The Magic Coins
Prologue
In a distant kingdom, hidden in the folds of time, an underground Being, ancient as fire and stone, guards its treasure: five hundred coins forged by the skilled hands of the dwarves, great metal craftsmen for all the millennia they lived in the darkness of the earth. In the forge of the volcanoes, where weapons were made in the times of heroes and tools in the times of peace, these five hundred coins took shape, each one with an amethyst face and a face of pure gold.
Description
Rumors from afar tell that these coins have the power to grant their owner the knowledge of Time, and with it, the key to immortality. However, the daring minds that seek it must overcome a test of extraordinary cunning: four hundred ninety coins are laid with the golden face up, and only ten display the surface of amethyst, a precious stone known to be a symbol of clairvoyance.
The Question
The Being, the guardian of the coins, challenges adventurers to solve the riddle. Driven by courage or madness, the adventurers must, while blindfolded, divide the coins into two groups so that each group has the same number of coins with the amethyst face facing up. As soon as they have finished their partition, they will know if they deserve Eternal Wisdom or the everlasting oblivion that a wrong answer would plunge them into. How can an adventurer be sure to divide the coins into two groups, ensuring that both have the same number of coins displaying the amethyst side, especially when blindfolded?
FAQ
- The adventurers cannot in any way see the coins or perceive the colors or materials of the faces while they are blindfolded.
- Adventurers can touch and move the coins, but they cannot distinguish the faces of the coins by touch.
- There are no tricks or methods to see through the blindfold or to mark the coins in any way.