Puzzle 004 is Bumper Perspective (Dodgem Detective in the UK version), a hidden 20-picarat Circle Answer puzzle in Knickknack Alley. Nobody hands it to you: you find it by examining the little red toy car on the ground in front of the toy stall, and then Emmy sets the puzzle for Luke. The story doesn't make you solve it. The top screen shows a photo a friend took from a white bumper car while she was facing forward, and you have to circle the white car she was sitting in. The hints below open one at a time, and the answer stays hidden until you choose to show it.
This page covers story Puzzle 004 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS, using the North American text. If you're after Daily Puzzle 004 or Puzzle 004 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 004? below.
What Puzzle 004 is
| Name (North America) | Bumper Perspective |
|---|---|
| Name (UK) | Dodgem Detective |
| Type | Circle Answer (draw a circle on the touch screen) |
| Picarats | 20 |
| Location | Knickknack Alley, Monte d'Or |
| Chapter | Chapter 1 |
| When | As soon as you can explore Knickknack Alley |
| How you get it | Examine the small red toy car on the ground in front of the toy stall |
| Who solves it | Luke. Emmy sets the puzzle |
| Mandatory? | No. It's a hidden puzzle, and the story doesn't send you to it |
| Hints | Three hints and a Super Hint |
| Previous / next puzzle | 003 Stumble's Banners (Gallery Plaza) / 005 Robot Factory (Guy, at the same toy stall) |
The question explains that a group of friends went bumper-car driving and one of them took the photo on the top screen. She was driving a white bumper car and facing forward when she took it. The touch screen shows the whole arena from above, full of red, green, yellow, blue and white cars, and you circle the white car she was in. Draw the circle with the stylus. If it's drawn well enough, a finger icon appears inside it, pointing at the car you picked. If it doesn't appear, draw it again.
Bumper Perspective, Dodgem Detective and other names
In the UK version the puzzle is called Dodgem Detective, and the text says "dodgems" instead of "bumper cars". A few other lines are worded differently, too. The North American ending says the photo will go on the wall, for example, and the UK one says the mantelpiece. The arena, the photo and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions.
| Version | Puzzle name |
|---|---|
| English (North America) | Bumper Perspective |
| English (UK) | Dodgem Detective |
| German | Kart-Geknipse |
| Spanish | Fotos de choque |
| French | Photo choc |
| Italian | Fotoscontro |
| Japanese | ゴーカートの写真 (Gōkāto no Shashin, "the go-kart photo") |
Wrong Puzzle 004?
- Daily Puzzle 004 in Miracle Mask is a different puzzle: Blocks 01 in North America and Block Box 01 in the UK, the first of the Big Block Box daily puzzles. It has nothing to do with bumper cars.
- Puzzle 004 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours doesn't have a bumper-car photo on the top screen, you're in the wrong game.
- Puzzle 005 is the one the toy-stall owner, Guy, gives you in the same alley: Robot Factory. Puzzle 004 comes from the toy car on the ground, not from talking to Guy.
Where to find the toy car
Knickknack Alley is the narrow street of shops in Monte d'Or with the toy stall on the right. A small red toy car sits on the ground in front of the stall, next to a toy cart. It's sometimes called the fire truck toy. Tap it while you're examining the scene. Layton admires how well it's made, Luke says he prefers cuddly toys but likes car puzzles, and Emmy chimes in with a puzzle she's been meaning to give him. That's Bumper Perspective.
If you back out without solving it, you can come back to the toy car and try again. The toy car likely keeps the puzzle until you solve it, as long as you can still get to the alley: unlike some early puzzles, it doesn't seem to have a chapter cutoff. It's safest to solve it the first time you find it.
Knickknack Alley has six hint coins, three in the normal view and three in a zoomed-in view further down the street.
- Normal view: the window at the upper left, the red bucket on the toy stall's counter and the decoration under the stall's roof.
- Zoomed-in view: the high window in the middle, the jar on the ground and the pink neon sign.
The zoom spot isn't there on your first visit. It opens later in Chapter 1, when you come back to the alley looking for whoever is calling out. Tap the spot on the right side of the toy stall to zoom in on the street beyond it, where you find Aldus and the other three coins.
Letter the white cars first
The hints and the answer below call the six white cars A to F. A is the white car near the top-left group, B is just left of the center, C is near the bottom-left corner, D is a little right of center in the lower half, E is in the upper-right part of the arena and F is near the right edge, lower down.
One more thing helps with every hint: you need to know which way a car is facing. The front of each car is the rounded end in the car's color. The dark square is the seat, and that's at the back.
Hints, one at a time
These follow the game's own hints, in the same order, with a little more explanation. Open only the next one you need. In the game, Hints 1 to 3 cost one hint coin each and the Super Hint costs two.
Hint 1: rule some cars out
There are six white cars in the arena. The photographer's friends are in the red car and the green car, so she must have had a red car and a green car in front of her.
Go through the white cars one by one and look at what's ahead of each one, not just near it. Which white cars have no red or green car in front of them at all? You can cross those off.
Hint 2: the edge of the photo
Look at the left edge of the photo. A yellow car is bumping into the green one, number 10.
So you're looking for a spot in the arena where a yellow car is up against a green car, with a red car right next to them. Can you find one?
Hint 3: look-alike spots
There's more than one spot in the arena where a yellow car is up against a green car with a red car close by. Matching the group of cars isn't enough on its own.
You also have to think about where the photo was taken from. The photographer was facing forward, so the three cars have to be in front of her car, in the same left-to-right order as in the photo.
Super Hint: two cars to compare
The photo was taken from a white car with a green, a red and a yellow car straight in front of it.
The game narrows it down to two: the white car just below the middle (D) and the one up in the top-right part of the arena (E). Both have the three colors close by. Check which way each one is facing.
Answer and full solution
The answer below names the car and explains why, with a picture of the solved puzzle. Open it when you're ready.
Show the answer
The answer is car D, the white car just below the middle of the arena. Draw a circle around it with the stylus, check that the finger icon appears and points at that car, and submit.
| White car | Which way it faces | Where the yellow, green and red cars are | Matches the photo? |
|---|---|---|---|
| D, just below the middle | Down and to the right | Straight ahead: red closest on the right, green in the middle, yellow on the left bumping the green | Yes |
| E, upper right | Down and to the right | Up and to the right of it, off to its side rather than in front | No |
Step by step:
- Read the photo. Green car 10 is in the middle, red car 8 is on the right and nearest the camera, and a yellow car is pushing into the green one from the left. You can see both friends' faces, so their cars are pointing toward the photographer.
- Work out how a car faces. The rounded, colored end is the front and the dark seat is at the back. Since the photographer faced forward, the three cars have to be in front of the rounded end of her white car.
- Find the look-alike groups. A yellow, a green and a red car sit close together in three places: near the bottom-left corner, in the top-right corner and just below the middle on the right.
- Rule out car E. It's the trap. The group in the top-right corner is close to it, but car E faces down and to the right, so they're off to its side, not in front of it.
- Rule out car C. Car C faces up and to the right, and the group near the bottom-left corner is behind it and to its left.
- Check car D. It faces down and to the right, straight at a red, a green and a yellow car. Turn the arena in your head so car D points up: the red car is nearest, slightly to the right, the green car is just behind it in the middle and the yellow car is on the left, bumping the green one. The red and green cars point roughly back toward car D, so the friends would be facing the camera. That's the photo.
- Circle car D and submit. The game answers "It was the bumper car circled above," and the top screen shows the photo being taken. The photographer is probably Emmy, who set the puzzle, but the game doesn't say so.
If your answer keeps failing:
- You circled car E. The colors match, but they're not in front of it. Look at which end of car E is the rounded front.
- You read the cars backwards. The dark seat is the back of the car, not the front.
- No finger icon appeared. The circle wasn't accepted. Draw a closed loop around car D only, a little bigger than the car, and check that the finger points at it before you submit.
- Your circle took in two cars. There are other cars around car D. Keep the loop around the white car only.
Picarats, hints and hint coins
Bumper Perspective is worth 20 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value, so it pays to check before you submit. A wrong answer gets "Too bad," with a nudge to look for a spot in the arena that matches the photo, and you can try again.
Hints cost hint coins, not picarats. The first three hints cost one coin each and the Super Hint costs two, five in total. On your first visit, the three coins in Knickknack Alley's normal view cover the first three hints. Or use the free hints on this page and save your coins.
Versions and systems
- Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS and New 3DS: no difference. It's a touch-screen puzzle with no motion controls.
- US and UK English versions: same photo, same arena, same answer. The UK text uses "dodgems" and a few different phrases.
- Other systems: Miracle Mask is a 3DS game. There's no Switch, mobile or PC version of it.
The scene around the puzzle
The scene around the puzzle is short. Layton says whoever designed the toy car was no amateur, and that it's beautifully handcrafted. Luke would rather have a cuddly toy, but he admits he likes car puzzles, and Emmy says, "Hold on, Luke! I've got a puzzle I've been meaning to give you." If you quit, Luke says he doesn't think he can do it, and if you try again, Emmy tells him it's "time to step it up a gear." When you solve it, Emmy says his puzzle skills just needed a spark, and Layton says he's glad to have such "driven" peers.
FAQ
Where is the answer to Puzzle 004?
It's in the Answer and full solution section above, hidden until you open it. If you only want a push, open the hints one at a time first.
What is Puzzle 004 called?
Bumper Perspective in North America and Dodgem Detective in the UK. In German it's Kart-Geknipse.
Where is Puzzle 004?
In Knickknack Alley. Examine the small red toy car on the ground in front of the toy stall. Talking to Guy at the stall gives you Puzzle 005 instead.
Can you miss Puzzle 004?
It's hidden, so you can walk past it. It likely stays on the toy car until you solve it, with no chapter cutoff. It's safest to solve it the first time you find it.
How do you tell which way a bumper car is facing?
The rounded end in the car's color is the front. The dark seat is at the back.
How many picarats is Puzzle 004 worth?
20 picarats if you get it right the first time.
Is Daily Puzzle 004 the same as Puzzle 004?
No. Daily Puzzle 004 is Blocks 01 (Block Box 01 in the UK), a Big Block Box puzzle. Story Puzzle 004 is the bumper-car photo.
More Miracle Mask puzzles
- Puzzle 001: Stumble's Balloons
- Puzzle 002: Where's Mother?
- Puzzle 003: Stumble's Banners
- Puzzle 005: Robot Factory
- Puzzle 60: Dangerous Holes
- Puzzle 100: Gate to the Ruins!
- Puzzle 113: Chip Champions
- Puzzle 118: Evenly Matched 3
- Puzzle 122: Kitty Solitaire 3
For the rest of the game's puzzles, see the Miracle Mask puzzle index.