The Spirit of Royal London
Activities:
WE ACHIEVE
BANKER
RIDDLE
Working out the answer to this riddle will
require teams to communicate clearly.
To be completed in groups of:
4–5
Time required:
10–15 minutes
Method:
Provide the groups with the Banker Riddle (see the following pages for
supporting materials).
Materials required:
Pads of paper
Pens
Hard copy of the riddle
Copy of the answer to the riddle
What to look out for:
Ensure everyone is participating and working as a team.
Prompt questions:
What did you find difficult/easy about this task?
Did people naturally fall into certain roles as you tackled the task?
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
Could you have done anything differently?
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The Spirit of Royal London
Activities:
WE ACHIEVE
Supporting material
Banker
Riddle:
Four investment bankers need to cross
a bridge at night to get to a meeting.
They have only one torch and 17
minutes to get there. The bridge must
be crossed with the torch and can only
support two bankers at a time. The
analyst can cross in one minute, the
associate can cross in two minutes, the
VP can cross in five minutes and the
MD takes 10 minutes to cross.
How can they all make it to the
meeting on time?
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The Spirit of Royal London
Activities:
WE ACHIEVE
Answer:
First, the analyst takes the
torch and crosses the bridge
with the associate. This takes
two minutes. The analyst then
returns across the bridge with
the torch taking one more minute
(three minutes in total so far).
The analyst gives the torch to
the VP and the VP and MD cross
together, taking 10 minutes (13
minutes in total so far). The VP
gives the torch to the associate,
who re-crosses the bridge taking
two minutes (15 minutes in total
so far). The analyst and associate
now cross the bridge together,
taking two more minutes. Now, all
are across the bridge and at the
meeting in exactly 17 minutes.
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