5 hats

The other two were wearing red hats, right?

Nope. ;-)

Hey!!!!! And I thought I was right....

Well, maybe the man in the middle told him???? LOL

Nope, nothing happened expept what has already been told.

The other two were wearing BLACK hats, unless he couldn't see them, which I was confused about...

That is what I thought, sozobe....but Craven confused me....

The other two aren't necessarily wearing black hats. And if they were it's still not the way the front man would know.

They are all facing one way the last guy can see 2 the middle guy can see 1. And the front guy can see none.

Hahaha ....than the last guy told the first one the answer! (Just kidding!!!!) Anyway, bed time here...will try again tomorrow, take care,

Alexandra

Oh, I thought they were in a row like side-by-side.

If the front guy could see that the other two had black hats, and he knew that there were 3 red hats, 2 black hats, he'd know he had a red hat because the 2 black hats were already taken.

That's what I thought, sozobe!!!!!! Craven????????????

That would be how it would work IF the front guy can see anyone.

But the front guy can't.

Hint:

Front guy counts on the other two being smart and not making mistakes.

Than they told him about his hat colour!!!!!!!! Uh huh....seems I'm going to sleep in the office tomorrow because of you, Craven, and your riddles....LOL

The man at the back can see either two red hats or two black hats. If he sees two black hats then he knows he is wearing a red hat. But he doesn't know, so therefore the men in front of him have to be wearing red hats. When the man in front hears the other two saying that they don't know what colour they are wearing, he knows that the back man can see two red hats or a black and a red hat in front of him. When he hears the middle man say that he doesn't know the colour of his hat he knows that he can see a red hat in fron of him.

Tommy beat me. There ya go.

Congratulations, Tommy!

Thanks for the congrats - but now that I am reading it in the cold sober light of an Irish (wet) day - I don't understand what I have written (I think)!!

Just what you were supposed to write, Tommy!

Craven, you brute!
buried in the sand? Below the high water mark, no doubt.

Okay. think about the last guy in the row. He doesn't know what color hat he's wearing... now let's assume that the guy isn't, like, stupid, which he undoubtedly is, because he's buried in sand up to his neck. If he could see that the two guys in front of him were wearing black hats, then he'd know he was wearing a red hat... but he doesn't, so at least one of the hats in front of him is red.

Now the guy in front of him... the guy in the middle (Lucky Pierre, but that's another joke). He knows that the guy behind him is clueless. That means that only one of the hats, his and the guy in the front of the line (and I'd better tell this one quick, 'cuz the tides coming in) can possibly be black. Remember, if they were both black the last guy in line would know his was red... I told you that a paragraph ago. So... if the first guy in line's hat was black, then the second guy would know his was red. But it isn't and he doesn't.

so the first guy in line, without knowing anything more than that the other guys don't know what color hats they're wearing... can deduce that he is wearing a red hat.

Kinda like my favorite puzzler...
Fred: I've got three children
Ted: How old are they?
Fred: The product of their ages is 36
Ted: That doesn't tell me how old they are...
Fred: The sun of their ages is the same as that number on the wall over there... (points)
Ted: (looks at number and thinks) I still don't know how old they are...
Fred: The oldest one got a haircut yesterday
Ted: Got it! Their ages are...