A shape on the board is not a rectangle. Can it be a square? Answer: No. Every square is a rectangle, so something that is not a rectangle cannot be a square. Hint: Suppose it were a square. What else would it be?
Art, band and gym fill the first three periods of the day. Gym is not first. Band comes right after art. Which class is third? Answer: Gym. If art and band were second and third, gym would be first. So art is first, band second and gym third. Hint: Art and band travel as a pair.
Every one of Ms. Lee's students passed the test. Dev did not pass it. What must be true about Dev? Answer: He is not one of Ms. Lee's students. If he were her student, he would have passed. Hint: Turn the first sentence around.
Five friends sit in one row at the movies. Finn has the left end seat. Eve sits in the middle. Gia sits next to Eve but not next to Finn. Hal does not sit at an end. Who has the right end seat? Answer: Ian. Finn is first and Eve third. Gia is beside Eve and away from Finn, so she is fourth. Hal, not at an end, is second. The fifth seat is left for Ian. Hint: Seat Gia before Hal.
If it rains, the game is canceled. The game was canceled. Does that prove it rained? Answer: No. The rule says what rain does. It does not say rain is the only thing that cancels a game. Hint: Could anything else stop a game?
In a class of 30 students, 18 play soccer, 15 play basketball and 5 play neither. How many play both? Answer: 8. 30 - 5 = 25 students play at least one sport. 18 + 15 = 33 counts the both-players twice, and 33 - 25 = 8. Hint: First find how many play at least one sport.
Kim and Lou play checkers until one of them has won 3 games. No game ends in a draw. What is the largest number of games they might play? Answer: 5. After four games the closest it can stand is 2 wins each. The fifth game has a winner, and that player then has 3. Hint: How close can the score be after four games?
Lia walks 3 blocks north, then 4 blocks east, then 3 blocks south. How far is she from where she started, and in which direction? Answer: 4 blocks east. The 3 blocks north and the 3 blocks south cancel out. Only the 4 blocks east remain. Hint: Sketch the walk on paper.
On January 1 a boy says: "The day before yesterday I was 11, and next year I will turn 14." When is his birthday? Answer: December 31. On December 30 he was 11. He turned 12 on December 31. This year he will turn 13, and next year 14. Hint: He is speaking on the first day of a year.
Pat is older than Quinn. Quinn is older than Ray. Sam is older than Ray but younger than Quinn. Who is the second youngest? Answer: Sam. From the oldest down: Pat, Quinn, Sam, Ray. Ray is the youngest, so Sam is second youngest. Hint: Fit Sam between two of the others.
Three boxes hold pens, pencils and markers, and every label is wrong. You open the box labeled PENS and find markers. What is in the box labeled MARKERS? Answer: Pencils. The PENCILS box cannot hold pencils, and the markers are found, so it holds pens. That leaves pencils for the box labeled MARKERS. Hint: Work out the box labeled PENCILS first.
Three days after the day before yesterday will be Friday. What day is it today? Answer: Thursday. The day before yesterday is two days back. Three days after that is tomorrow. If tomorrow is Friday, today is Thursday. Hint: Count: back two, forward three.
Three lockers in a row belong to Ana, Bo and Cy. Ana's locker is not on the left. Bo's locker is somewhere to the right of Ana's. Whose locker is on the left? Answer: Cy's. Bo is to the right of Ana, so Ana cannot be last, and she is not first: Ana is in the middle, Bo on the right and Cy on the left. Hint: Place Ana first.
Uma, Vik and Wes each like one sport: tennis, soccer or swimming, all different. Uma's sport has no ball. Vik's sport has no kicking. Who likes soccer? Answer: Wes. Uma's is swimming. Vik does not kick, so his is tennis. Soccer is left for Wes. Hint: Only one of the three sports has no ball.

Numbers at grade level 20

A cyclist rides 12 miles in one hour. At the same speed, how long does a ride of 30 miles take? Answer: Two and a half hours. 30 divided by 12 is 2.5. Hint: Two hours cover 24 miles.
A number plus half of itself makes 18. What is the number? Answer: 12. 12 + 6 = 18. Hint: The number is two thirds of 18.
A paint mix uses 3 cans of blue for every 5 cans of white. A painter opens 20 cans of white. How many cans of blue go with them? Answer: 12 cans. 20 cans of white is 4 lots of 5, so 4 lots of 3 cans of blue are needed. Hint: How many times does 5 go into 20?
A rectangle is twice as long as it is wide, and its perimeter is 36 inches. How wide is it? Answer: 6 inches. Two widths and two lengths make six widths. 36 divided by 6 is 6. Hint: Count the perimeter in widths.
A square has a perimeter in inches equal to its area in square inches. How long is one side? Answer: 4 inches. A side of 4 gives a perimeter of 16 and an area of 16. Hint: Compare 4 times the side with the side times itself.
After a discount of 20 percent, a book costs 16 dollars. What did it cost before? Answer: 20 dollars. 16 dollars is 80 percent of the old price, so 10 percent is 2 dollars and the whole is 20. Hint: What percent is left after the discount?
At dawn the temperature was 4 degrees below zero. By noon it had risen 9 degrees. What was the temperature at noon? Answer: 5 degrees above zero. Negative 4 plus 9 is 5. Hint: Four of the nine degrees bring it up to zero.
Five friends read a mean of 6 books each over the summer. Four of them read 4, 5, 7 and 8 books. How many did the fifth read? Answer: 6. A mean of 6 for five friends is 30 books in all. 4 + 5 + 7 + 8 = 24, and 30 - 24 = 6. Hint: Find the total first.
I am a fraction equal to one half. My top number and my bottom number add up to 12. What fraction am I? Answer: 4 over 8. The bottom is twice the top, so the top is a third of 12. Hint: The bottom number is double the top one.
I am a negative number. Multiply me by myself and you get 49. What number am I? Answer: Negative 7. Negative 7 times negative 7 is positive 49. Hint: A negative times a negative is positive.
I am a positive number, and my square is 6 more than I am. What number am I? Answer: 3. 3 x 3 = 9, and 9 is 6 more than 3. Hint: Try the small whole numbers.
I double a number, then double the answer, and get 52. What number did I start with? Answer: 13. Doubling twice multiplies by 4, and 52 divided by 4 is 13. Hint: Halve it twice.
In a class of 30, there is 1 left-handed student for every 9 right-handed students. How many are left-handed? Answer: 3. 1 and 9 make groups of 10. Thirty students are 3 such groups, with one left-hander in each. Hint: How big is one group?
On a house plan, a quarter of an inch stands for 1 foot. A wall is 5 inches long on the plan. How long is the real wall? Answer: 20 feet. Each inch on the plan is 4 feet, and 5 x 4 = 20. Hint: How many quarters are in one inch?
Three times a number is the same as the number plus 14. What is the number? Answer: 7. Take the number away from both sides: twice the number is 14. Hint: Write it as 3n = n + 14.
Two integers multiply to negative 12 and add up to 1. What are they? Answer: 4 and negative 3. 4 x (-3) = -12 and 4 + (-3) = 1. Hint: One is positive and one is negative, and they are 7 apart in size.
What is 2 + 3 x 4? Answer: 14. Multiplication comes before addition: 3 x 4 = 12, and 2 + 12 = 14. It is not 20. Hint: Which operation goes first?
What is half of a third of 60? Answer: 10. A third of 60 is 20, and half of 20 is 10. Hint: Do the third first.
Which is greater: negative 10 or negative 2? Answer: Negative 2. On a number line negative 2 is to the right of negative 10, closer to zero. Hint: Which temperature is warmer?
Which number is exactly halfway between negative 3 and 7 on the number line? Answer: 2. The two are 10 apart, and 5 steps from either one lands on 2. Hint: How far apart are they?

Science and history 20

Eight planets circle the Sun. I am the littlest of them, and I run on the inside track. Which planet am I? Answer: Mercury. Mercury is the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System. Hint: My name starts with M, and I am not Mars.
Every one of my atoms has eight protons. You cannot see me, and you take me in with every breath. What am I? Answer: Oxygen. Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8, which is its number of protons. Hint: My symbol is the letter O.
I am a crystal of pure carbon, famous as the hardest natural material. What am I? Answer: A diamond. Diamond is a solid form of pure carbon, and no natural material is harder. Hint: I am cut and set in rings.
I am a giant ball of gas, the fifth planet from the Sun, and I weigh more than twice as much as all the other planets put together. Which planet am I? Answer: Jupiter. Jupiter is a gas giant with a mass nearly two and a half times that of all the other planets combined. Hint: My name starts with J.
I am a slab of stone carved with three versions of one decree, and I became the key to reading the scripts of ancient Egypt. What am I? Answer: The Rosetta Stone. The same decree in three versions let scholars work out the Egyptian scripts. Hint: My name is also used for anything that unlocks a code.
I am a small part inside a living cell, and my nickname is the powerhouse of the cell. What am I? Answer: A mitochondrion. The mitochondrion is popularly nicknamed the powerhouse of the cell. Hint: More than one of me are mitochondria.
I am an airplane that made the first powered flights on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk. What am I called? Answer: The Wright Flyer. The Wright Flyer flew on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Hint: Two brothers built me.
I am how green plants make their own food from carbon dioxide and water, using energy from light. What process am I? Answer: Photosynthesis. In photosynthesis a plant uses light to build food from carbon dioxide and water. Hint: My name begins with the Greek word for light.
I am the second planet from the Sun, and the hottest planet of all, hotter even than the one closer in. Which planet am I? Answer: Venus. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the hottest in the Solar System. Hint: People call me the evening star.
I was a network of trade routes across Asia that linked East and West, named for a cloth made in China. What was I called? Answer: The Silk Road. The Silk Road takes its name from the trade in silk textiles made in China. Hint: The cloth comes from the cocoon of a worm.
I was counted as a planet until 2006, when astronomers changed what the word planet means. Now I am called a dwarf planet. What am I? Answer: Pluto. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union redefined the term planet, and Pluto became a dwarf planet. Hint: I am small, cold and far beyond Neptune.
I was the mission that first landed people on the Moon, in 1969. What was I called? Answer: Apollo 11. Apollo 11 made the first crewed landing on the Moon in July 1969. Hint: My number comes after ten.
In empty space I cover exactly 299,792,458 meters each second, and nothing outruns me. What am I? Answer: Light. The speed of light in empty space is exactly 299,792,458 meters per second. Hint: You switch me on in a dark room.
My name is Latin for Great Charter. A king put his seal on me at Runnymede in June 1215. What am I called? Answer: Magna Carta. Magna Carta was sealed by King John of England at Runnymede in June 1215. Hint: My two words both end in A.
My name sounds like a length of time, but I am a length: the distance light travels in one year. What am I? Answer: A light-year. A light-year is a unit of length, not of time. Hint: Astronomers measure the way to the stars in me.
My pull is the main cause of the ocean tides, and I always show Earth the same face. What am I? Answer: The Moon. The Moon's pull is the main driver of the tides, and it always faces Earth with the same side. Hint: Look up on a clear night.
My shape is a double helix, like a twisted ladder, and I carry the instructions for building a living thing. What am I? Answer: DNA. DNA has the shape of a double helix and carries genetic instructions. Hint: My name is three letters.
My text was agreed on July 4, 1776. In me, thirteen colonies explained why they no longer belonged to Britain. What am I? Answer: The Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress approved its text on July 4, 1776. Hint: Americans mark my date with fireworks.
Six of the famous wonders on the ancient list are gone or in ruins. I am older than all of them, and I have outlasted every one. What am I? Answer: The Great Pyramid of Giza. The Great Pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that has stayed largely intact. Hint: I am a mountain of stone blocks in Egypt.
Two of my hearts push blood through my gills, and a third sends it around my body. I have eight arms. What am I? Answer: An octopus. An octopus has one main heart and two more that pump blood through its gills. Hint: My soft body squeezes through tiny gaps.

How this list was compiled

Written by the Game Night Generator editors on October 3, 2026: 100 riddles for grades 6 to 8 in five sets of 20, each with its answer, one line that says why, and a hint a teacher can read out first. The wordplay riddles rest on everyday and school senses of one word, each read in the English Wiktionary (en.wiktionary.org) on October 3, 2026. The lateral-thinking set retells puzzles that have been passed around for generations and belong to nobody, in the editors' own words. Every logic and number riddle was solved by computer on the day it was written, by trying every case, and has one answer. Each of the 20 science and history riddles states a fact as it stood on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article on its subject (en.wikipedia.org; text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license; the facts are restated in our words): Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Octopus, Great Pyramid of Giza, Moon, United States Declaration of Independence, Photosynthesis, Oxygen, Diamond, Light-year, Pluto, Rosetta Stone, Silk Road, Wright Flyer, Mitochondrion, Speed of light, DNA, Magna Carta and Apollo 11. Nothing was copied from a textbook, a worksheet or a riddle collection. The three levels are named for grades 6, 7 and 8 by the editors' judgment of the words and the math in each riddle; they follow no published standard, and nobody tested them with a class. This site is not connected with Wikipedia or Wiktionary. Licence: own work