The riddle
I Have 6 Eggs. I Broke 2, Cooked 2 and Ate 2. How Many Are Left?
The arithmetic
Six eggs sit on the counter. Breaking an egg is the first step in cooking it, and cooking it is the step before eating it, so the same two eggs can be broken, cooked and eaten. Two eggs are used and six minus two leaves four. The riddle lists three actions with the number two each time, which pushes a listener toward adding 2 + 2 + 2 = 6 and subtracting all of it, and that is the trap.
When the pairs differ
If the broken, cooked and eaten eggs were three separate pairs, six minus two minus two minus two comes to zero. That reading treats the three actions as happening to different eggs. Most people who explain the riddle settle on four, because breaking, cooking and eating are the usual steps for the same egg.
The tense argument
A third reading looks at the grammar. "I have 6 eggs" is in the present tense, while the actions are in the past. Someone who takes that literally can say the eggs were used earlier and the six being counted now are all still there. The reading is clever but strains the wording, and it does not change the most natural answer.
Settling it in a group
Ask what happens first to an egg that is going to be eaten. Most groups agree that it is broken, then cooked, then eaten. Writing the three actions on a piece of paper in that order and drawing two eggs next to them shows at a glance that the same two eggs are being counted. The other four stay in the carton, untouched.