Where's my wallet?

Logic Level 1

One time, my brother stole my wallet and put it behind a door. Then he laid out 5 colored keys, only one of them unlocking the door. He promises to return my wallet if I get the correct key. Also, keys can talk about themselves. Using the clues below, can you find the correct key and find my wallet?

The Red key is somewhere to the left of the key to the door.

The Blue key is not at one of the ends.

The Green key is three spaces away from the key to the door (2 between).

The Yellow key is next to the key to the door.

The Orange key is in the middle.

Red Yellow Orange Green Blue

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11 solutions

Noel Lo
May 10, 2015

Elimination used for me:

  • Red is to the left to the key of the door suggests that the red key is NOT the key to the door.

  • The green key is 3 spaces away from the key to the door so the green key is also NOT the key to the door.

  • The yellow key is next to the key to the door hence the yellow key is NOT the key to the door.

Now 50-50- either the blue or orange key. Now since the green key is 3 spaces away from the right key, the right key cannot possibly be the orange key as the orange key, being in the middle, is at most 2 spaces away from any of the other keys. This leaves b l u e \boxed{blue} as our answer YAY!

Let's assume blue is correct. Are we to assume that the keys are laid out in a straight line? If orange is in the middle then that leaves blue to be in position 2 or 4. Let's say from left to right it goes 1,2,3,4,5. Orange would be 3, blue would be 2 or 4.

If blue is 2 then yellow and red are competing for 1 position since red has to be to the left and yellow has to touch blue. So blue can't be 2.

If blue is in position 4, then yellow would be 5. Green would have to be 1 (to be 3 spaces away) leaving red to be 2 (still to the left of blue)

So the order then goes green, red, orange, blue, yellow.

Genevieve Fair - 5 years, 2 months ago

This was my exact thinking

Dominique Mornix - 5 years, 2 months ago

this is very exact same as what I was thinking! :D

Aria Enggar Pamungkas - 6 years, 1 month ago

This is exactly the way I did it. Nice! c:

Maddie Anderson - 6 years, 1 month ago

Clues say green key is 2 spaces away from the correct key. Is this a typo?

Owen Zhang - 5 years, 2 months ago

Yellow could be the correct key

Love your explanation!

Jessica Sun - 3 years, 9 months ago

I solved it the same way

Gavin LO - 6 years ago
Colin Carmody
May 7, 2015

Here are the clues listed out:

Red: This key is somewhere to the left of the key to the door. Blue: This key is not at one of the ends. Green: This key is three spaces away from the key to the door (2 between). Yellow: This key is next to the key to the door. Orange: This key is in the middle.

The Red Key, Green Key, and Yellow key all compare their location to the correct key, so they are not the key.

If it was the orange key (in the middle of all of the keys.) Then the green keys clue would be impossible, because you cannot have three keys between green and orange, so it is not the orange key.

Because the blue key is the only key left, we can say that the blue key is the answer.


Here is the order of the keys from left to right.

Green, Red, Orange, Blue, Yellow.


Note for the problem writer: instead of saying this key, (having the keys seek in 3rd person about themselves). Have them seek in 1st person. It took took me a moment to understand that this key meant the key speaking.

I have the same solution. I used letters instead of words.

Xylene resha terminio - 3 years, 7 months ago

I like your explanations for this game

Thu Kha - 1 year, 1 month ago
Daniel Oh
May 12, 2015

If we assume that the orange key is the key to the door, then the green key can not be three spaces away from the key to the door. Likewise, since red, green, and yellow are next to the key to the door, they themselves cannot be it. That leaves only blue to be the key to the door.

exactly this is the smartest way..... I solved by finding the order which came out as G , R , O , B , Y G,R,O,B,Y

Vighnesh Raut - 6 years, 1 month ago
Keertana Pillai
May 24, 2018

We know that only either the Blue key or the Orange key can be the key to the door as all other keys' positions are defined by their relative positions to the true key. The Orange key is never 3 spaces away from the Green key as it is in the middle. This leaves us with the Blue Key as the True key . It even rhymes.

This is the explanation that made most sense to me, thank you.

Chris Frank - 2 years, 1 month ago
Avinash Kumar
May 11, 2015

Green , Red and Yellow are not the keys to the door because they have some distance from the key to the door. Orange is in the middle. Orange can't be the key to the door because green wouldn't be 3 space away from it then. So blue is the key to the door.

Saad Khondoker
Jan 28, 2021

From clue 1-5 we see Red, Green, Yellow are not the correct key [as they are somewhere relative to the correct key].

If orange is the correct key, then Green must be 3 spaces away according to clue 3. But orange is in the middle according to clue 5. So, we can't place Green key anywhere following clue 3. So Orange key is not the correct key.

That only leaves Blue, which is the correct key.

Zahid Hussain
Jul 24, 2019

I guess two points are of note.
1. There are sufficient clues to tell us the identity of the key without bothering to find the order.
2. I don't understand if the keys being able to speak has got any relevance.

Kushal Dey
Oct 5, 2017

Red, Green, Yellow keys give their positions with respect to the required key. So none of them is the required key which leaves with only Orange and Blue. Now, the Green key says that it is three spaces away form the required key, so it cannot be Orange as it is in the middle. Hence our only possibility is Blue and their arrangement is : Red,Blue,Orange,Yellow,Green

Geo Ferrolino
Jun 27, 2017

Only the Blue key and the Orange key did not mention about any clues in relation to the key to the door. Hence, we can assume that either of the two is the key to the door. From the other clues, the Green key is three spaces from the key to the door which eliminates the Orange key for being in the middle (only 2 spaces available). Therefore, it is the Blue key .

Blaze Leslie
Mar 31, 2016

The orange key is in the middle so you have to remember that. Then the green key is 3 spaces away from the key to the door so you count 3 spaces from what would be the start and you put it next to the orange. Then the blue key is not at either of the ends, suggesting it would be next to the orange. Leaving you with a yellow key and a red key. The red key is somewhere left of the key to the door suggesting it is at the end. And the yellow key is next the key to the door, there is only one solution. Blue.

From the start you know that Red, Green and Yellow are not the keys to the door since they reference the door key to their position. Orange is the Middle key, therefore it would be impossible for the green key to be 3 positions from it, therefore it is not the key to the door.

Which leaves us with only one option, Blue

The positions of the keys, from left to right would be, Green, Red, Orange, Blue, Yellow

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