Home / Riddles / What am I? riddles / Black When You Buy It, Red When You Use It Riddle
What am I? riddles
What is black when you buy it, red when you use it and gray when you throw it away?
A color-sequence riddle that follows one thing through its life: in the store, in use, and in the trash. Each color is a stage.
What is black when you buy it, red when you use it and gray when you throw it away?
Hint: Think barbecue.
Reveal the answer
Charcoal
Charcoal is black, glows red while it burns and turns to gray ash.
How to solve it (spoilers)
How to think about it
- Three colors in order mean three stages of the same object. Ask what is sold black.
- Then ask what turns red while you use it. Red suggests heat or glowing.
- Gray at the end suggests ash or dust left behind.
- Charcoal is sold black, glows red on the grill and ends as gray ash.
Why “Charcoal” is the answer
Charcoal briquettes are black in the bag, glow red-orange as they burn and leave gray ash when the cooking is done. The riddle walks you through a barbecue in three colors. Firewood follows a similar path, but wood is brown when you buy it, which is why charcoal is the better fit.
Common wrong answers
- Firewood. Wood is brown in the store, not black, so the first color fails.
- A match. A match head may be red and the stick turns black after it burns, so the order is wrong.
Related riddles
- What do you throw out when you want to use it and take in when you are done?
- What has to be broken before you can use it?
- What can you catch but not throw?
- What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
- What gets sharper the more you use it?
Want a fresh one every week? Try the riddle of the week.