The Parlor Room is one of the first puzzles you’ll encounter in Blue Prince, and like all of the puzzles, it is partially randomly generated so there’s no one single answer to the puzzle. It’s also one of the simplest puzzles in the game and always rewards you with two gems. Once you understand how the riddle works, you can quickly solve this puzzle every single time for a useful reward.
The Parlor is a random blueprint that appears as you explore the house, so don’t expect to find it on every run, or even expect to use it when it does pop up. The puzzle in the room has three boxes, and you’ll have to figure out which box has the gems inside. The boxes may state the truth or lies, and using the process of elimination, you’ll be able to guess which boxes are true, which ones are false, and which box has the gems inside. Let’s learn how to solve the puzzle every single time.
How To Solve The Parlor Puzzle
Inside the Parlor Room there are three boxes — one of the boxes will contain two gems. It’s up to you to figure out which box has the gems inside. Each box has a message on the outside. By following certain rules, you’ll be able to deduce which box contains the treasure.
- There will always be at least ONE box which displays ONLY TRUE statements.
- There will always be at least ONE box which displays ONLY FALSE statements.
- Only ONE box has a prize within. The other TWO are ALWAYS empty.
With that in mind, let’s go through some examples. The puzzles are always randomized so you’ll rarely see repeats of the same puzzle. To open one of the boxes, collect the Wind-Up Key from the desk with the notes. You’ll use this key to open one of the boxes.
- Example #1:
- The White Box says, “This box is empty.”
- The Blue Box says, “You are in the Parlor.”
- The Black Box says, “The Blue Box is true.”
- The Blue Box and the Black Box are both true, so the white box MUST be false. One box MUST be false for each run. That means there is something inside the White Box.
- Use the Wind-Up Key on the White Box.
Using the process of elimination, we’re able to figure out that the white box contains the treasure. At least one box must be true every run, and at least one box must be false every run. If two boxes are obviously true, then the last box MUST be false. Because the white box must be false, then the state “This box is empty.” must be false, so there actually is something inside.
- Example #2:
- The Blue Box says, “The Black Box contains gems.”
- The White Box says, “This box and the Blue Box are empty.”
- The Black Box says, “All three boxes are empty.”
- The Black Box has to be false, while the Black Box may be true. The White Box may also be true, which means that the Black Box contains the gems.
This is a trickier example. The Black Box must be false in this example because one box must always contain a treasure every run. The White Box may be true, and that’s seemingly confirmed by the Blue Box. If both are true, and we know the Black Box is false, then the Black Box must contain the gems.
- Example #3:
- The Blue Box says, “This is the Black Box.”
- The White Box says, “This is the Black Box.”
- The Black Box says, “The Black Box is not empty.”
- The first two boxes are false, so the Black Box must be true.
And this is an extremely straightforward example. Two of the boxes are obviously false, so the Black Box must be true. The Black Box says it is not empty, meaning that something is inside. Because the box must be true, the treasure is inside the Black Box.
There are hundreds of variations on this puzzle, but once you know how to eliminate the boxes that are obviously true or obviously false, this puzzle becomes a whole lot easier.
