Professor Drake stood silently behind his podium. Beside him sat a mysterious crate that would, sometimes, shift a little one way or another. Sometimes it grunted. The three o’clock “Mythterious Creatures” class sat nervously at their desks — Abigail, Bailey, Cedric and Daniel. They looked terrified. In Drake’s classes, everyone looked terrified.
“I have graded your ‘assignments’ from last night,” said the professor, punctuating his words with strikes of his wand to his podium. “Pathetic. It was a simple enough question, and if any of you had been studying, you could easily have answered how the height of trolls varies with the amount of phlogiston used in their second stage of production. I have recommended to Headmaster Ambrose that, as teaching this class is clearly a waste of my time and yours, you all be returned to your homes on the Spiral.”
“Ambrose, however, has denied my request. Again. Instead, he has asked me to motivate you with a new, special pet. Based on your assignments, I of course refused. He insisted. So therefore, one of you will get the pet. The others will get nothing.” Drake smiled. “I will ask you a simple question, and the first one who shouts out the answer will get the Gobbler in this box.”
“Class, come stand in front of me,” ordered Drake. The four students did so. “Each of you take a hat,” said Drake, passing out tall, peaked, midnight black hats to the students. “Now, put them on.” The students did so.
“These hats are magical,” said Drake. “When I give the word, they will turn either yellow or blue. Two of the hats will turn yellow. Two will turn blue. Your job is to yell out the color of your hat as soon as you know. You are not allowed to say anything but the color of your hat. You are not allowed to talk to the other students. You are not allowed to take the hat off and look. This is a simple task, even for you.”
“So we’ll make it a little more… interesting. Abigail, you stand here. Bailey you stand in front of Abigail with you back to her. Cedric, I want you to stand in front of Bailey with your back to him. And Daniel, I want you to go and wait outside with the door closed, but close enough to it so you can hear if someone shouts out. This will make it so Abigail can see the hats of Bailey and Cedric. Bailey can see only Cedric’s hat. And Cedric and Daniel can see nobody’s hats. Daniel, you may leave now. Tell me when you are ready.”
Daniel leaves the classroom, closes the door, then yells “Ready!” from outside. Drake nods, waves his wands, and all the hats change color. The hats worn by Abigail and Cedric turn yellow; the hats worn by Bailey and Daniel turn blue.
After a few seconds, one of the students shouts out the color of their hat and wins the prize. Who won, what was the color of their hat, and how could they be sure they were correct?
Answer this correctly by e-mailing the solution (and your e-mail address) to tipa@westkarana.com with the subject “Wizard101 Contest”, and you could win one of five Gobbler pets like you see above. The contest will remain open until the new pet games go live, at which time the winners will be contacted by e-mail with their winning codes and announced here.
Good luck!
