Crossing the River Game Solution

One of the most popular IQ games played is the crossing the river game. The game objective is very simple: the player must transfer all the characters or humans from one side of the river to the other side using a raft. However, this game is subject to many rules making the game more interesting and mind bugging. The characters in the game are a police, a criminal, a mother, a father, 2 daughters and 2 sons. The restrictions of the game are as follows:

1. The raft can only carry at most 2 passengers at a time.
2. Only the police, the mother and the father can operate the raft.
3. The father cannot be on the presence of the daughters without the mother
4. The mother cannot be on the presence of the sons without the father.
5. The criminal cannot be left alone with the family without the policeman

Click here to play the game: http://freeweb.siol.net/danej/riverIQGame.swf

Solution to the Crossing the River Game:

Again, this game is one of the most popular IQ games played both online and offline. In fact only about 10% solved this problem. So it'll be great if you solve this IQ problem by your own analysis and logic and not relying on this solution. But if you aren't tough enough to face the challenge, here is the solution to the problem.

1. Move the Policeman and Criminal to the other side of the river.
2. Move the Policeman back to the other side.
3. Move the Policeman and a child (boy/girl) to the other side of the river.
4. Move the Policeman and criminal back to the other side.
5. If the child you transferred on step 3 is a boy, move the father and the boy child to the other side, otherwise move the mother and the girl to the other side.
6. Move the father/mother (based on step 5) to the other side of the river.
7. Move father and mother to the other side of the river.
8. If the children on you transferred on step 3 are boys, then transfer the mother back to the other side, otherwise transfer the father.
9. Move the police and the criminal to the other side.
10. Move the father/mother to the other side.
11. Move the father and mother to the other side.
12. If the children left on the other side are girls, transfer the mother to the other side, otherwise transfer the father.
13. Move the father/mother and a child to the other side.
14. Move the policeman and the criminal to the other side.
15. Move the policeman and the child to the other side. This step must left the criminal alone on the other side of the river.
16. Move the policeman to the other side.
17. Move the policeman and the criminal to the other side.
18. GAME END

That is the algorithm or the steps I made to solve the game. As what I have mentioned earlier, it'll be great if you solve this game on your own without cheating. Happy Playing!