Logic Game Challenge No. 27- Toss Toss Toss

[neelkothari30]

Hey, I had a quick question concerning Game 27, the tossing of ball game.

Here is the set up for convenience.

Six young children-- K, L, M, N, O, P--gather in a circle and play a game in which they toss a ball to one another. One child starts the game by tossing the ball to one of the other five children, who then tosses it to another child, who tosses it to another child, who is declared the "winner." A child may handle the ball more than once during the course of any one game, but cannot toss the ball to himself/herself. The following conditions apply:

K can only toss it to P.
P can only toss it to O.
N can only receive a toss from M.
L can only toss to P or M, and M can only receive a toss from L.
N can only toss to K, and K can only receive a toss from N.

In Q. 5, which asks how many different children can receive the second toss, If O starts the game?

I chose answer choice B (2 children, namely P and L)

It showed that my answer was incorrect and that the correct number is 3, answer choice (C).

I do not understand how that is possible. N can only receive a toss from M, thus cannot receive one from O. M can only receive from L and thus M cannot go second. K can only receive from N and thus, K cannot go second. O cannot pass the ball to himself according to the setup.

So, how is the answer (C)?

Any help would be appreciated and please do correct my reasoning if I have made a mistake somewhere.

Thanks in advance.

Neel

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

There's some linguistic vagueness at the root of your question Neel.

If we're ordering who has the ball. In this game there will be four children and a total of three tosses.

___ ___ ___ ___

We're told that O starts with the ball and are asked how many children are there that could receive the second toss, which is going to be the third child to have the ball. I think you were looking at the second child with the ball, and you're right. Only two children can have the ball second, L or P.

O L ___ ___
O P ___ ___

P must pass the ball to O. And L must pass the ball to either P or M.

O L P/M ___
O P O ___

So there are three children who could receive the second pass: P, M, and O.

Hope that helps!

[MaryL676]

Gooooosh, I've heard about this while visiting the Heisenberg Show. It was aaawesome! Really like their interpretation of this lol.