Floor and Box Puzzles
Floor and Box Puzzles
Floor and box puzzles are one-column seating puzzles: floors are numbered from the bottom (floor 1 is the ground or lowest floor), and boxes are stacked from the bottom. Draw the column, fix the definite clues, then the relative ones ("immediately above", "two floors below"), then the negative ones. A second variable such as colour is tracked in a column beside it.
1. Method Box
| Clue | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Immediately above / below | The very next floor or box |
| Two floors below X | One floor between them, below X |
| Exactly one person between X and Y | Floors differ by 2 |
| On an odd-numbered floor | Floor 1, 3, 5 ... |
| Somewhere above | Any higher floor, not necessarily next |
Draw floors as a column with the top floor at the top and number from 1 at the bottom
With two variables, keep a two-column table (floor, person, colour) and fill both as clues fix them
✗ "Two floors below C" means one floor below C | ✓ It means floor C − 2, with one floor between them
✗ Box 1 is the top box | ✓ Unless told otherwise, boxes are counted from the bottom
हिंदी नोट: मंज़िल और बॉक्स पहेलियों में नीचे से गिनती होती है: सबसे नीचे मंज़िल 1। "ठीक ऊपर" का अर्थ अगली मंज़िल, "दो मंज़िल नीचे" का अर्थ बीच में एक मंज़िल। दूसरे गुण (रंग) के लिए अलग स्तंभ बनाइए।
Exam Pointer: Verified NTPC pattern: six people on six floors with "directly below" chains (May and June 2022 CBT-2). Floor-and-colour and box-stacking puzzles had no verified NTPC shift in our check and are tagged syllabus-based.
Pariksha Pattern: Every Way NTPC Asks This Topic
Pattern 1: People on floors of a building
[PYQ: NTPC CBT-2 13-Jun-2022 Shift-2 | NTPC CBT-2 10-May-2022 Shift-1]
EXAM LEVEL
Q. P, Q, R, S and T live on the five floors of a building, one on each (floor 1 is the lowest). R lives on the top floor and P immediately below R. S lives on an odd-numbered floor but not the lowest. T lives above Q. Who lives on floor 2?
R on 5 and P on 4. S on an odd floor other than 1 and 5: floor 3. Q and T take floors 1 and 2 with T above: Q on 1, T on 2.
Answer: T
Six people A to F live on the six floors of a building, one on each. F lives on the top floor. Exactly one person lives between F and C. D lives two floors below C, and A lives immediately above D. B lives above E.
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using these clues, who lives immediately below B, and how many people live between E and C?
F on 6 and C on 4. D on 2, A on 3. Floors 1 and 5 remain, and B is above E: B on 5, E on 1. Floor order from the bottom: E, D, A, C, B, F. Below B is C; between E (1) and C (4) are D and A.
Answer: C; 2
Pattern 2: Floors with a second variable (colour)
[Pattern: syllabus-based, PYQ-style]
W, X, Y and Z live on four floors (1 lowest), each liking a different colour: red, blue, green and pink. Y lives immediately above W. The person who likes green lives on the top floor. W likes red. The person who likes pink lives below W. Z does not live on the top floor and does not like pink. X lives above Z.
EXAM LEVEL
Q. Who likes green?
Pink is below W, so W is not on floor 1, and Y is above W, so W is not on 4: W is on 2 or 3. If W were on 2, Y would be on 3 and the pink-lover on floor 1; Z cannot be on the top floor, so Z would be on floor 1 and like pink, which is not allowed. So W is on 3, Y on 4 (green), pink on 1 or 2. X above Z puts Z on 1 and X on 2; Z is not pink, so X likes pink and Z blue.
Answer: Y
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using the same clues, on which floor does X live, and which colour does the person on floor 1 like?
From the arrangement: floor 1 Z (blue), floor 2 X (pink), floor 3 W (red), floor 4 Y (green).
Answer: Floor 2; blue
Pattern 3: Boxes stacked one above another
[Pattern: syllabus-based, PYQ-style]
Six boxes P, Q, R, S, T and U are stacked one above another (box position 1 is the bottom). R is third from the bottom. T is two places above R, and P is immediately below T. S is immediately next to R, just above or just below it. Q is below S. U is not at the bottom.
EXAM LEVEL
Q. Which box is at the top?
R at 3, T at 5, P at 4. S next to R: 2 or 4, and 4 is taken, so S is at 2. Q below S: position 1. U takes 6.
Answer: U
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using the same stack, how many boxes are between Q and P, and which box is just above S?
Bottom to top: Q, S, R, P, T, U. Between Q (1) and P (4) are S and R. Just above S is R.
Answer: 2; R
Pattern 4: Boxes with colours
[Pattern: syllabus-based, PYQ-style]
Five boxes K, L, M, N and O of different colours (red, blue, green, black, white) are stacked (1 is the bottom). The red box is at the top. M is two places below the red box and is blue. K is at the bottom and is not white. The green box is immediately above K. N is above M and is not red. O is green.
EXAM LEVEL
Q. Which box is at the top?
K at 1 and green O at 2. M (blue) is two below the red top box: position 3. N is above M and not red: position 4. L is at the top and red.
Answer: L
EXAMATLAS LEVEL
Q. Using the same stack, what colour is N, and how many boxes are between K and N?
Colours left for K and N are black and white; K is not white, so K is black and N white. Between K (1) and N (4) are O and M.
Answer: White; 2
60-Second Revision
- Number floors and boxes from the bottom.
- Two floors below = one floor between.
- Place fixed clues, then relative, then negative.
- For a second variable, keep a side column and fill it as you go.