Riddles for Friends With Answers
Updated · Best Riddles With Answers editorial team
Quick answer: These 42 riddles for friends come with answers and work for game nights, long car journeys, group chats and sleepover-style evenings. Read them out, split into teams and see who solves them first. The easy riddles get everyone laughing, and the hard ones give the group something worth arguing about.
Easy Riddles For Friends
I grow stronger the more laughs and time we share, and I cannot be bought. What am I?
Friendship.
I buzz in your pocket and make you smile when someone who cares sends me. What am I?
A text message.
I am an evening when friends bring snacks and take over the sofa, and I always include a board or cards. What am I?
A game night.
I have six faces and a number of dots, and I am rolled in friendly games. What am I?
A die (dice).
I have four suits, fifty-two members and a dealer, and I start many card nights. What am I?
A deck of cards.
I am a conversation with many people that never goes silent for long, and I buzz at midnight. What am I?
A group chat.
Everyone squeezes into my frame while one arm stretches out in front. What am I?
A group selfie.
I am the thing on the pizza box that nobody will admit to wanting, but everybody is watching. What am I?
The last slice.
I am a shared bowl at the cinema, I go pop in the microwave, and I am always gone by the trailers. What am I?
Popcorn.
Friends gather round me at night to warm their hands and toast marshmallows. What am I?
A campfire.
I am a board game where friends fall out over hotels and rent. What am I?
Monopoly.
I am a song that is sung loudly, badly and into a microphone, with the words on a screen. What am I?
Karaoke.
Trickier Riddles For Friends
Four friends share a 48 dollar taxi equally, but one gets out before paying, so three share it. How much more does each of the three pay?
4 dollars more. Four people pay 12 each and three pay 16 each.
Ella's mum has four daughters called Mary, Mia, Mona and what?
Ella, because she is one of the daughters.
Two friends were born on the same day, in the same year, to the same parents, but they are not twins. How is that possible?
They are two of a set of triplets (or more).
You are running a race with friends and you pass the person in second place. What position are you in now?
Second, because you took their place.
I come in a circle, I am cut into triangles, and I arrive in a square. What am I?
A pizza (in its box).
What do you break at the start of a party without making a sound?
The ice.
What do friends divide at the end of a meal, even though it cannot be cut with a knife?
The bill.
I am always promised to a friend, but I never arrive. What am I?
Tomorrow.
A friend lends you 10 dollars. You pay back 5, then borrow 3 more. What do you owe now?
8 dollars, because 10 - 5 + 3 = 8.
Four friends meet and each hugs every other friend once. How many hugs are there?
6, because 4 x 3 / 2 = 6.
Two friends play five games of chess and each of them wins three. How is that possible?
They were not playing each other. Each played other opponents.
Three friends walk under one small umbrella and none of them gets wet. Why not?
It is not raining.
Hard Riddles For Friends
One of Ava, Ben and Cara ate the last cake. Ava says, 'It was Ben.' Ben says, 'It was not me.' Cara says, 'It was not Ava.' Exactly one of the three is telling the truth. Who ate it?
Ava. If Ava did it, only Ben's statement is true. If Ben did it, Ava and Cara are both right, and if Cara did it, Ben and Cara are both right.
Ann, Ben and Cal stand in a line facing forward, so Cal sees Ben and Ann, Ben sees only Ann, and Ann sees nobody. Their hats came from 3 white and 2 black. Cal says he cannot tell his colour. Ben says he cannot tell either. What colour is Ann's hat?
White. If Ann and Ben both wore black, Cal would see two blacks and know his own was white, so they are not both black. Ben sees Ann: if she wore black he would know his own is white. He did not know, so Ann wears white.
How many people must be in a room before it is more likely than not that two of them share a birthday?
23. With 23 people there are 253 pairs, and the chance of at least one match passes one half.
Four friends each bring a gift and swap so that nobody gets their own. In how many ways can this be done?
9. Of the 24 possible swaps, only 9 leave no one with their own gift.
A friend hides a prize under one of three cups. You pick one, then she lifts one of the other two, which is empty. Should you switch?
Yes. Your first pick has a one in three chance, so the other cup has two in three.
Two friends each arrive at a cafe at a random moment in the same hour and wait 15 minutes for the other. What is the chance they meet?
7/16, which is about 44 percent. They miss each other with probability (3/4) x (3/4) = 9/16.
A friend picks a number from 1 to 100 and only tells you 'higher' or 'lower'. What is the most guesses you need to be sure of finding it?
7. Each guess halves the options, and 2 multiplied by itself 7 times is 128, which is more than 100.
What is the greatest number of pieces you can cut a pizza into using four straight cuts?
11. Each new cut crosses all earlier ones, adding 1, 2, 3 and 4 pieces to the first piece.
One hundred friends stand by one hundred closed lockers. Friend 1 opens every locker, friend 2 toggles every second locker, friend 3 every third, and so on up to friend 100. Which lockers end up open?
The perfect squares, 1, 4, 9 up to 100, so 10 lockers. A locker is toggled once for each of its divisors, and only squares have an odd number of divisors.
Three friends buy a 120 dollar gift. The first pays half of what the other two pay together, and the second pays a third of what the other two pay together. What does the third pay?
50 dollars. The first pays 40, the second pays 30, and 40 + 30 + 50 = 120.
Quick-Fire Riddles For Friends
Which fruit do friends always come in twos of?
A pear (a pair).
Three letters for best friend forever?
BFF.
Two peas in a what?
A pod.
Who is known as the best friend of man?
The dog.
What do friends say as they clink their glasses?
Cheers.
A squeeze with arms and no words?
A hug.
A trip friends take together in a car?
A road trip.
A gathering of old friends after years apart?
A reunion.
How to Use These Riddles With Friends
The easiest way to use these riddles is as a game. Split into two teams, read a riddle aloud and give each team thirty seconds to whisper an answer. Award a point for a correct guess and half a point for a clever near miss. The quick-fire set suits a round where the first to shout wins.
On a road trip, let the passenger read and the driver guess. In a group chat, post one riddle each morning and reveal the answer in the evening. If a puzzle splits the room, let people argue before you reveal the answer, because that is where the fun is.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are good riddles to ask friends?
Short object riddles and wordplay work best because everyone can join in. Mix in a few number puzzles and logic puzzles for the competitive friend, and finish with some quick-fire riddles for laughs.
How do I play a riddle game with friends?
Take turns being the reader, or split into teams. The reader gives the riddle once, repeats it on request, and awards a point for each correct answer. First team to ten points wins.
What riddles can I send in a group chat?
Send a riddle with a short question and an answer people can type in one word. Wordplay riddles and quick-fire riddles suit a chat well, and you can reveal the answer later in the day.
Are these riddles suitable for a road trip?
Yes. They are spoken, need no props, and range from easy to hard. Pass the phone around, read one aloud, and see who in the car solves it first.
