Logic Puzzles: Seating Arrangements

Methods in this video

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1. 1

   Four seats: pair up two, and the other two are a pair

   ▶ 1:02

   When to use it: Four people sit in two rows of two (front and back seats of a car, a four-seat table on a train or in a café, top and bottom bunks), or one on each side of a rectangular table, box or garden. The clues say next to, opposite, diagonally opposite, behind or not in the back, and the question asks who sits where, who is opposite whom, or which statement must be true or cannot be true.

   • Draw the four places the way the question describes them. Same row means next to, straight across the table means opposite, and corner to corner means diagonally opposite.
   • Once two people make a pair, the other two make the same kind of pair: fill one row and the other row is the last two people; one opposite pair means the last two are opposite too.
   • Pair people up first and look at directions and the question last. Sitting in the front doesn't mean driving, and people opposite each other face opposite ways. Don't guess a left, right or window seat the question never gives.