Cathy has six pairs of black gloves and six pairs of brown gloves in her drawer. In complete darkness, how many gloves must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match? (a left and right glove of the same color)

Why this works

This riddle plays with the concept of worst-case scenarios and the total number of items involved. Cathy has 12 gloves in total for each color (6 left and 6 right), making 24 gloves altogether. To ensure she gets a matching pair (one left and one right glove of the same color), she could theoretically pull out 6 left black gloves and 6 left brown gloves first, totaling 12 gloves without a matching pair. However, the next glove she picks—her 13th glove—will have to be either a right black or right brown glove, ensuring she has at least one matching pair. The clever twist here is understanding that in complete darkness, the combination she could pull could lead her to pick all left gloves first, hence needing to draw 13 to guarantee a match!