Can You Solve Einstein’s Riddle—AKA the Impossible Zebra Puzzle?

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With expert strategies to solve any logic puzzle
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Einstein’s Riddle—often called the Zebra Puzzle—is one of the most famous (and challenging) logic puzzles around. According to some sources, only 2% of people can solve it…so, are you one of them? Now’s the time to find out! Not only can you read the riddle itself below, but we’ve also provided a step-by-step method to solving it (you can also just skip straight to the answer ). As a bonus for inspiring puzzle masters, you can read tips for solving puzzles from expert tutors and puzzle makers. Good luck, brainiac!

What is Einstein’s Zebra Puzzle?

The Zebra Puzzle (Einstein’s Riddle) is a famous, challenging logic puzzle where you have 5 houses and use clues to deduce the color of each house, who lives in it, what they smoke and drink, and what pet they own. The goal is to figure out which person owns the zebra or fish, depending on the version you’re using.

Section 1 of 6:

What is Einstein’s riddle?

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  1. Einstein’s riddle, or the Zebra Puzzle, is a famously difficult logic puzzle . Most sources claim that Albert Einstein invented the Zebra Puzzle as a boy, while others attribute it to Lewis Carroll. Either way, this riddle has been around since at least the 1960s, and several versions exist. They all have the same riddle set-up, but ask a different question for the solver to answer; most commonly, ‘who owns the zebra?’ or ‘who owns the fish?’ Here is the most well-known version of Einstein’s riddle in full : [1]
    • Setup: There are five houses, each one a different color. In each house, there lives a person of a different nationality. These five owners each drink a certain kind of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain kind of pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same cigar, or drink the same beverage.
    • The Clues: Use these 15 clues to answer this question: Who owns the fish?
      • The Brit lives in the red house.
      • The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
      • The Dane drinks tea.
      • The green house is to the left of the white house.
      • The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
      • The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
      • The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
      • The man living in the center house drinks milk.
      • The Norwegian lives in the first house.
      • The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
      • The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
      • The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
      • The German smokes Prince.
      • The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
      • The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
    • So, who owns the fish?
      • For an additional challenge, figure out what the fish-owner smokes, what he drinks, and what color his house is.

    Meet the wikiHow Experts

    Katherine Demby is an academic consultant and tutor who specializes in tutoring for the LSAT, GRE, SAT, and ACT.

    A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, and crossword puzzle expert who’s written four New York Times bestsellers.

    Kevin Bentley is a puzzlemaking expert and the inventor of Komino Puzzles, which are logic puzzles with a unique set of logical rules inspired by domino pieces and jigsaw puzzles.

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Section 2 of 6:

How to Solve Einstein’s Riddle

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  1. Logic puzzles are often paired with grids, which can help solvers work out the clues and how they fit together. For the Zebra puzzle, draw a chart or table with 5 columns and 5 rows. On top, label each column with the numbers 1 through 5 (for each house). On the side, label each row with one of the following categories: nationality, beverage, cigar, color, and pet. [2]
    • Note: There’s more than one way to solve this puzzle! We’ll walk you through our personal solution, but doing it a different way doesn’t make it wrong.
  2. This puzzle is difficult because all of the clues rely on each other, so most clues can’t be immediately slotted into the chart. For example, we know that “the Brit lives in the red house,” but we don’t know which of the five houses is red! However, there are two direct, explicit clues that can be used now—can you find them? Scan through the list to find clues that allow you to correctly fill in two squares of your grid. [3]
    • Stuck? The two clues that we can fill in now are:
      • The man living in the center house drinks milk.
        • Write “milk” in the “Beverage” row and “House 3” column.
      • The Norwegian lives in the first house.
        • Write “Norwegian” in the “Nationality” row and “House 1” column.
  3. Now that we have some information in our grid, look for any clues that are now unlocked. We now have some knowledge about the milk beverage, House 3, House 1, and the Norwegian. Do any of the other clues reference these factors, and can we use them to further fill in our chart? Hint: You’re looking for just one clue. [4]
    • Stuck? The clue you can fill in now is:
      • The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
        • Since the Norwegian lives in House 1, the blue house must be House 2. Write “Blue” in the “Color” row and “House 2” column.
  4. At this point, you don’t have any “direct” clues left. So, you must now make guesses as to where certain clues might go, and then use the other clues to either prove that guess right or prove it wrong. For example, consider this clue: The green house is to the left of the white house. Can the green house be House 1? No, because we know that House 2 is the blue house, so that would make the green house to the left of the blue house, not the white house. Could the green house, at this point, be House 3? Yes! But could it also be House 4? Also, yes! What about House 5? No, because there’s no house on the right to be white. [5]
    • So, we know that the green house must be House 3 or House 4. But which one? To find out, we need to use any related clues—do you see any other clues that mention the green house?
    • Stuck? It’s this clue: The green house’s owner drinks coffee. Since we already know that the owner of House 3 drinks milk, House 4 must be the green house. Since the green house is to the left of the white house, we also now know that House 5 must be white!
    • To complete this step, write “Green” in the “Color” row and “House 4” column; write “White” in the “Color” row and “House 5” column; write “Coffee” in the “Beverage” row and “House 4” column.
  5. Now that you’ve gotten the hang of how this process works, it’s time to put your brain to work and do the rest! Continue to do the same thing we did in the previous step: (1) take a clue you have some information for, (2) see where it might fit, (3) confirm whether or not the other clues allow it to fit there. We encourage you to try this out for yourself, but if you get stuck, here’s a step-by-step walkthrough : [6]
    • Start with: The Brit lives in the red house.
      • Only two house colors are blank on the chart: House 1 and House 3.
      • But we already have the Norwegian in House 1, so the Brit can’t live there.
      • So, by process of elimination, the Brit must live in House 3.
      • Write “Brit” in the “Nationality” row and “House 3” column .
      • Write “Red” in the “Color” row and “House 3” column.
      • Now, there’s only one “Color” space remaining, and yellow is the only color left!
      • Write “Yellow” in the “Color” row and “House 1” column.
    • Move on to: The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
      • We already know which house is the yellow house—House 1.
      • So, the owner of House 1 (the yellow house) smokes Dunhill cigars.
      • Write “Dunhill” in the “Cigar” row and “House 1” column.
    • Check: The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
      • We know that the Dunhill smoker lives in House 1.
      • There’s only one house next to House 1—House 2.
      • So, the man who keeps horses must live in House 2.
      • Write “Horse” in the “Pet” row and “House 2” column.
    • Next, consider whether you know which beverage the Norwegian drinks.
      • We know that the Norwegian can’t drink milk or coffee, because they’re taken.
      • Per the clue, The Dane drinks tea, we also know it can’t be tea.
      • Per the clue, The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer , it can’t be beer.
      • So, what beverage is left? Water!
      • Write “Water” in the “Beverage” row and “House 1” column.
    • Look at this clue: The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
      • We know that the Norwegian is the neighbor that drinks water.
      • The Norwegian lives in House 1, so he only has one neighbor (House 2).
      • So, the man who smokes Blends must live in House 2.
      • Write “Blends” in the “Cigar” row and “House 2” column.
    • Revisit The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer .
      • The only open “Beverage” squares are for House 2 and House 5.
      • However, House 2 already has a cigar—Blends—so it can’t have Blue Master.
      • So, “Blue Master” and “Beer” must belong in House 5.
      • Write “Blue Master” in the “Cigar” row and “House 5” column.
      • Write “Beer” in the “Beverage” row and “House 5” column.
    • Now, solve The Dane drinks tea.
      • There’s only one square left in the “Beverage” row for “Tea.”
      • Write “Tea” in the “Beverage” row and “House 2” column.
    • Try this clue: The German smokes Prince.
      • The only squares left for cigars are in House 3 and House 4.
      • But, we know the Brit lives in House 3, so the German can’t live there.
      • Following this logic, the German and the Prince cigars belong to House 4.
      • Write “German” in the “Nationality” row and “House 4” column.
      • Write “Prince” in the “Cigar” row and “House 4” column.
    • Continue with: The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
      • There’s only one cigar square left—under House 3.
      • Write “Pall Mall” in the “Cigar” row and “House 3” column.
      • From the clue at hand, we know that the Pall Mall smoker owns birds
      • Write “Bird” in the “Pet” row and “House 3” column.
    • Move on to: The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
      • There’s only one open nationality square—under House 5.
      • Write “Swede” in the "Nationality" row and “House 5” column.
      • This clue also tells us that the person (“Swede”) in House 5 has a dog.
      • Write “Dog” in the “Pet” row and “House 5” column.
    • Almost there! Finish with: The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
      • We already know who smokes Blends—the Dane!
      • Who lives next to the Dane? On one side, the Norwegian, on the other, the Brit.
      • But, Brit already has a pet bird, so he can’t also keep cats.
      • So, the Norwegian must be the one who keeps cats.
      • Write “Cat” in the “Pet” row and “House 1” column.
  6. Remember that the goal of this puzzle was to find out who owns the pet fish. At this point, you should have all of your squares filled in except for one in the “Pet” row. Since the fish isn’t mentioned in any clues, this blank square belongs to the fish owner. So, who is the fish owner? [7]
    • Stuck? The blank square should be under House 4, which is owned by the German. So, the German owns the fish!
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Section 3 of 6:

What’s the answer to Einstein’s riddle?

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  1. In most modern versions of the Zebra riddle, the answer is “the German man.” He’s always the one that ends up with no pets, according to the given clues. So, by process of elimination, he must be the owner of the fish, zebra, or whatever extra animal the puzzle asks you to find. [8]
Section 4 of 6:

How hard is Einstein’s riddle?

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  1. The Zebra Riddle is known for being challenging, but that’s mostly due to the number of variables and clues involved. Like any logic puzzle, solving it successfully requires patience, methodical thinking, and logical deduction—traditional “intelligence” or knowledge isn’t actually a factor! So, while, yes, Einstein’s riddle is complex and challenging, it can be solved by pretty much anyone who’s willing to sit down, set pen to paper, and put their brain to work for awhile! [9]
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Section 5 of 6:

Expert Advice for Solving Logic Puzzles

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  1. “Ask yourself first, ‘what do I know,’” says academic tutor Katherine Demby. “‘What information is this problem giving me? What information am I looking for?’” [10] Puzzlemaking expert Kevin Bentley agrees that you should “start with the basics by identifying patterns and eliminate impossibilities. Gradually, you’ll uncover techniques to tackle more complex configurations.” [11]
  2. “The key is to approach [puzzles] with an open mind and not trust your first instinct,” says crossword puzzle expert A.J. Jacobs. “It’s important to think creatively and remember that, sometimes, you’ll need to take a step back to move forward…[A puzzle] isn’t a straight line, and you might need to retrace your steps before solving it.” [12] Bentley affirms this advice, and also adds that “the key” to any puzzle is to “stay patient and approach [the task] systematically.” [13]
  3. As they say, practice makes progress! “The more puzzles you solve and the more you work on problem-solving,” says Demby, “the better you’ll be at problem solving.” If you really want to become a master at solving logic puzzles , set a goal of doing at least one a week. The more you practice them, the easier they’ll become (and you can move onto more complex ones).
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Section 6 of 6:

More Riddles Like Einstein’s Riddle

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  1. 1
    The Harvard Riddle I turn polar bears white and I will make you cry. I make guys have to pee, and girls comb their hair. I make celebrities look stupid and normal people look like celebrities. I turn pancakes brown and make your champagne bubble. If you squeeze me, I’ll pop but if you look at me, you’ll pop. Can you solve the riddle? [14]
    • Solution: No.
    • Explanation: The riddle only asks if you can solve it—it’s not actually asking you to solve it! So, only the last question in the riddle matters. Can you solve this impossible, answerless riddle? No!
  2. 2
    The Sphinx’s Riddle What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening? [15]
    • Solution: A human.
    • Explanation: In their early life (“morning”), humans crawl on four legs. In the middle of their life (“noon”), humans walk on two legs. At the end of their life (“evening”), humans may walk with a walking stick or cane, making three legs.
  3. 3
    The Riddle of Venice Choose one of three caskets: One casket is gold, one is silver and one is made of lead. One casket has a photo of your dream spouse inside it, and only if you choose that casket may you marry them. To choose the correct casket, use these clues:

    The gold casket reads, “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.”
    On the silver casket: “Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.”
    On the lead casket: “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” [16]
    • Solution: The lead casket contains the desired photo.
    • Explanation: The lead casket would be chosen by someone who’s willing to make sacrifices, work hard, and be a worthy partner in life. It’s assumed that someone who chooses gold would only be valuing its beauty and glittery appearance, while someone who chooses silver may believe that they “deserve” the person or thing that they want.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://archive.org/details/einsteinsriddler0000stan/page/11/mode/1up
      2. ↑ https://archive.org/details/einsteinsriddler0000stan/page/11/mode/1up
      3. ↑ https://courses.cs.duke.edu/spring06/cps102/notes/zebra.pdf
      4. ↑ https://courses.cs.duke.edu/spring06/cps102/notes/zebra.pdf
      5. ↑ https://courses.cs.duke.edu/spring06/cps102/notes/zebra.pdf
      6. ↑ https://gohighbrow.com/einstein-riddle-solution/
      7. ↑ https://gohighbrow.com/einstein-riddle-solution/
      8. ↑ https://gohighbrow.com/einstein-riddle-solution/
      9. ↑ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/82855/can-you-solve-einsteins-riddle
      1. ↑ Katherine Demby. Academic Tutor. Expert Interview
      2. ↑ Kevin Bentley. Puzzlemaking Expert. Expert Interview
      3. ↑ A.J. Jacobs. Crossword Puzzle Expert. Expert Interview
      4. ↑ Kevin Bentley. Puzzlemaking Expert. Expert Interview
      5. ↑ https://parade.com/living/worlds-hardest-riddle
      6. ↑ https://sites.pitt.edu/~edfloyd/Class1130-04-1/sphinx.html
      7. ↑ https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merchant-of-venice/read/3/2/

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