The Riddler's Best Riddles
Hi! I am Ollie. Welcome to Riddle Kingdom!
Every riddle here is also a level in the Kingdom. Solve them on the map, keep your lives, earn stars and raise a landmark with each one. Good luck, and have fun!
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Riddle me this, Detective. These original riddler riddles are written in the green question mark style Gotham fears, from quick taunts to full logic traps. Each is graded by difficulty, and every reveal names the wordplay behind it. Between the batman riddles you'll find trivia from the comics, the films, and the Arkham games, so you can prove you're the World's Greatest Detective.
Browse all the puzzles on this page ▾
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1. Riddle me this: I have a bat, but I never play ball. I have a cave, but I am not a mountain. I have a butler, but I am rarely home for dinner. Who am I? Easy
Need a hint?
The Riddler's favorite target.
Show answer
Batman.
Each clue takes a Batman trademark literally: the bat, the cave, the butler.
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2. Riddle me this: the more you take from me, the bigger I get. Dig into that one, Detective. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
Grab a shovel.
Show answer
A hole.
Removing dirt only enlarges the empty space, so taking makes it grow.
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3. Riddle me this: I have a face that never frowns, hands that never wave, and I strike without throwing a punch. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
The Riddler loves leaving me ticking at crime scenes.
Show answer
A clock.
Clock parts pun on a human face, hands, and striking the hour.
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4. Riddle me this: what belongs to the Dark Knight, yet criminals in Gotham use it far more than he does? Easy
Need a hint?
Whisper it in an alley and watch everyone run.
Show answer
His name. They can't stop saying it.
A name belongs to its owner, yet others say it far more often.
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5. I am green as envy and curved like a hook. You will find me at the end of every question, and all over my suit. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
The Riddler's whole wardrobe answers this one.
Show answer
A question mark.
The clues describe the shape, color, and placement of the Riddler's signature punctuation.
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6. Riddle me this: I can fill an entire room in Arkham without taking up any space at all. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
Flip the switch and I am everywhere at once.
Show answer
Light.
Light illuminates a whole room yet has no physical volume of its own.
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7. Riddle me this: what building in Gotham has the most stories? Easy
Need a hint?
Stories are not only floors.
Show answer
The Gotham City library.
A library holds the most stories, punning building floors against tales.
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8. What is the Riddler's most commonly used real name in the comics? Easy
Edward Nygma, sometimes spelled Nigma. Say it fast: E. Nygma, enigma. The others are Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, and Two-Face.
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9. I am lighter than a feather, yet even the World's Greatest Detective cannot hold me for ten minutes. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
Even in the Batsuit, this rule applies.
Show answer
His breath.
Breath weighs nothing, but nobody can hold it for ten minutes.
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10. Riddle me this: what gets sharper the more you use it, Detective? Easy
Need a hint?
The Riddler thinks his is the sharpest in Gotham.
Show answer
Your mind.
The mind sharpens with practice, unlike a blade that dulls.
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11. Jim Carrey played the Riddler in the 1995 film 'Batman Forever.' Easy
True. Carrey wore the green question-mark suit opposite Val Kilmer's Batman.
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12. The Riddler leaves a note: 'I am always in front of you, yet you will never see me.' What is he taunting you with? Easy
Need a hint?
It arrives one second at a time.
Show answer
The future.
What lies ahead is always coming yet stays unseen until it arrives.
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13. Riddle me this: what breaks the moment you say its name, even inside the quietest cell in Arkham? Easy
Need a hint?
Every guard in Arkham wishes for more of it.
Show answer
Silence.
Speaking the word aloud makes noise, so the quiet it names ends.
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14. In the Batman Arkham video games, how does the Riddler mainly challenge the player? Easy
The games hide hundreds of Riddler trophies and environmental riddles. Arkham City alone has over 400 to find.
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15. A riddle in reverse, Detective: what question can you ask all day in Gotham and get a different true answer every time? Easy
Need a hint?
The answer changes sixty times a minute.
Show answer
'What time is it?'
Time keeps changing, so the same question yields a new true answer every moment.
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16. Riddle me this: I am the one thing the Riddler cannot leave a crime scene without doing. What compulsion gives him away every single time? Easy
Show answer
Leaving a riddle
His ego demands credit, so he signs every crime with a puzzle.
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17. I have one eye that opens only at night, sweeping the clouds above Gotham. Every crook knows my stare. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
Commissioner Gordon flips my switch.
Show answer
The Bat-Signal.
The single beam reads as one glowing eye scanning the night sky.
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18. Riddle me this: what has 88 keys but cannot unlock a single cell in Arkham? Easy
Need a hint?
The Riddler plays me dramatically in at least three lairs.
Show answer
A piano.
Keys means the black-and-white kind, not the metal ones that open locks.
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19. Riddle me this: I get wetter and wetter the more I dry. Even Alfred keeps a stack of me. What am I? Easy
Need a hint?
Check the Batcave locker room.
Show answer
A towel.
It soaks up water while drying you, so drying leaves it wetter.
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20. The Riddler paints a clue on a wall: 'Forward I am ton, backward I am not.' What single word is he hiding? Easy
Need a hint?
Read the clue in a mirror.
Show answer
The word 'ton.' Read backward it spells 'not.'
The letters reverse into another real word, heavy one way and negative the other.
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21. Riddle me this: what invention lets a Gotham crook look straight through a solid brick wall? Easy
Need a hint?
No gadgets from my workshop required.
Show answer
A window.
A window is a gap in the wall you can see straight through.
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22. The Riddler's cane traditionally has a bat on top of it. Easy
False. His cane is topped with a golden question mark, of course. He would never carry a bat anywhere.
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23. Riddle me this: what can the Riddler keep even after giving it to Batman a hundred times? Easy
Need a hint?
Villains give it, break it, and somehow still have it.
Show answer
His word. Also every single riddle.
You give your word by speaking it yet still keep the promise.
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24. 🐈 + 👩 Easy
Need a hint?
She steals jewels, not answers.
Show answer
Catwoman (cat + woman). Gotham's slyest burglar, and the Riddler still cannot figure her out.
Cat plus woman literally spells the burglar's name.
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25. Which actor played the Riddler in the 2022 film 'The Batman'? Easy
Paul Dano played a dark, puzzle-obsessed Riddler. Colin Farrell was the Penguin, and Frank Gorshin was the classic 1966 TV Riddler.
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26. Riddle me this: I am a number. Multiply me by any other number and the answer is always the same. What number am I? Easy
Zero. Anything times zero is zero. The Riddler calls it the only honest number in Gotham.
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27. Riddle me this: I grow shorter the longer I live, and a single breath from the Dark Knight can snuff me out. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A candle.
It shrinks as it burns down, and one puff of breath snuffs the flame.
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28. Riddle me this: the faster the Riddler flees from Batman, the more of me he leaves behind, yet I never once leave the ground. What am I? Easy
Show answer
Footprints.
Running leaves a trail of prints while the marks stay pressed in the earth.
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29. Riddle me this: shout in the empty Batcave and I answer you back, though I have no mouth of my own. What am I? Easy
Show answer
An echo.
Sound bounces back off the walls, answering without any mouth of its own.
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30. Riddle me this: I can open Arkham's heaviest door, yet I hide easily inside a closed fist. Turn me and freedom or a cell follows. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A key.
It unlocks heavy doors yet fits in a hand, and turning it locks or frees.
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31. Riddle me this: Two-Face adores me. I have a head but no brain, and a tail but no body. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A coin.
It has a head side and a tail side yet no living body inside.
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32. Riddle me this: I belong to you alone, I ride on every doorknob you touch, and I am exactly how the Detective finds you. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A fingerprint.
Every person's ridges are unique, so a print left behind names its owner.
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33. Riddle me this: I am packed with days yet I never age a single one, and Batman circles a date on me for every villain's parole. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A calendar.
It counts endless days yet the object itself never ages a single one.
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34. Riddle me this: I hold all of Gotham in my hands, yet I fold up into a glove box. Cities, rivers, and alleys live on me with no life at all. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A map.
It shrinks a whole city onto paper, listing lifeless places you can fold away.
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35. Riddle me this: the Riddler stuffed every word he knows inside me, yet I never say one aloud. Even the word 'riddle' sits waiting quietly under R. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A dictionary.
It stores every word without speaking, each one alphabetized under its letter.
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36. Riddle me this: tip me once and my whole family falls in a neat line. One clever push from the Riddler and all of Gotham topples. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A domino.
Knock one over and the whole row cascades, the classic chain-reaction effect.
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37. I am the part of the bird that is not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
The bird flies in the sun. Look down.
Show answer
A shadow.
A shadow mirrors the bird's shape yet has no body for water to wet.
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38. The Riddler first appeared in Detective Comics #140 in 1948. Medium
True. Writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang introduced him in 1948, complete with the question-mark suit.
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39. Riddle me this: I follow the Bat wherever he goes, I copy his every move, yet I make no sound and cast no shadow of my own. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
The Batcave has polished floors.
Show answer
His reflection.
A reflection mirrors every move yet is silent and casts nothing itself.
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40. A safe in my hideout opens with a 3-digit code. Clue: each digit is twice the one before it, and they add up to 14. Crack it. Medium
Need a hint?
Start small. Very small.
Show answer
2, 4, 8. Each digit doubles, and 2 plus 4 plus 8 equals 14.
Start at 2 and double twice, and the three digits total fourteen.
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41. Riddle me this: I have teeth all over Gotham but I have never bitten a soul. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Machines are full of me.
Show answer
A gear. Or a zipper, or a comb. The gear is the one ticking inside my death traps.
Gears, combs, and zippers all have teeth that never bite anything.
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42. Riddle me this: I have a head like a cat and a tail like a cat, but I am not Catwoman and I am no cat. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Think smaller. Much smaller.
Show answer
A kitten.
A young cat has feline features yet the riddle denies it being a cat.
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43. I am kept in a case in the Batcave but I am not a trophy. The harder you look at me, the more of yourself you see. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Every display case has me in front.
Show answer
Glass. Look closely and your reflection looks back.
Glass reflects, so staring harder shows more of your own face back.
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44. Riddle me this: the Bat has me, the Cat has me, the Penguin has me, even I have me. Say me and you speak of the past. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Villains love to monologue about theirs.
Show answer
A history. Everyone in Gotham has one.
Everyone owns a past, and the word for it also means events gone by.
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45. Riddle me this: I run all through Gotham without moving my feet, and criminals disappear into me every night. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Killer Croc calls me home.
Show answer
The sewer system.
Run means flow, not step, and drains carry crooks out of sight.
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46. Logic trap: the Riddler tells you 'Everything I say is a lie.' If that sentence is true, then... Medium
It is the classic liar paradox. If the sentence is true, it must be false. The Riddler loves leaving it on Arkham chalkboards.
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47. I am a room in Wayne Manor with no walls, no floor, and no ceiling, yet the Wayne family gathers near me every autumn. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Say the answer slowly and listen for the room.
Show answer
A mushroom. The only 'room' that grows in the garden.
Mushroom hides the word room yet has no walls, floor, or ceiling.
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48. Riddle me this, Detective: I am taken before you see me, shown before you remember me, and I never let a moment escape. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
The Gotham Gazette prints hundreds of me a day.
Show answer
A photograph.
A photo is snapped before you look and freezes an instant forever.
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49. In the 1966 Batman TV series, the Riddler was played by Frank Gorshin. Medium
True. Gorshin's giggling, jumpsuit-wearing Riddler earned an Emmy nomination and defined the character for a generation.
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50. My final riddle: I am the one thing in Gotham that even Batman cannot escape, though he meets me every morning. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
The night is darkest just before it.
Show answer
The dawn. Every long night in Gotham ends with it.
Every Gotham night breaks into morning, so daybreak is the one unavoidable arrival.
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51. Riddle me this: I climb up and down Wayne Manor without ever taking a step, and everyone in the house treads on me. What am I? Medium
Show answer
The stairs.
Steps run up and down between floors while people tread them, though they never move.
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52. Riddle me this: I have rungs but I am no bell, I help the Bat rise without wings, and I always lean while I work. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A ladder.
Rungs are its steps, not a bell being rung, and it must lean to climb.
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53. Riddle me this: Mr. Freeze would be proud of me. I hang like a dagger from Gotham's gutters and I strike the pavement only at the moment I melt away. What am I? Medium
Show answer
An icicle.
Made of ice, it hangs point down and only drops when it thaws.
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54. Riddle me this: I journey clear across Gotham while stuck in one tiny corner, and the Riddler sends his taunts to Batman by pressing me down. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A stamp.
Pressed onto mail, it crosses the city while pinned in an envelope's corner.
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55. Two guards stand at two doors in my funhouse. One door leads out, one leads to a trap. One guard always lies, one always tells the truth. You get ONE question. What do you ask? Hard
Need a hint?
Design one question that forces both guards to give the same wrong answer.
Show answer
Ask either guard: 'Which door would the OTHER guard say leads out?' Then take the opposite door. Both guards point you at the trap, so flip their answer.
Routing through the other guard guarantees one lie on either path, so invert.
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56. The Riddler steals something from a bank vault, yet the police report says nothing is missing. He took it without touching a thing. What did he steal? Hard
Need a hint?
Some prizes fit inside a camera.
Show answer
A photograph of the vault. He stole information, not objects.
Copying information leaves every object in place, so the theft is invisible to inventory.
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57. Riddle me this: I turn up once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a hundred years. What am I? Medium
Show answer
The letter M.
Minute has one M, moment has two, and 'a hundred years' has none, so it turns on spelling rather than on time.
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58. Edward Nygma taunts: which word in Batman's dictionary is always spelled incorrectly? Medium
Show answer
The word 'incorrectly.'
The clue points at itself, since 'incorrectly' is literally spelled i-n-c-o-r-r-e-c-t-l-y.
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59. Riddle me this: I have keys but open no locks, I have space but hold no room, you can enter me but never step inside. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A keyboard.
A keyboard has keys, a space bar, and an enter key, none of which are the literal objects they name.
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60. The Penguin never waddles out without me: I blossom in a downpour and fold away in the sun. What am I? Medium
Show answer
An umbrella.
An umbrella opens like a flower in rain and closes up when the weather clears.
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61. Crack this one, Detective: I run through Gotham but never walk, I have a mouth but never talk, I have a bed but never sleep. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A river.
A river flows, empties at its mouth, and lies in its bed, all without doing those things the way a person would.
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62. Riddle me this: the whole city can feed me, yet a single cup of water is my undoing. What am I? Medium
Show answer
Fire.
Fire grows on fuel from anywhere but is snuffed out by water.
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63. The Riddler whispers: the more of me you give away, the less of me you own. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A secret.
A secret loses its value the moment it is shared, so giving it away shrinks it.
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64. Riddle me this: I only ever climb higher, never down, no matter how young Bruce Wayne wishes to feel. What am I? Medium
Show answer
Your age.
Age rises every year and can never decrease.
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65. The Riddler chalks a clue: I am a five-letter word, but speak only my second and fourth letters aloud and you have said me whole. What am I? Hard
Show answer
Empty.
The second and fourth letters, M and T, sound out 'empty' when read aloud.
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66. Riddle me this: I am a five-letter word, yet drop my final four letters and I still sound exactly the same. What am I? Hard
Show answer
Queue.
Queue is pronounced like its first letter Q, so the silent u-e-u-e can be removed.
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67. Edward Nygma studies a portrait and says: 'Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son.' Who is in the portrait? Hard
Show answer
His son.
With no siblings, 'my father's son' is Nygma himself, so the man's father is Nygma, making the man his son.
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68. Solve or suffer: eight identical Riddler trophies sit before you, one heavier than the rest, and you may use a balance scale only twice. How do you find the heavy one? Hard
Show answer
Weigh three against three, then narrow to the heavier group or the leftover two.
Three versus three isolates the heavy trophy to a small group, and one more weighing pinpoints it.
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69. Riddle me this: how many times can Batman subtract 5 from 25? Hard
Show answer
Once, because after that it is no longer 25.
After the first subtraction the number becomes 20, so you are subtracting from a different number.
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70. The Riddler paints a word on the ceiling: it reads exactly the same when you flip it upside down, and it is something Killer Croc does. What word is it? Hard
Show answer
SWIMS.
Rotated a half turn, the letters of SWIMS still spell SWIMS.
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71. Riddle me this: what five-letter word grows shorter when you add two letters to it? Hard
Show answer
Short.
Adding 'er' to short spells 'shorter,' which means less long.
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72. Solve this, Detective: I am an odd number, but remove a single letter from my name and I become even. Which number am I? Hard
Show answer
Seven.
Taking the S off 'seven' leaves 'even.'
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73. Riddle me this: I am a number whose letters, when spelled out, march in perfect alphabetical order. What number am I? Hard
Show answer
Forty.
F, O, R, T, and Y appear in alphabetical order when you spell forty.
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74. The Riddler's clue: name the everyday word that hides three double letters back to back. Hard
Show answer
Bookkeeper.
Bookkeeper contains oo, kk, and ee in a row.
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75. From the funhouse: a snail starts at the bottom of a ten-foot well, climbs three feet each day, and slips two feet back each night. On which day does it finally escape? Hard
Show answer
The eighth day.
It nets one foot per day until day eight, when the daytime climb of three feet clears the top before it can slip.
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76. Riddle me this: two fathers and two sons go fishing in Gotham harbor, each catches one fish, yet only three fish are caught in all. How? Hard
Show answer
There were only three people, a grandfather, his son, and his grandson.
The middle man is both a father and a son, so two fathers and two sons total just three people.
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77. Edward Nygma hands you three pills and says take one every half hour. How long until the last one is gone? Hard
Show answer
One hour.
You take the first at zero, the second at thirty minutes, and the third at sixty minutes.
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78. Riddle me this: seven candles light my lair, a draft blows two of them out, and the rest burn away by morning. How many candles are left? Hard
Show answer
Two.
Only the two that were snuffed out remain, since the burning ones melt away to nothing.
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79. Solve or suffer: a rope ladder hangs off Batman's boat with rungs one foot apart, the water touching the third rung. The tide rises two feet in an hour. How many more rungs are underwater then? Hard
Show answer
None more, the boat floats up with the tide.
A floating boat lifts with the water, so the ladder never sinks any deeper.
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80. Riddle me this: a Gotham man pushes his car to a hotel and instantly loses his entire fortune, though there is no gas station in sight. What happened? Hard
Show answer
He was playing Monopoly.
In Monopoly the car token landing on a hotel forces a ruinous payment.
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81. The Riddler grins: the more of me there is, the less you can see. What am I? Hard
Show answer
Darkness.
Growing darkness reduces how much you can see.
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82. Crack the sequence, Detective: 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221. What comes next? Hard
Show answer
312211.
Each term describes the digits of the one before it, so 111221 reads as three ones, two twos, one one.
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83. Riddle me this: I appear once in a year, twice in a week, but not once in a day. What am I? Hard
Show answer
The letter E.
'Year' holds one E, 'week' holds two, and 'day' holds none.
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84. Edward Nygma's clue: find the single word that parades all five vowels in their proper A, E, I, O, U order. Hard
Show answer
Facetious.
Facetious contains a, e, i, o, and u in that exact sequence.
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85. Riddle me this: I am the only number in Gotham whose name has exactly as many letters as its own value. What number am I? Hard
Show answer
Four.
The word 'four' has four letters, matching its value.
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86. The Riddler's safe holds a three-digit code: the tens digit is five more than the ones digit, and the hundreds digit is eight less than the tens digit. Crack it. Hard
Show answer
194.
The ones digit must be 4, which makes the tens 9 and the hundreds 1.
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87. Solve this, Detective: in a full twelve hours, how many times do the hour and minute hands of a Gotham clock overlap? Hard
Show answer
Eleven times.
The minute hand laps the hour hand only eleven times in twelve hours, not twelve.
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88. Riddle me this: I am thinner than a whisper and float on a breath, yet the strongest man in Gotham cannot hold me for long before I burst. What am I? Hard
Show answer
A bubble.
A bubble drifts on the lightest breath and pops the instant it is handled.
Riddle me this: classic Riddler taunts
Short, smug, and signed with a question mark. Footsteps, holes, echoes, and shadows, all dressed up in Gotham green.
Batman riddles and Gotham logic traps
Two guards and two doors in the funhouse, a 3-digit safe code, and a liar's paradox straight from Arkham. These take pen and paper, Detective.
Riddler trivia from comics, films, and games
His real name in the comics, his first appearance in 1948, and the actors who wore the question mark from Frank Gorshin to the 2022 film.
Your score
FAQ about The Riddler's Best Riddles
Are these actual Riddler riddles from the Batman comics?
The riddles are original, written in the Riddler's taunting voice rather than copied from any comic or film. The trivia questions between them are real, covering his comic debut, his aliases, and his screen appearances.
How hard are the Riddler's riddles?
The taunts are quick classics most people crack in under a minute. The logic traps, like the two-door guard puzzle and the safe code, are genuinely tough and reward working things out on paper. Answers reveal on tap when you concede.
Do I need to know Batman to enjoy this page?
No. The riddles stand on their own, and the Gotham flavor is set dressing rather than required reading. Fans get an extra layer from the trivia about the comics, the Arkham games, and the films.
If the Riddler's mind games have you hooked, keep the challenge going with our collection of tricky riddles that will really test your wits, then put your solving skills to work on a fresh batch of brain teasers to puzzle out and share.