You’re Alabama Smith And The Treasure Is Waiting — Which Of These Three Routes Gets You There With The Fewest River Crossings?

Forget sitting comfortably at home for a moment.

You’re now explorer Alabama Smith, there’s a treasure chest waiting on the other side of the map, and three different routes could take you straight to the prize.

There is just one problem.

A twisting river snakes across almost the entire journey, repeatedly cutting through the routes and turning what should be a straightforward treasure hunt into a deceptively tricky The 1% Club challenge.

The question asks:

“Explorer Alabama Smith’s map shows the three different ways to reach the hidden treasure. What is the fewest number of times he has to cross a river to get to the prize?”

No general knowledge is required.

There’s no equation to solve.

You simply have to choose the right route.

@1percentclubitv Treasure hunters, your time is now #The1PercentClub #quiztime #quiztok ♬ original sound – The 1% Club

But once those red and blue lines start twisting around each other, keeping track of every crossing becomes much harder than it sounds.

Pick Your Route Before You Start Counting

The map gives Alabama Smith three possible red routes from his starting point on the left to the treasure on the right.

Running through them is a blue river that bends, loops and doubles back across the map.

Your mission isn’t necessarily to find the route that looks shortest.

It isn’t to find the straightest route either.

There is only one thing that matters:

How many times does your chosen route cross the river?

Every red-blue intersection counts.

Choose badly and Alabama Smith could be crossing the water again and again before he ever gets close to the treasure.

Choose wisely and there is a much easier journey hiding among all that visual chaos.

The Map Is Trying To Make You Lose Your Place

This is where the challenge becomes particularly effective.

At the beginning, following one red line seems straightforward enough.

But move your eyes towards the centre of the map and everything starts becoming crowded.

The routes bend around one another.

The river twists back.

Red lines cross other red lines, while the blue line repeatedly passes through the same busy area.

It becomes surprisingly easy to count an intersection that doesn’t matter — or completely miss one that does.

And once you’ve lost the route you were following, you may have to return to Alabama Smith and start the entire journey again.

You Have Three Chances To Find The Best Journey

There’s another important detail in the wording.

The question isn’t asking how many times each route crosses the river.

It wants the fewest possible number.

So even if you successfully trace one path from beginning to end, your job isn’t necessarily finished.

Another route could beat it.

You need to follow all three possibilities carefully enough to decide which journey gives Alabama Smith the easiest passage to the treasure.

And under the pressure of The 1% Club, there isn’t unlimited time to repeatedly trace those tangled lines.

Now Put Yourself In Alabama Smith’s Shoes

The treasure is waiting.

You have three routes.

Pick one and follow it from the explorer all the way to the chest.

Each time your red route physically crosses the blue river, add one to your total.

Then do the same with the other two routes.

Don’t count places where the lines merely come close.

Don’t switch routes when two red paths meet or cross.

And don’t let your eyes jump to another line halfway through.

Once you’ve checked all three, choose the smallest total.

Got your number?

Before scrolling any further, lock it in.

Because once the routes are separated mentally, the answer becomes much easier to see.

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The Answer: 2

The minimum number of river crossings Alabama Smith needs to make is:

TWO

Although the map is deliberately crowded with loops and intersections, one of the three available routes allows him to reach the treasure while crossing the blue river only twice.

The other routes create more encounters with the river as they wind their way across the map.

That means Alabama Smith doesn’t need the route that appears shortest or most direct.

He needs the one that interacts with the river the least.

And that’s the trick behind the challenge.

The map looks intimidating because your attention is drawn to all of the lines at once. But Alabama Smith never needs to travel all of them.

He only needs to find the best one.

Two crossings — and the treasure is his.