Brain teaser: Only a genius can tell what the fifth man is doing

Can you solve the brain teaser that’s puzzling the internet?

Brain teasers are fun little puzzles that make you pause and think. The best brain teasers seem easy at first, but if you rush, you might miss something important. These puzzles are all about focus, logic, and sometimes, a bit of clever thinking.

Think you're a genius? Try solving this brain teaser.(Screengrab X/@Heena_Maths)

Here is one brain teaser that looks easy but tricks most people trying to figure out what the fifth person is doing.

This brain teaser was posted on X by @Heena_Maths and has left many people scratching their heads.

The brain teaser:

In the brain teaser, five men are in a room. The first four are each doing something- Barack is reading, Joe is playing chess, George is painting, and Bill is at his desk. The question is simple: What is the fifth man doing?

At first, it sounds like a normal riddle, but the answer isn’t as clear as it seems. Many people rush to guess or overthink it, but the trick lies in reading the clues carefully.

Check out the brain teaser here:

Can you solve the puzzle? (Screengrab X/@Heena_Maths)

Can you figure out what the fifth man is doing?

Here's how people reacted to this brain teaser:

As soon as this brain teaser was posted, the puzzle started getting lots of attention. Many users on X said it looked too easy at first, but they quickly got confused when trying to work it out.

One of the users, @ShahidA7079, commented, “Fifth is also playing chess with Joe. Chess can't play alone.”

A second user, @KortFudurich, trying to solve this brain teaser, commented, “Playing chess with Joe unless Joe is playing against a computer chess game, then I would have no clue. Thanks for sharing.”

Another user, @RitvaLehto, commented, “He’s playing chess with Joe.”

A few X users claimed they solved it in seconds, while others admitted they had to read it several times before spotting the clue.