Puzzle 097 is Tilt to Traverse, a 40-picarat Maze Escape puzzle on Ruins B6 in Chapter 6. Young Hershel has finally caught up with Randall deep in the Akbadain ruins, but canals cut across the floor between them. Hershel can only cross the water on floating stepping stones, and you move those stones by tilting your Nintendo 3DS. Your job is to slide the stones into a path that gets Hershel across to Randall in the bottom right corner.
This page covers story Puzzle 097 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, the 3DS game (US and UK English). The canals and the solution are the same in the US and UK English versions; quotes use the North American text. If you're after Daily Puzzle 097, the later tilting puzzle, or Puzzle 97 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 097? below.
What Puzzle 097 is
| Name | Tilt to Traverse |
|---|---|
| Type | Maze Escape |
| Picarats | 40 |
| Location | Ruins B6, Akbadain |
| Chapter | Chapter 6 |
| When | The flashback with young Hershel and Randall |
| How you start it | It starts on its own when young Hershel reaches the room with the canals on Ruins B6 and Randall calls to him |
| Required? | Yes, it's mandatory: you have to solve it to move the story on |
| Previous puzzle number | Puzzle 096, Arach-attack! (Ruins B6) |
| Next puzzle number | Puzzle 098, Watertight Code (Ruins B7) |
The puzzle reads: "Just when Hershel and Randall think they're reunited, they find an aqueduct system separating them! Fortunately, you can make a safe path across for Hershel by using the walkways and floating stepping stones."
It goes on: "Tilt your Nintendo 3DS system backward, forward, left, or right to make the stepping stones slide in that direction. Watch out for the dark holes, though--if you slide a stepping stone over one, it will plug the hole and stay stuck there." The objective bar says "Get Hershel to Randall!"
The floor is twelve squares wide and nine high. Hershel starts in the top-left corner and Randall waits in the bottom-right corner. Green walkways run between the canals, and six stepping stones float in the water. When you tilt the system, every stone that can move slides as far as it can in that direction, until it hits a walkway or another stone. Tilting backward, away from you, slides the stones up the top screen, and tilting forward slides them down.
To move Hershel, tap the arrows on the touch screen. He walks along the walkways and can step onto a stepping stone, but he can't walk into open water. Hershel doesn't slide when you tilt, only the stones do.
The six dark holes are the catch. A stone that slides over one drops in, plugs it and stays stuck there for good. Hershel can walk across a plugged hole like a walkway. There's no wrong answer to submit, but if a stone gets stuck where you still need it, tap Restart and the stones and Hershel go back to where they started.
Puzzle names
| Version | Puzzle name |
|---|---|
| North America and UK | Tilt to Traverse |
| Japanese | 道つなぎ迷宮 (Michi Tsunagi Meikyū, "path-joining maze") |
The name is the same in the US and UK versions. The UK puzzle text is worded a little differently: Hershel and Randall "find themselves separated by an underground canal system", and you tilt the system "backwards, forwards, left or right". The UK hints also say "backwards" and "top-centre". The canals and the solution are the same in the US and UK English versions.
Wrong Puzzle 097?
- Daily Puzzle 097 is Police 03, from The Barking Beat set.
- Puzzle 146, Tilt to Traverse 2, is the harder tilting puzzle in Layton's Challenges, worth 60 picarats. Its objective is "Get the girl to her friend!" If yours isn't part of the Chapter 6 story, that's the one you've got.
- Puzzle 096, Arach-attack!, is the puzzle before this one, also on Ruins B6.
- Puzzle 098, Watertight Code, is the next puzzle, on Ruins B7.
- Puzzle 97 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours doesn't have you tilting stepping stones across canals, you're in the wrong game.
Where you find it
Chapter 6 is the long flashback in the Akbadain ruins, where you play as young Hershel exploring with Randall. On Ruins B6 the two of them are apart for a while. When Hershel reaches the room with the canals, Randall shouts from across the water, "Hershel! Hey, Hershel! Over here!" Hershel answers, "Randall!" and Randall calls, "The next level is just past this chamber! Come over here!" Then the puzzle starts. You don't need to tap or dig anything to find it.
It's mandatory. Hershel can't join Randall and head down to the next floor until it's solved.
When the stones won't line up
- Hershel can't leave the corner. Tilt once to get two stones in line with him, then walk him across them. Hint 2 tells you which way.
- You're not sure which way is backward. Backward means tipping the top of the system away from you. The stones slide up the top screen.
- The stone in the bottom right fell into a hole. Hint 1 warns about this one. Without it, Hershel can't get to Randall, so tap Restart.
- A stone slid too far. Stones always slide until something stops them. Use a walkway or another stone as a stopper, or plug a hole first so a stone stops beside it.
- Hershel won't move. He only walks onto walkways, stepping stones and plugged holes. Tilting never moves him; use the arrows on the touch screen.
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
To begin with, you need to move a stepping stone to get Hershel onto the first walkway.
It seems simple enough, but watch out for the stone in the bottom right. If that gets stuck in a hole, you'll never be able to reach Randall.
Hint 2
Let's run through the first step.
First, tilt your Nintendo 3DS backward. That should create a path to the walkway in the top-center of the screen. Move Hershel onto that walkway.
Hint 3
Continuing from Hint 2, the next step is to bring up the stepping stone in the bottom-left corner next to the fixed stepping stone in the top-right corner.
It's quite a long way, so be careful not to get it trapped in a hole on the way.
Super Hint
For those who are struggling with this, here's the secret formula from start to finish:
↑H↓←↓↑→↓→↑→↑→↑H
Starting with Hershel in his initial position, tilt your Nintendo 3DS in the direction of each arrow in turn. Where it says H, you'll need to move Hershel.
Answer and full solution
The answer below covers every tilt and both of Hershel's walks, with pictures of each stage and the finished puzzle. Open it when you're ready.
Show the answer
Answer: tilt backward, walk Hershel to the top walkway, then tilt forward, left, forward, backward, right, forward, right, backward, right, backward, right, backward, and walk Hershel to Randall. That's the Super Hint's formula, ↑H↓←↓↑→↓→↑→↑→↑H. An up arrow means tilt backward, so the stones slide up the top screen, and a down arrow means tilt forward.
| Move | Do this | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tilt backward (↑) | The two stones near Hershel slide up into the top row, right beside him. The stone on the right side of the floor drops into the hole near the top-right corner and plugs it. |
| 2 | Move Hershel (H) | Walk Hershel right, across both stones, onto the walkway in the top center. |
| 3 | Tilt forward (↓) | The two stones in the top row slide back down. The stone in the bottom right slides into the bottom row, just left of Randall. |
| 4 | Tilt left (←) | The stone in the middle of the right side drops into the hole to its left and plugs it. The other stones on the left move over too. |
| 5 | Tilt forward (↓) | A stone on the left drops into the hole below it and plugs it. |
| 6 to 14 | Tilt backward, right, forward, right, backward, right, backward, right, backward (↑→↓→↑→↑→↑) | The stone that started in the bottom-left corner zigzags across the floor and stops right below the plugged hole near the top-right corner. On move 7, the stone in the bottom right slides into the square just above Randall. |
| 15 | Move Hershel (H) | Walk Hershel along the stones, walkways and plugged hole to Randall. |
Moves 1 and 2. Tilt backward. The two stones next to Hershel's corner slide up into the top row and make a bridge, and the stone on the right side of the floor slides up into the hole near the top-right corner. That plugged hole is the "fixed stepping stone" Hint 3 talks about. Now walk Hershel right across both stones onto the walkway in the top center. He stays there until the last move.
Moves 3 to 5. Tilt forward, left, then forward again. Tilting forward sends the stone in the bottom right into the bottom row, where it's safe. Tilting left drops the stone in the middle of the right side into the hole beside it, and tilting forward again drops a stone on the left into the hole below it. Both holes are now plugged, so the long trip in the next moves can't lose its stone in them.
Moves 6 to 14. Now bring the bottom-left stone across, as Hint 3 says: tilt backward, right, forward, right, backward, right, backward, right, backward. The stone slides up the left side, right along the middle, down a row, right again, back up, right, up again, right to the right side, and finally up so it stops directly below the stuck stone near the top-right corner. Along the way, the right tilt on move 7 slides the stone from the bottom row into the square just above Randall.
Move 15. Walk Hershel to Randall. From the top walkway he goes down and right, over the two stones near the top-right corner, down the right side, back left along a walkway, across the plugged hole in the middle of the right side, right along the next walkway, and down over the last stone to Randall.
When Hershel reaches Randall, the puzzle is solved. The game says: "Phew!" and then, "Hershel and Randall are finally reunited. Now they can continue their exploration!"
If it still doesn't work out:
- The stones don't end up where the table says. Make sure Hershel walked to the top walkway on move 2 before you tilt again, and check that a tilt didn't register twice. Tap Restart and go through the moves again from the start.
- A stone dropped into the wrong hole. It can't be moved again, so tap Restart.
- Hershel stops partway on move 15. One of the stones isn't in place. Check that one stone sits directly below the stuck stone near the top-right corner and another sits just above Randall.
Picarats, hints and hint coins
Tilt to Traverse shows 40 picarats when it starts. Its three picarat values are all 40. There's no wrong answer to submit, and tapping Restart just puts the stones back, so solving it always awards 40 picarats.
Hints cost hint coins, not picarats. Hints 1 to 3 cost one hint coin each and the Super Hint costs two, five in total. You can also use the free hints on this page.
Does it unlock anything?
It doesn't give you an item, but it moves the story on. With the canals crossed, young Hershel and Randall are back together and can head down to the next floor of the ruins. You also get the picarats, and the puzzle counts toward your total.
Versions
- Nintendo 3DS family: this page covers the 3DS game. The canals appear on the top screen. You slide the stones by tilting the system, and you move Hershel with the arrows on the touch screen.
- US and UK English versions: the canals and the solution are the same. The UK puzzle text and hints are worded a little differently.
The scene around the puzzle
If you quit the puzzle, Hershel says, "All right, Randall. How do I do that?" When you come back to it, he says, "There must be something I can use to make a path over there."
Once Hershel is across, he asks, "Are you all right, Randall?" Randall answers, "It'll take more than a few traps to stop the archaeologist Randall Ascot! You OK?"
Hershel replies, "Still standing. Things got a bit...hairy. But I survived." Randall says, "We made it unscathed! A resounding success! OK, down we go!"
FAQ
Where is the answer to Puzzle 097?
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 097 called?
Tilt to Traverse, in both the North American and UK versions. In Japanese it's 道つなぎ迷宮.
Where is Puzzle 097?
On Ruins B6, in Chapter 6. It starts on its own when young Hershel reaches the room with the canals and Randall calls to him from across the water.
Do I have to solve Puzzle 097?
Yes, it's mandatory. Hershel can't rejoin Randall and go deeper into the ruins until he's across the canals.
Can I get Puzzle 097 wrong?
No. There's no wrong answer to submit, but if a stone gets stuck where you still need it, tap Restart to put everything back. It doesn't cost you picarats.
How many picarats is Puzzle 097 worth?
40. Its three picarat values are all 40.
Is Daily Puzzle 097 the same as Puzzle 097?
No. It's a different puzzle, listed under Wrong Puzzle 097?. Story Puzzle 097 is the tilting stepping-stone puzzle on Ruins B6.
More Miracle Mask puzzles
- Puzzle 096: Arach-attack!
- Puzzle 098: Watertight Code
- Puzzle 095: Snakes and Keys
- Puzzle 094: Cursed Case
- Puzzle 093: Hershel vs. Mummies!
- Puzzle 092: Ancient Artistry
- Puzzle 091: Totem Tumbler
- Puzzle 090: Loose Connection
- 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.