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Riddle: The Missing Dollar

Geared for: Anyone

Brain Teaser

Three friends check into a motel for the night and the clerk tells them the bill is $30, payable in advance.  So, they each pay the clerk $10 and go to their room.  A few minutes later, the clerk realizes he has made an error and overcharged the trio by $5.  He asks the bellhop to return $5 to the 3 friends who had just checked in.  The bellhop sees this as an opportunity to make $2 as he reasons that the three friends would have a tough time dividing $5 evenly among them; so he decides to tell them that the clerk made a mistake of only $3, giving a dollar back to each of the friends.  He pockets the leftover $2 and goes home for the day!  Now, each of the three friends gets a dollar back, thus they each paid $9 for the room which is a total of $27 for the night.  We know the bellhop pocketed $2 and adding that to the $27, you get $29, not $30 which was originally spent.  Where did the other dollar go????
               
Solution

The facts in this riddle are clear:  There is an initial $30 charge.  It should have been $25, so $5 must be returned and accounted for.  $3 is given to the 3 friends, $2 is kept by the bellhop - there you have the $5.  The trick to this riddle is that the addition and subtraction are done at the wrong times to misdirect your thinking - and quite successfully for most.  Each of the 3 friends did indeed pay $9, not $10, and as far as the friends are concerned, they paid $27 for the night.  But we know that the clerk will tell us that they were charged only $25 and when you add the $3 returned with the $2 kept by the bellhop, you come up with $30.

Dollar Missing Riddle

According to Dictionary.com a 'Riddle' can be interpreted as: 1. A question or statement requiring thought to answer or understand; a conundrum. 2. One that is perplexing; an enigma.

Riddle: The Missing Dollar Games Forum & Humor Jokes

I have heard this type before. The key is to separate what the facts are before starting the math. Separate what was charge, what the difference was, then what was given back. Then, do the math on what they people actual paid, what was over, and what was returned. This allows your mind to see the obvious misdirection. This works with almost any misdirection riddle.