Puzzle 008 is Carnival Colors (Carnival Colours in the UK), the flag puzzle in Carnival Square. It's a 20-picarat Write Answer puzzle on the first night of Chapter 1, and it's optional: you get it by talking to Madelaine, a fan of the Masked Gentleman, after you return to the square. Strings of carnival flags hang across the upper display, and a box in the top-right corner shows a sequence of three flags. You have to count how many times that three-flag sequence appears in the strings and write the number on the touch screen. The hints below open one at a time, and the answer stays hidden until you choose to show it.
This page covers story Puzzle 008 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS, using the North American text, with pictures rebuilt from the game's own art. The UK English version has the same puzzle and the same answer; the woman who gives it to you is called Serena there, and the text says "pattern" where the North American text says "sequence". If you're after Daily Puzzle 008 or Puzzle 8 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 008? below.
What Puzzle 008 is
| Name | Carnival Colors (Carnival Colours in the UK English version) |
|---|---|
| Japanese title | 旗の並び方 (Hata no Narabikata, "how the flags are lined up") |
| Type | Write Answer |
| Picarats | 20 |
| Location | Carnival Square, Monte d'Or |
| Chapter | Chapter 1 |
| Given by | Madelaine, who asks you to call her Maddy (Serena in the UK version) |
| Solved by | Professor Layton |
| Is it mandatory? | No, it's optional |
| Hints | Three hints and a Super Hint |
| Previous / next puzzle | 007 A Toasty Toast (Carnival Arcade) / 009 Stamp Stumper (Madame Lapushka's) |
The North American question explains that colorful flags have been strung up all over town for the carnival, that there are seven different flags arranged in several different sequences, and that one three-flag sequence is shown in the top-right corner. You count how many times that sequence appears in the strings and write the number on the touch screen, one digit per box. The objective line on the puzzle reads "Find the repeating pattern!"
Seven designs make the strings: green and white, white with purple checks, blue with an orange stripe (the blue-and-orange flag), blue with yellow dots, teal with purple stripes, red and green, and one flag that is red, yellow and light pink. The sample uses the first three. The red, yellow and pink flag isn't symmetrical, so where it hangs the other way round its colors swap sides and it can look like an extra design. Several of the others look close enough at a glance to make you miscount, so check each flag rather than its colors in general.
Carnival Colors in other versions
The North American version calls the puzzle Carnival Colors and the UK English version calls it Carnival Colours. The UK text also uses "pattern" where the North American text uses "sequence", and the woman who gives it to you is Serena rather than Madelaine. The answer is the same in the US and UK English versions. The Japanese title is 旗の並び方.
| Version | Puzzle name | Puzzle giver |
|---|---|---|
| English (North America) | Carnival Colors | Madelaine |
| English (UK) | Carnival Colours | Serena |
| Japanese | 旗の並び方 | セレナ (Serena) |
Wrong Puzzle 008?
- Daily Puzzle 008 in Miracle Mask is a different puzzle: Kingdom 01, the first puzzle from the Kingdoms set.
- Puzzle 003, Stumble's Banners, is the other Chapter 1 puzzle about decorations hung around town. That one is about posters on a pole, not strings of flags.
- Puzzle 8 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours has no strings of carnival flags, you're in the wrong game.
Where and when you get it
Puzzle 008 is in Carnival Square in Chapter 1, which takes place at night. Madelaine appears in the square once the story sends you back there after Ledore's mansion (the objective "Return to Carnival Square!"). Talk to her and she gushes about the Masked Gentleman's latest stunt ("People turned into stone? What a show! WHAT A SHOW!") and offers you her own puzzle.
She stays there until the objective changes to "Go to Layton's Hotel Room!", so solve it before you head up to the room at the end of the chapter. If you miss it, it should turn up with Nanna Grams (known as Elizabeth in the UK version), who keeps the puzzles you missed, at the start of Chapter 3.
It isn't part of the main story, so it's optional. If you back out of the puzzle, Madelaine asks "Really? You're just going to give up?", and when you talk to her again she says "Back to solve my brilliant puzzle?" and lets you retry.
Hint coins in Carnival Square
There are three hint coins you can collect in the square at this point: one at the top of the building on the left, one above the fountain and one on the blue roof on the right. That's three coins, not enough for all four hints, which cost five coins between them. The square's fourth coin is the one from the Chapter 1 hint-coin tutorial, which the game only offers earlier in the story, so you'll probably have collected it already.
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: start with one flag
Look closely at the flags hung across the scene. The easiest way in is to find one of the three sample flags first. The game suggests the white-and-purple checked flag, because it's the middle one of the three.
Every time you find a checked flag, look at its two neighbors on the same string. Is the green-and-white flag on one side and the blue-and-orange flag on the other?
Hint 2: the first one, and a clue
There's one copy of the sequence near the top-left corner, in the same order as the sample. The others are harder to find, because plenty of flags look similar at first glance but are actually different.
The game adds a second clue: the flags are double-sided. When you see a flag with its design reversed, that flag is hanging the other way around. How might that change what counts as a match?
Hint 3: the other side
Because the flags are double-sided, you also have to think about how the scene looks from the other side. In practice that means looking for the same three flags in reverse order: blue-and-orange, then checked, then green-and-white.
The game points out that all three sample flags are symmetrical, so none of them changes its look when you see it from behind. Only the order flips.
Super Hint: where to look
Count the copies you'd see from the other side as well. There's one on the string of flags at the back of the scene, the one that runs highest across the sky.
Add that to the copy near the top-left corner from Hint 2, and you have your number.
Answer and full solution
The answer below covers every copy of the sequence, with pictures of where each one hangs and of the solved puzzle. Open it when you're ready.
Show the answer
The answer is 2. Write 2 on the touch screen and submit. The sequence appears once as it is, near the top-left corner, and once in reverse on the back string, which is how it looks from the other side.
| Copy | Where | Flags, left to right | Why it counts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Second string from the back, near the top-left corner | Green and white, checked, blue and orange | Same order as the sample |
| 2 | Back string, toward the right | Blue and orange, checked, green and white | Reversed order, so it matches from the other side |
Step by step:
- Find the copy near the top-left corner. On the second string from the back, the first three flags you can see on the left are green and white, checked, then blue and orange: the sample exactly. That's one.
- Read every string backward as well. The flags are double-sided, and all three sample flags are symmetrical, so from the other side the sequence just looks reversed: blue and orange, checked, green and white.
- Check the back string. This is the string that runs highest across the scene, from the top left down toward the right. Toward its right end it has blue and orange, checked, then green and white. That's the reversed sequence, so it's the second copy.
- Rule out the lookalikes (see below). No other string has the three flags next to each other in either order.
- Write 2 in the answer area and submit.
If your answer keeps failing:
- You wrote 1. That's only the copy you see from the front. The game's correct-answer text counts the copy you see "from the other side" too.
- You counted a near miss. Low on the left, a blue flag with yellow dots sits next to a checked flag and a green-and-white flag. Blue with yellow dots isn't blue and orange, so it doesn't count. On the string that rises to the right, the checked flag and the blue-and-orange flag sit side by side before a green-and-white flag, but in the wrong order to match either way.
- You reversed flags that don't need it. Only the order changes from behind. The three sample flags look the same from both sides, so don't go looking for mirror images of them.
Picarats, hints and hint coins
Carnival Colors starts at 20 picarats and can drop to 15 and then 10 after wrong answers. How many misses lead to each lower value isn't clear, so guessing can cost you. Hints cost hint coins, not picarats: each of the first three hints costs one coin and the Super Hint costs two, so opening all four costs five coins.
Carnival Square only has three coins to collect at this point (see Hint coins in Carnival Square), so check how many you have before you rely on the Super Hint. The hints on this page are free.
Versions and systems
- Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS and New 3DS: the puzzle and its answer are the same on every 3DS model. You write the answer with the stylus on the touch screen.
- US and UK English versions: same flags, same answer. The UK version calls the puzzle Carnival Colours, the giver Serena instead of Madelaine, and says "pattern" where the North American text says "sequence".
- Japanese Miracle Mask Plus: this puzzle appears to be unchanged.
- Other systems: Miracle Mask is a 3DS game. As of October 2026 there's no Switch, mobile or PC version of it.
Madelaine and the Masked Gentleman (story spoiler)
Spoiler warning: this section covers the scene around the puzzle. Madelaine has just watched the Masked Gentleman turn people to stone, and she treats it as the best show she's ever seen: "People turned into stone? What a show! WHAT A SHOW!" When the Professor tells her it was no show, she introduces herself ("Madelaine. Call me Maddy.") and says she hasn't seen a piece with such tension in a long while, "Not since this puzzle, anyway!"
Once the puzzle is solved she wonders whether you know the Masked Gentleman. Emmy points out that he could be anywhere, and the Professor agrees: "He has protected his identity in a town full of masked individuals." Madelaine then mentions a boutique in the merchant district that rents costumes and has lots of masks, which fits where the chapter's investigation goes next. Talk to her afterward and she's still raving: "Paris, London, Milan--I've seen shows all over, but this was..."
FAQ
Where is the answer to Puzzle 008?
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 008 called?
Carnival Colors in North America and Carnival Colours in the UK. In Japanese it's 旗の並び方.
Who gives you Puzzle 008, Madelaine or Serena?
The same woman. She's Madelaine (Maddy) in the North American version and Serena in the UK English version.
I missed Puzzle 008. Can I still get it?
Yes. It's optional, and it should go to Nanna Grams at the start of Chapter 3, along with the other puzzles you missed.
Why is my count wrong when I've checked every string?
The flags are double-sided, which changes what counts as a match. Hint 2 and Hint 3 explain it without giving the number away.
How many picarats is Puzzle 008 worth?
20 picarats at first. Wrong answers can lower that to 15 and then 10.
Is Daily Puzzle 008 the same as Puzzle 008?
No. Daily Puzzle 008 is Kingdom 01, from the Kingdoms set, unrelated to Carnival Colors.
More Miracle Mask puzzles
- Puzzle 001: Stumble's Balloons
- Puzzle 002: Where's Mother?
- Puzzle 003: Stumble's Banners
- Puzzle 004: Bumper Perspective
- Puzzle 005: Robot Factory
- Puzzle 006: Bunny-Hop Swap
- Puzzle 007: A Toasty Toast
- Puzzle 009: Stamp Stumper
- Puzzle 010: The Place to Be!
- Puzzle 011: Backstage Blunder
- Puzzle 012: Sharing the Burden
- Puzzle 013: Ancient Arti-facts
- Puzzle 014: Bite of Bygone Days
- Puzzle 015: Fix the Fossil
- 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.