Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 041: From the Sidelines Hints and Answer

Puzzle 041 is From the Sidelines, a 40-picarat Circle Answer puzzle that Chief Sheffield gives you in the Briefing Room in Monte d'Or, in Chapter 3. A little boy stops somewhere in town and watches people move in three different patterns, shown on the top screen as dots labelled A, B and C. You have to work out where he was standing and circle that place on the town map on the touch screen.

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

This page covers story Puzzle 041 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS, in the US and UK English versions, using the North American text. If you're after Daily Puzzle 041 or Puzzle 41 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 041? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 041 From the Sidelines: on the left, the top screen with three speech bubbles labelled A, B and C over a background of trees and sky, one dark blue dot in bubble A, two in bubble B and one in bubble C, a girl with a red bow at the bottom left and a woman in a white hat and yellow top at the bottom right; on the right, the touch-screen town map with roads, a railway line, a river and six labelled places — Illustration of the top screen and the touch-screen map. In the game the dots keep moving.

What Puzzle 041 is

Puzzle 041 at a glance
Name	From the Sidelines (the same in the US and UK English versions)
Type	Circle Answer (circle one place on the map)
Picarats	40
Location	Briefing Room, Monte d'Or
Chapter	Chapter 3
How you start it	Talk to Chief Sheffield after the task force meeting
Solved by	Professor Layton
Previous puzzle number	Puzzle 040, Crossed Connections (hidden in Reception)
Next puzzle number	Puzzle 042, Couple at the Café (City Hall Steps)

The question reads: "A little boy was walking around town when he came to a stop and just watched people move around for a bit. They were moving around in three distinct patterns, as shown. The people he watched were in profile the entire time they were moving. Where was the boy watching from? Circle your answer on the map." The objective bar sums it up as "Where was the boy?"

Reading the three patterns

Each dot on the top screen stands for a person, and the patterns keep repeating for as long as the puzzle is open. "In profile" means you're seeing everything from the side, as if you were standing level with the people and watching.

The top screen with each dot's path traced: in bubble A a red U-shaped arc with arrowheads at both ends; in bubble B two short upright teal tracks side by side, each with arrowheads at both ends; in bubble C a brown triangle with a steep right side, a long sloping left side and a flat bottom, with arrowheads showing the dot going up the right side, down the left side and back along the bottom — Illustration of how each dot moves.

A: one dot on a U-shaped arc. It goes back and forth along a curve, lowest in the middle. It moves fastest at the bottom and slows down as it reaches each end, then comes back.
B: two dots going up and down. They're a short distance apart and always move in opposite directions: when the left one rises, the right one sinks, and the other way round. Neither moves sideways.
C: one dot going round a triangle. From the bottom right it climbs steeply up and to the left, then comes down a long, gentle slope to the left, and finally moves along the flat bottom back to where it started. Then it goes round again, always in the same direction.

The touch screen shows a map of the town with six labelled places. You answer by drawing a circle around one of them with the stylus. The game's control help says, "If done correctly, a finger icon will appear within the circle, pointing at your answer. If it doesn't, try again."

Puzzle names

Puzzle 041 names
Version	Puzzle name
North America	From the Sidelines
UK	From the Sidelines
Japanese	そこはどこ？ (Soko wa Doko?, roughly "where is that?")

From the Sidelines is probably the name in both English versions. The UK question is worded differently: the boy "stopped in a certain place and stood watching people for a while", and instead of "in profile" it ends, "By the way, the patterns are shown as seen from the side." The UK hints also say "apparatus" rather than "apparatuses". The patterns, the map and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions; the UK answer text spells it "see-saw". The UK version probably calls the room Police HQ.

Wrong Puzzle 041?

Daily Puzzle 041 in Miracle Mask is a different puzzle: Mural 04, from the Vault of the Ancients set (Tomb 04, from the Tomb of the Ancients set, in the UK version). There are no moving dots or town map in it.
Puzzle 040, Crossed Connections, is the puzzle before this one, hidden in Reception. If yours is about cables and sockets, that's the one.
Puzzle 073, Ancient Arithmetic, is a much later puzzle in the same Briefing Room, in Chapter 5.
Puzzle 41 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours doesn't show three moving patterns and a town map, you're in the wrong game.

Where you find it

In Chapter 3, after the three cases, the task force meeting in the Briefing Room ends and your objective becomes "Resume the Investigation!" Chief Sheffield is still in the room, standing in the aisle between the desks near the front. Talk to him. He says, "Even if he flees, we'll be able to track his movements. Everyone moves in patterns..." Then the puzzle starts.

Sheffield keeps the puzzle while you follow the next objectives (the gallery, Madame Lapushka's and the circus), until your objective becomes "Listen to the Tiger's Tale!". If you leave it unsolved, it probably goes to Nanna Grams (known as Elizabeth in the UK version) at the start of Chapter 5.

The Briefing Room: rows of wooden desks with pink chairs, a film projector on a small table at the front left, a small blackboard on the left wall, window blinds on the side walls, a cabinet and a notice board at the back and hanging ceiling lights. A teal ring labelled Sheffield: Puzzle 041 marks a spot in the aisle between the desks, and numbered rings mark hint coin spots 1 at the projector table, 2 at a ceiling light at the upper right and 3 at the small blackboard on the left wall — Illustration of the Briefing Room. The teal ring marks roughly where Sheffield stands, and the numbers mark roughly where the three hint coins are. The people in the room aren't shown.

The Briefing Room has three hint coins. They appear to be under the projector on the small table at the front left (1), at the ceiling light at the upper right (2) and at the small blackboard on the left wall (3). There's no zoomed-in view in this room. Each coin can be collected only once, and the coins belong to the room, so you won't find them again on a later visit.

When the answer comes back wrong

"Too bad!" The game's message for a wrong answer adds, "Remember, all these movement patterns are happening in the same location." Look for one place where all three would happen.
You read the dots as people walking. None of the three patterns is how people move on foot, so think about what is moving them.
You forgot "in profile". Everything is seen from the side. A pattern that looks odd from above can make sense from the side.
No finger icon appeared. The circle didn't register, so it doesn't count as an answer. Draw a closed loop all the way round the place's picture and try again.

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

None of the movement patterns look much like those of people at first glance. People wouldn't be moving like that on their own...

Hint 2

The people in patterns A and B appear to be using something that's causing them to move like that. They have a pretty regular rhythm going too...

Hint 3

The three movement patterns are all of people on kinds of apparatuses. All three can, of course, be found at the same place. Maybe if you went to that place, you wouldn't be sure which apparatus you wanted to play on first?

Super Hint

The three kinds of apparatuses are all things people get on for fun. The little boy was just watching, but maybe he wanted to join in too?

Answer and full solution

The answer below explains each pattern, rules out the other places and shows how to circle your answer, with a picture of the solved puzzle. Open it when you're ready.

Show the answer

Answer: the Park. On the touch screen, draw a circle around the Park, then check that the finger icon appears inside your circle.

A is someone on a swing. Seen from the side, a swing seat moves along a U-shaped arc, fastest at the bottom and slowing at each end before it comes back.
B is two people on a seesaw. Seen from the side, the two ends of a seesaw only go up and down, and when one end goes up, the other comes down.
C is someone on a slide. They climb the steep ladder, slide down the long slope and run back along the ground to the ladder to go again.
All three are in one place. A swing, a seesaw and a slide are all playground equipment. Of the six places on the map, only the Park would have a playground, so that's where the boy was watching from.

The game confirms it: "Correct! He was at the park. A shows someone swinging on a swing. B shows two people on a seesaw. C shows someone sliding down a slide and running back to the ladder to go again. What fun!"

You may see the patterns matched differently elsewhere, with one of them called a merry-go-round. Going by the game's own explanation above, A is the swing, B the seesaw and C the slide. The answer is the Park either way.

Left, the top screen after a correct answer: a playground with a swing set, an orange slide with a ladder and a seesaw, with the girl and the woman at the bottom; right, the touch-screen map with an orange loop drawn around the Park and a pointing-finger icon inside the loop — Illustration of the solved puzzle.

If your answer keeps failing:

Your loop isn't closed. Draw all the way round the Park's picture so that the end of the line meets the start.
The finger icon didn't appear. The game didn't register a circle. Try again with a slightly bigger, rounder loop.
Your loop takes in another place too. Keep the circle round the Park only, clear of the labels next to it.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

From the Sidelines shows 40 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 40, 32 or 24 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value. If you quit, Sheffield says, "You solved all of those cases, but you can't solve this puzzle?" When you come back to try again, he reminds you, "There are patterns to people's movements."

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 Briefing Room's three coins aren't enough for every hint, so you'd need coins saved from elsewhere to open them all. Or use the free hints on this page and save your coins.

Does it unlock anything?

It doesn't appear to, and it's probably not mandatory either. You get the picarats, and the puzzle counts toward your total.

Versions

Nintendo 3DS family: this page covers the 3DS game. You answer by circling a place on the touch screen with the stylus.
US and UK English versions: same name, same patterns, same map and same answer. The UK question and hints are worded a little differently.

The scene around the puzzle

Sheffield is in a good mood after the meeting: "You helped us out here, Layton! Now it's clear that the Masked Gentleman has a partner in crime, and I think we've got him!" He's waiting on a warrant for his only suspect, and he's sure the man can't get away: "Even if he flees, we'll be able to track his movements. Everyone moves in patterns..."

When it's solved, Sheffield says, "I knew you'd get it!" He adds that the suspect is under close surveillance, and he hopes to learn something "before Bloom does!" Layton reminds him, "As satisfying as that may be, please keep in mind that we all have the same goal here."

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 041?

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 041 called?

From the Sidelines, in both the North American and UK English versions. In Japanese it's そこはどこ？.

Where is Puzzle 041?

In the Briefing Room in Monte d'Or, in Chapter 3. Talk to Chief Sheffield after the task force meeting, once your objective is "Resume the Investigation!".

What does "in profile" mean in this puzzle?

That the patterns are seen from the side. The UK version says it directly: "the patterns are shown as seen from the side." Read the up-and-down and back-and-forth movements as if you were standing level with the people.

Do I have to solve Puzzle 041?

It doesn't appear to be required. If you leave it, Nanna Grams probably has it later.

How many picarats is Puzzle 041 worth?

It shows 40 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 40, 32 or 24 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value.

Is Daily Puzzle 041 the same as Puzzle 041?

No. Daily Puzzle 041 is Mural 04, from the Vault of the Ancients set (Tomb 04, from the Tomb of the Ancients set, in the UK version). Story Puzzle 041 is the three-patterns puzzle in the Briefing Room.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

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