Gold Coin Puzzle

The Puzzle

The five pirates mentioned previously are joined by a sixth, then plunder a ship with only one gold coin.

After venting some of their frustration by killing all on board the ship, they now need to divvy up the one coin. They are so angry, they now value in priority order:

  1. Their lives
  2. Getting money
  3. Seeing other pirates die.

So if given the choice between two outcomes, in which they get the same amount of money, they'd choose the outcome where they get to see more of the other pirates die.

How can the captain save his skin?

The most senior pirate could give the coin to the least senior pirate. He can use the same logic in the previous puzzle to explain the futility of anyone trying to keep the coin for himself.

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