Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 037: Spin Shenanigans Hints and Answer

Puzzle 037 is Spin Shenanigans, a 40-picarat Write Answer puzzle at the City Monument in Monte d'Or, during Chapter 3. Humbert, a gambler who has just lost his whole paycheck, wants a puzzle solved before he'll share what he knows about the Masked Gentleman. The roulette wheel in his puzzle doesn't stop at random: on successive spins the ball lands on 10, 9, 8, 5 and then 3, and you write the number where it lands next. It doesn't appear to be a puzzle the story needs, but it's an easy one to pick up while you're passing through.

Video: Spin Shenanigans solved. It shows the answer, so skip it if you only want the hints.

This page covers story Puzzle 037 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS (US and UK English), using the North American text. If you're after Daily Puzzle 037 or Puzzle 37 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 037? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 037 Spin Shenanigans: on the top, a roulette wheel with numbers painted around its rim, a gold cross-shaped spinner in the middle and a white ball resting in the pocket next to the 3, with a green-haired character in a red bow tie and purple waistcoat thinking under two question marks on the right; below, two empty answer boxes on a squared pad with a square clear button with a black diamond under each — Illustration of the roulette wheel on the top screen and the answer boxes on the touch screen.

What Puzzle 037 is

Puzzle 037 at a glance
Name	Spin Shenanigans (the same in the US and UK English versions)
Type	Write Answer (write a number)
Picarats	40
Location	City Monument, Monte d'Or
Chapter	Chapter 3
Given by	Humbert, a gambler
Solved by	Professor Layton
When it's there	From the time your objective becomes "Go to Dalston's Mansion!" through "Head to the One-Ring Circus!"; he's gone once it reads "Listen to the Tiger's Tale!"
Previous puzzle number	Puzzle 036, Going Dough-Nuts! (Gallery Plaza)
Next puzzle number	Puzzle 038, Pattern Pending (One-Ring Circus)

The question reads: "This roulette wheel isn't behaving as it should! Instead of stopping at random, the ball seems to land on numbers according to some unknown rule. On successive spins, the ball lands on 10, 9, 8, 5, then 3. Where will the ball land next?" The objective bar at the top of the touch screen says "What comes next?" You answer by writing a number in the two boxes on the touch screen.

Reading the wheel

The wheel is the whole puzzle, so it's worth a careful look before you start. The numbers around the rim are painted at odd angles, and a couple of them are easy to misread.

Close-up of the Puzzle 037 roulette wheel: a gold outer rim, twelve red and dark brown pockets with white numbers painted at different angles, a white ball resting by the 3 at the upper left and a gold cross-shaped spinner in the middle — Illustration of the roulette wheel up close. The left edge of the wheel is cut off on the top screen too.

The ball is already on the 3. That's the last of the five spins in the question. The puzzle asks where the next spin ends.
The wheel has twelve pockets. Each has its own number, and none of them repeats.
Some numbers are painted at an angle. The 1, 4 and 11 on the right-hand side are tilted or turned, and on the left edge, partly cut off by the screen, the figure that looks like a sideways Z appears to be the 7 and the curly one below it appears to be the 9.
Your answer is a number on the wheel. The ball has to land in one of the pockets.

If you've tried to find a pattern in 10, 9, 8, 5, 3 by subtracting or adding, you're not alone, but the numbers on their own won't get you there. The game's wrong-answer line only says, "These numbers aren't random. There's definitely some kind of rule."

Puzzle names

Puzzle 037 names
Version	Puzzle name
North America	Spin Shenanigans
UK	Spin Shenanigans
Japanese	ルーレットの数 (Rūretto no Kazu, "the roulette numbers")

The Japanese title is ルーレットの数. The North American version carries a different Japanese label for it, ルーレットのナゾ.

The UK English text differs only in small details: the spins are listed as "10, 9, 8, 5 then 3", and the Super Hint and the answer text say "anticlockwise" where the North American text says "counterclockwise". The wheel and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions.

Wrong Puzzle 037?

Daily Puzzle 037 in Miracle Mask is a different puzzle: Alchemy 04, from The Alchemist's Lair set. There's no roulette wheel in it.
Puzzle 011, Backstage Blunder, is the other puzzle you get at the City Monument, from Juggles the clown in Chapter 1. If your puzzle is about a clown's props, you've got that one.
Puzzle 37 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours doesn't show a roulette wheel, you're in the wrong game.

Where you get it

Puzzle 037 comes in Chapter 3. After the visit to Henry's Study, your objective becomes "Go to Dalston's Mansion!", and from then on Humbert is at the City Monument, the small square with the stone monument on a patch of grass. He's standing on the path to the left of the monument. Talk to him and he's in the middle of a meltdown: "When will I learn?! Never bet on black! NEVER BET ON BLACK! Looks like jam and haggis sandwiches for me all week! Again!" He has some information about the Masked Gentleman, but "If you think I'm gonna give you info for free, you got another thing coming, pal. Cough up some brainpower!" Then the puzzle starts.

The City Monument in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask: a stone monument on a lawn on the right, statues and arcades behind it and a blue and white checked banner in the distance. A gold ring with the name plate Humbert, Puzzle 037 marks a spot on the path left of the monument, and four hint coin spots are numbered 1 at the pointing-hand sign on the far left, 2 at the top of the monument, 3 at the door at the back on the right and 4 at the head of the statue on the left — Illustration of the City Monument. The gold ring marks roughly where Humbert stands (he isn't shown here), and the numbers mark the four hint coins in the list below.

Humbert stays at the City Monument while your objective goes through "Check City Hall!", the briefing at City Hall, the trips to Montsarton Gallery and Madame Lapushka's and "Head to the One-Ring Circus!", and he's gone once you're told to "Listen to the Tiger's Tale!" at the One-Ring Circus. It doesn't look like a puzzle the story needs: it doesn't appear to give a reward, and it's probably not mandatory. In the game, Nanna Grams (known as Elizabeth in the UK version) says puzzles you miss can be picked up later from her; this one probably goes to her at the start of Chapter 5.

The City Monument has four hint coins, all in the normal view. There's no zoomed-in view to search here in Chapter 3.

The pointing-hand sign on the far left.
The top of the monument.
The door at the back on the right.
The head of the statue on the left.

Each coin can be collected only once. These are the same four coins as on your Chapter 1 visit for Puzzle 011, so if you tapped them then, there's nothing left to pick up here.

Hints, one at a time

These are the game's own hints, word for word from the North American version and in the same order. 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: Only on a wheel

The rule for this sequence of numbers is only possible on a spinning wheel. What could it be?

Hint 2: Read the wheel in order

Take a look at all the numbers on the wheel in order. Do you notice anything strange? Is there one missing?

Hint 3: Count the spaces

The ball landed on 10, 9, 8, then 5. Starting on 10, count how many spaces there are around the wheel until you reach the 9, then from the 9 to the 8, and from the 8 to the 5. You should see a pattern start to emerge.

Super Hint: Which way round?

Did you count the spaces from the 10 to the 9? If you need a bit more help, make sure you're counting counterclockwise, and everything should become clear.

Answer and full solution

The answer below covers every step, with pictures of the finished puzzle. Open it when you're ready.

Show the answer

The answer is 6. Each time the ball lands on a number, it moves that many spaces counterclockwise for the next spin. From the 3 it moves three spaces counterclockwise, to the 6. The game's answer text says, "When the ball lands on a number, the next number will be that many spaces away in a counterclockwise direction."

Diagram of the Puzzle 037 roulette wheel with the ball's landings numbered 1 on the 10, 2 on the 9, 3 on the 8, 4 on the 5 and 5 on the 3, a teal question mark on the 6, and a teal arrow around the middle pointing counterclockwise. A list beside it reads: 10 to 9, 10 spaces; 9 to 8, 9 spaces; 8 to 5, 8 spaces; 5 to 3, 5 spaces; 3 to 6, 3 spaces; lands on 6. No 12 on the wheel: a 12 would repeat forever — Illustration of the solution, with the ball's landings numbered.

Step by step:

Find the 10. It's near the bottom of the wheel, just left of the 13.
Count counterclockwise to the 9. Going 13, 2, 5, 11, 4, 1, 8, 3, 7, 9, the 9 is ten spaces away. The ball left a 10 and moved 10 spaces.
Check the next jumps. From the 9, nine spaces counterclockwise is the 8. From the 8, eight spaces is the 5. From the 5, five spaces is the 3. Every jump matches the number the ball left.
Do the last jump. The ball is on the 3, so count three spaces counterclockwise: 7, 9, 6. It lands on the 6.
Write 6 and touch Submit. The game accepts 6, and it also accepts 06.

The missing number is part of the joke. The game explains, "The number 12 is missing from the wheel. If 12 was there, landing on a 12 would make the next number 12, and the next, and the next..." Twelve spaces is a full lap, so the ball would never leave it.

Spin Shenanigans solved: the white ball now rests by the 6 at the lower left of the roulette wheel, the green-haired character grins with arms folded against a red and green striped background, and 6 is written in the first answer box — Illustration of the solved puzzle with 6 written in.

If your answer keeps failing:

You wrote 4. That's three spaces clockwise from the 3. The ball moves counterclockwise.
You wrote 9. You probably counted the 3 itself as the first space. Start counting from the pocket after the one the ball is in.
You worked from the numbers alone. The gaps between 10, 9, 8, 5 and 3 don't follow a pattern by themselves. The rule only works on the wheel.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

Spin Shenanigans shows 40 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 40, 35 or 30 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value. A wrong answer gets "Too bad." with the reminder that the numbers aren't random. If you try again, Humbert says, "Try again! I bet you can't do it. Not really betting on that, though! We didn't shake!" If you back out of the puzzle, he says, "Gonna take a break, eh?"

Hints cost hint coins, not picarats. The costs are one coin each for the first three hints and two for the Super Hint, five in total. The City Monument's four coins cover Hints 1 to 3 but not the Super Hint, and only if you didn't already collect them in Chapter 1. Or use the free hints on this page and save your coins.

Versions

Nintendo 3DS family: this page covers the 3DS game. You write the number in the answer boxes on the touch screen with the stylus.
US and UK English versions: same name, same wheel, same answer. The UK text is worded a little differently in places.

The scene around the puzzle

Humbert isn't happy: his paycheck is already gone, and now he has to give up his information too. Once the puzzle is solved, he grumbles, "First I lose my entire paycheck, and now I gotta turn over my only valuable info about those stupid miracles..." Layton asks, "Now, what was this about horses? And how is this linked to the Masked Gentleman?" Humbert answers, "Well, all I heard is that if you had a horse to sell around the time he first appeared, you could make some serious dough." Then he's off: "That's all I know. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go scrounge around for loose change under some park benches."

Emmy wonders, "Hmm. Why would he think that information was valuable? Was he betting on horse races as well?" Layton suggests, "Perhaps it has something to do with the incident in which the Masked Gentleman turned people into horses," and Emmy decides, "Something is fishy here. Or horsey..."

Talk to Humbert again and he's found a new lesson: "Argh! Never bet on red, either. NEVER BET ON RED, EITHER!" He adds, "I had a really nice suit earlier, but I lost it after I lost all of my chips." Luke says, "Sounds like he has a problem," Emmy notes, "The glamour of Monte d'Or can make some people forget there's more to life than just making money," and Luke finishes, "Yeah, there's losing it as well!" His character profile sums him up: he spends "every bit of his time and money on gambling."

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 037?

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 037 called?

Spin Shenanigans, in both the North American and UK English versions. In Japanese it's ルーレットの数.

Where is Puzzle 037?

At the City Monument in Monte d'Or, during Chapter 3. Talk to Humbert on the path to the left of the monument.

Why can't I find Humbert?

He doesn't turn up until your objective is "Go to Dalston's Mansion!", after the visit to Henry's Study. If you've already reached "Listen to the Tiger's Tale!" at the circus, he's gone. In the game, Nanna Grams says puzzles you miss can be picked up later from her; this one probably goes to her at the start of Chapter 5.

Do I have to solve Puzzle 037?

It doesn't appear to be required. It doesn't appear to give a reward, and it's probably not mandatory.

Are there hint coins at the City Monument?

Four, all in the normal view: the pointing-hand sign on the far left, the top of the monument, the door at the back on the right and the head of the statue on the left. They're the same coins as in Chapter 1, so they're gone if you collected them then.

How many picarats is Puzzle 037 worth?

It shows 40 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 40, 35 or 30 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value.

Is Daily Puzzle 037 the same as Puzzle 037?

No. Daily Puzzle 037 is Alchemy 04, from The Alchemist's Lair set. Story Puzzle 037 is Humbert's roulette wheel.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

For the rest of the game's puzzles, see the Miracle Mask puzzle index.