Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 089: Pumpkin Spinners Hints and Answer

Puzzle 089 is Pumpkin Spinners, a 30-picarat Multiple Choice puzzle at Pumpkin Spinners in Pumpkin Park, in Chapter 5. You start it by tapping the pumpkin teacup ride in the middle of the view. Five pumpkin-shaped cups, labeled A to E, keep spinning on the top screen, and one of them is not like all the others. Your job is to find the odd one out and tap its letter on the touch screen.

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

This page covers story Puzzle 089 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, the 3DS game (US and UK English). The cups and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions; quotes use the North American text. If you're after Daily Puzzle 089, the other puzzles in Pumpkin Park, or Puzzle 89 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 089? below.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Puzzle 089 Pumpkin Spinners: on the top screen, five pumpkin cups labeled A to E on a green-and-cream swirl ringed by yellow lights, two blue cups, two orange cups and one white cup, each with a seat in four colored sections and its letter in the middle; on the touch screen, the same five cups in the same layout, seen without their seats, with a round letter button from A to E in each — Illustration of the puzzle at the start, on the top screen and the touch screen. In the game the cups on the top screen never stop spinning.

What Puzzle 089 is

Puzzle 089 at a glance
Name	Pumpkin Spinners (US and UK)
Type	Multiple Choice
Picarats	30
Location	Pumpkin Spinners, Pumpkin Park
Chapter	Chapter 5
Objective	"Investigate the Attractions!"
How you start it	Tap the pumpkin teacup ride in the middle of the Pumpkin Spinners view
Previous puzzle number	Puzzle 088, Glass Arrows (Carousel)
Next puzzle number	Puzzle 090, Loose Connection (Pumpkin Spinners)

The puzzle reads: "Here's a popular ride found at fairgrounds everywhere—the spinning teacups! Well... something like that, at least. Aren't those pumpkins?! Anyway, of these five spinning cups, one is not like all the others. Can you find the odd one out?" The objective bar says "Find the odd one out."

The top screen shows the five cups from above, each turning at its own speed, some one way and some the other. Their letters stay upright in the middle of each cup while the cups turn. The touch screen shows the same five cups in the same layout, standing still, with a letter button on each. Tap the letter of the cup you think is the odd one out.

Puzzle names

Puzzle 089 names
Version	Puzzle name
North America	Pumpkin Spinners
UK	Pumpkin Spinners
Japanese	仲間はずれのカップ (Nakama-hazure no Kappu, "the odd cup out")

The name is the same in the US and UK versions. The UK text differs only in spelling and small wording details: it writes "colours", and Hint 1 says "look elsewhere" instead of "look somewhere else". The cups and the answer are the same in the US and UK English versions.

Wrong Puzzle 089?

Daily Puzzle 089 is Train 02, from the Trains and Train Spotters set.
Puzzle 088, Glass Arrows, is the puzzle before this one, started from the roller coaster at the Carousel. If yours is about arrows, that's the one you've got.
Puzzle 090, Loose Connection, is the other park puzzle at Pumpkin Spinners. You start it from the Ferris wheel, not the teacup ride.
Puzzle 087, Merry-Go-Tiles, is the carousel puzzle at the Carousel.
Puzzle 117, Ride Rotation, is a later puzzle at Pumpkin Spinners, in Chapter 7, about a girl on a spinning teacup ride. If yours asks which way she'll face, that's the one you've got.
Puzzle 89 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours doesn't show five spinning pumpkin cups, you're in the wrong game.

Where you find it

In Chapter 5, the group goes to Pumpkin Park at night. At the entrance, Yukkles the clown checks your puzzle count: "You must have solved at least 50 puzzles to ride the rides here." Inside, Grosky reports a poster that reads, "Try to find a new spin on the miraculous!" Layton points out, "There is no shortage of things that spin here: the Ferris wheel, the carousel, the pumpkin ride..." Your objective becomes "Investigate the Attractions!" Pumpkin Spinners is the park area with the pumpkin teacup ride. Tap the ride in the middle of the view. Luke asks, "The Pumpkin Spinners ride... Could that be a 'spin on the miraculous'?" Layton says, "Perhaps." and "I think it definitely warrants a closer look." Emmy adds, "Hmmm. There is something strange here, but I can't quite put my finger on it." Then the puzzle starts.

You have to solve it to move the story on. The story continues only when all four park puzzles are solved: this one, Loose Connection from the Ferris wheel here at Pumpkin Spinners, and Merry-Go-Tiles and Glass Arrows at the Carousel. You can solve them in any order. The teacup ride keeps offering this puzzle until you solve it.

Pumpkin Spinners in Pumpkin Park at night: a round teacup ride with a red-and-cream striped base behind an iron fence, a bare twisted tree in its middle and riders sitting in orange pumpkin cups and two people standing at the right of the ride; behind it, a tall brick tower, a Ferris wheel with colored gondolas, a glowing lamp post, a small pointed-roof building and dark trees; on the left, a big leafy tree; a gold ring circles the middle of the teacup ride, a label reads Pumpkin Spinners, Puzzle 089, and four numbered rings mark the top of the big tree, the top of the brick tower, the fence at the front right and the top of the lamp post — Illustration of Pumpkin Spinners at night. The gold ring marks the teacup ride that starts the puzzle, and the numbered rings mark the four hint coins.

Pumpkin Spinners has four hint coins, all in the normal view: at the top of the big leafy tree on the left (1), on top of the tall brick tower in front of the Ferris wheel (2), on the iron fence around the ride, at the front right (3), and at the top of the lamp post on the right (4). Each coin can be collected only once.

When the odd one out won't show itself

You lose track of which cup is which. Each letter stays upright in the middle of its cup while the cup spins, and the buttons on the touch screen are laid out the same way as the cups.
You're only looking at the outside of the cups. Compare every part of each cup, not just the outside.
The spinning makes it hard to compare. The Super Hint below has a tip for exactly that.
You picked a cup and got "Too bad." You can try again. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value.
You can't find the puzzle. It's at Pumpkin Spinners in Pumpkin Park, in Chapter 5: tap the pumpkin teacup ride in the middle of the view.

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: the faces

The creepy faces on the outside of the cups don't have anything in common.

You'll have to look somewhere else to find the difference.

Hint 2: the cup colors

There are orange, blue, and white cups, so there's no real pattern there.

Try looking for something that most of the cups have in common.

Hint 3: where to look

Did you notice that the seats inside the cups are different colors?

With a closer look at this, you might even find the odd one out.

Super Hint: the spinning

Is the spinning a bit too much for you?

Well, here's a little tip: use the Memo Function to freeze time itself!

Answer and full solution

The answer below names the odd cup, compares the five cups side by side, and shows the finished puzzle. Open it when you're ready.

Show the answer

Answer: B, the orange cup at the top right. Tap the B button on the touch screen.

Look inside the cups, at the seats. Every seat is split into four colored quarters: red, yellow, purple and green. On cups A, C, D and E, the colors go red, yellow, purple, green as you go clockwise around the seat, so red is opposite purple and yellow is opposite green. On cup B they go red, green, yellow, purple, so red is opposite yellow. B has the same four colors in a different order.

Cups A to E side by side, each turned so its red quarter is at the top right; cups A, C, D and E have the note clockwise from red: red, yellow, purple, green; cup B, outlined in gold, has the note clockwise from red: red, green, yellow, purple — Illustration of the five cups, each turned so its red quarter is at the top right. Only cup B, outlined in gold, has a different order.

Why it works. Spinning turns a seat around, but it can't change the order of its colors. That's why the outsides are a red herring: the faces are all different, and the outside colors are two orange, two blue and one white. The seat order is the one thing four cups share and one doesn't.

The game confirms it: "Fair play! The seats are split into colored segments, and every pumpkin except B has the same order of colors. It's hard to tell with all that spinning, though!"

The finished puzzle: on the top screen, the five cups standing still, with cup B at the top right lit up brightly and cups A, C, D and E dimmed; on the touch screen, the five cups with their letter buttons A to E — Illustration of the finished puzzle, with cup B lit up.

If it still doesn't work out:

You picked C. C is orange like B, but its seat has the same order as A, D and E.
You picked D. D is the only white cup, but the outside color doesn't decide it, as Hint 2 says.
You compared the seats by where the colors are on the screen. The cups are turned to different angles, so compare the order going around each seat, not which color is at the top.

Picarats, hints and hint coins

Pumpkin Spinners shows 30 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 30, 24 or 18 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value. A wrong answer brings the message "Too bad. It'd be so much easier if they weren't all spinning!" When you come back to try again, Layton says, "There is something amiss..."

Hints cost hint coins, not picarats. Hints 1 to 3 cost one hint coin each and the Super Hint costs two, five in total. Pumpkin Spinners' four coins cover Hints 1 to 3 with one coin left over, one short of the Super Hint, so you'll need a coin saved from earlier for that one, or you can use the free hints on this page.

Does it unlock anything?

It doesn't give you an item, but it moves the story on. After the puzzle, Luke checks under the pumpkins and finds one of the Masked Gentleman's cards. Once you have all four cards from the park puzzles, they form a map that points to Topsy Tower, and your objective becomes "Head to Topsy Tower!" You also get the picarats, and the puzzle counts toward your total.

Versions

Nintendo 3DS family: this page covers the 3DS game. The cups spin on the top screen, and you answer by tapping a letter button on the touch screen.
US and UK English versions: the cups and the answer are the same. The UK text differs only in small details of wording and spelling.

The scene around the puzzle

When the puzzle is solved, Layton says, "It looks like something is hidden beneath one of the pumpkins." Luke answers, "Layton's apprentice to the rescue! I'll get a closer look." Emmy warns, "Be careful, Luke. You might catch a case of vertigo searching that ride." Layton laughs: "Ha ha. I think he'll be safe."

While Luke searches, Emmy asks, "Professor, do you have any idea what the Masked Gentleman may do tonight?" Layton replies, "I don't. The fact that he chose such a crowded venue does worry me, though." Then Luke comes back: "Just like you said, Professor! This card was stuck underneath one of the pumpkins!" Emmy says, "Good work, Luke. It looks like it has an image of the Mask of Chaos there." Layton wonders, "It's a message from the Masked Gentleman. What could it mean?"

FAQ

Where is the answer to Puzzle 089?

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 089 called?

Pumpkin Spinners, in both the North American and UK versions. In Japanese it's 仲間はずれのカップ.

Where is Puzzle 089?

At Pumpkin Spinners in Pumpkin Park, in Chapter 5. Tap the pumpkin teacup ride in the middle of the view.

Do I have to solve Puzzle 089?

Yes. The story moves on only when all four park puzzles are solved: this one, Loose Connection, Merry-Go-Tiles and Glass Arrows.

How many picarats is Puzzle 089 worth?

It shows 30 picarats when it starts. The puzzle can award 30, 24 or 18 picarats. Wrong answers may reduce the picarat value.

Is Daily Puzzle 089 the same as Puzzle 089?

No. It's a different puzzle, listed under Wrong Puzzle 089?. Story Puzzle 089 is the spinning pumpkin cups puzzle at Pumpkin Spinners.

More Miracle Mask puzzles

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