“You Are a Puzzle Master If You Can Find the Birth Year of James’s Fourth Child in This Mind-Bending Brain Teaser”
The internet has taken notice of a new brainteaser that was posted on the social media site Threads, asking users to determine the year that James’s fourth child was born. The riddle, which was posted by user Chris Foster, has generated a lot of interesting discussions and imaginative assumptions as individuals attempt to solve the seemingly straightforward yet difficult problem.
The Puzzle That Had Everyone Talking Brain teasers like this one offer a chance to test your ability to recognize patterns and reason logically, so they’re more than just a way to kill time. The basis of this particular puzzle is simple: James gave birth to three children in 2012, 2014, and 2018. Predicting his fourth child’s birth year from this sequence is the difficult part.
It appears like the solution should be simple at first glance. A lot of people thought it was about finding a numerical trend in the specified years. It’s not as easy as it looks, though, as puzzle fans quickly learned.

Solvers are deftly prompted by the teaser to examine the sequence in greater detail, consider the gaps between the years, and exercise critical thought. Do the years of birth have a regular gap between them? Or does the riddle serve as a cunning ruse to confuse you?
Theories and Reactions on the Internet
The teaser has received a lot of attention since it was posted, with thousands of likes and more than 1.7k comments. Many theories were put forth in an effort to reveal the sequence’s underlying logic.
“The pattern is every two years, so the answer is 2020,” one user remarked with assurance. Others quickly pointed out problems with this logic, though. “No, it’s 2022, because the gap after 2014 is four years, not two,” retorted a second user. This dispute sparked more conjecture, with users looking at anything from mathematical trends to possible deception in the puzzle’s phrasing.
Some readers suggested that the riddle was a red herring, putting out an entirely different viewpoint. One user said, “I think there’s no fourth child at all—this puzzle is a trick!” which sparked discussion regarding whether the teaser’s true objective was to break preconceptions rather than solve a sequence. “James needs to stop having kids and give us a break from all this math!” remarked another participant.
A Purposeful Puzzle
This puzzle’s capacity to captivate individuals with varying degrees of logical reasoning is what makes it so captivating. While some consider it as a straightforward pattern-recognition exercise, others see it as a puzzle meant to assess more complex analytical abilities. The mystery is only increased by the fact that there isn’t a single, widely accepted solution.
These kinds of brainteasers provide mental health benefits in addition to being entertaining. They enhance cognitive flexibility, promote original problem-solving, and frequently spark animated debates, as evidenced by the active Threads comment area.
Can You Work It Out?
Can you decipher the code and ascertain James’s fourth child’s birth year? Is it 2022, 2020, or something completely different? Or is the last twist in the mystery that there isn’t a fourth child at all? Your capacity to think creatively, or at least beyond the realm of conventional mathematics, holds the key to the solution.

Join the discussion and compete against hundreds of other puzzle fans if you have a theory. Who doesn’t enjoy a good challenge, after all?