Puzzle 100 is Gate to the Ruins! (The Last Door in the UK version), the door at the bottom of the Akbadain ruins. It's a 50-picarat Arrange puzzle that starts by itself on Ruins B8 in Chapter 6, and you can't skip it. You have nine carved stone blocks and a door with five slots, each marked with a red symbol, and you have to put the right five blocks into the slots in the right order. The hints below open one at a time, and the answer stays hidden until you choose to show it.
This page covers story Puzzle 100 in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on Nintendo 3DS, using the North American text and screens. The British and European versions use the same door and the same answer under a different name. If you're after Daily Puzzle 100 or Puzzle 100 from another Layton game, see Wrong Puzzle 100? below.
What Puzzle 100 is
| Name (North America) | Gate to the Ruins! |
|---|---|
| Name (UK and Australia) | The Last Door |
| Type | Arrange |
| Picarats | 50 |
| Location | Ruins B8 (the eighth basement level of the Akbadain ruins) |
| Chapter | Chapter 6 |
| How you get it | Starts automatically when young Hershel reaches the door |
| Can you skip it? | No. The story doesn't continue until it's solved |
| Hints | Three hints and a Super Hint |
| Previous / next puzzle | 099 Ancient Artistry 2 (Ruins B7) / 101 Wonky Wiring (Chapter 7) |
The puzzle text is short: the door has five slots, each marked with a different symbol, and there are nine stone blocks that fit them. You have to put five blocks into the slots in the right order. Nothing in the question tells you what the symbols mean.
Gate to the Ruins!, The Last Door and other names
The North American release spells the name with an exclamation mark, as it appears in the game's puzzle list. Many guides drop it. In the UK the same puzzle is called The Last Door, and the UK question mentions Hershel by name. The answer is identical in every version.
| Version | Puzzle name |
|---|---|
| English (North America) | Gate to the Ruins! |
| English (UK, Australia) | The Last Door |
| German | Das letzte Tor |
| Spanish | La última puerta |
| French | Par la grande porte |
| Italian | L'ultima porta |
| Dutch | De laatste deur |
| Japanese | 遺跡の扉 (Iseki no Tobira, "the ruins door") |
Wrong Puzzle 100?
- Daily Puzzle 100 in Miracle Mask is a separate puzzle from the daily set: Flight 03 in North America and Flight Path 03 in the UK, one of the Aerial View daily puzzles. It has nothing to do with the ruins door.
- Puzzle 100 in another Layton game is a different puzzle. If yours has pins and squares, or anything other than a stone door with five red marks, you're in the wrong game.
- The last puzzle in Miracle Mask isn't this one. Puzzle 100 is the last door of the ruins flashback, and the story continues with Puzzle 101, Wonky Wiring. The last story puzzle is 135, Mask Pedestal, in Chapter 8. Puzzles 136 to 150 are Layton's Challenges.
Where you get it, and why you can't skip it
Puzzle 100 comes at the very end of the Akbadain ruins in Chapter 6, the long flashback where you play as young Hershel. You go down floor by floor through the ruins, and the door is on the eighth basement level, Ruins B8. The puzzle opens by itself when Hershel reaches it. There's no character to talk to and nothing to tap first.
It's a story puzzle, so there's no way past the door without solving it, and it won't be sent to Nanna Grams (known as Elizabeth in the UK version), who keeps the puzzles you missed. The optional puzzles you walked past on earlier floors are a different matter: those are the ones that can end up with her.
Solving the door ends the ruins section. If you're collecting everything, look for hint coins on the ruins floors before you head to the B8 door. Inside the ruins, Guide mode also costs a hint coin each time you use it, so the coins you find there go quickly. You don't need any coins for this puzzle, though: every hint is free on this page.
Number the blocks first
The hints and the answer below use the same numbers. Count the blocks like reading a page: the top row is 1, 2, 3, the middle row is 4, 5, 6 and the bottom row is 7, 8, 9. The door slots are counted from the left, slot 1 to slot 5. The numbers always mean where a block starts, so if you've already moved blocks around, restart the puzzle first.
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: the glyphs
Every block has an ancient glyph carved on it, and it's natural to look for the glyph that matches each red symbol. There isn't one. The glyphs have no link to the door at all.
So blank out the glyphs and look at the blocks only as nine plain squares in a 3×3 grid. If the glyphs mean nothing, what else about a block could a symbol describe?
Hint 2: the middle slot
The center block, block 5, goes into the middle slot, slot 3.
Look at the middle symbol and then at where block 5 sits in the grid. Why would that symbol belong to the center block, and to no other block?
Hint 3: the leftmost slot
The bottom-right block, block 9, goes into the leftmost slot, slot 1.
Compare the symbol in slot 1 with the spot block 9 came from. The symbol looks a lot like that corner of the grid, doesn't it?
Super Hint: the rule
Each symbol shows how one block is framed by the blocks around it. Picture the grid as a tic-tac-toe board: the lines between the blocks are the symbol's strokes. A corner block is framed on two sides, an edge block on three and the center block on all four.
Two more slots follow from that. The top-left block, block 1, makes the symbol in the rightmost slot, slot 5. The top-right block, block 3, makes the symbol in slot 4, second from the right.
That leaves slot 2. Which block is framed the way its symbol is drawn?
Answer and full solution
The answer below covers every slot, with pictures of the rule and of the finished door. Open it when you're ready.
Show the answer
The answer is 9, 6, 5, 3, 1. Fill the five door slots from left to right with blocks 9, 6, 5, 3 and 1, then tap Submit. Blocks 2, 4, 7 and 8 stay where they are: the game only checks which block sits in which slot.
| Slot | Block | Where the block sits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (left) | 9 | Bottom-right corner |
| 2 | 6 | Middle row, right end |
| 3 (middle) | 5 | Center |
| 4 | 3 | Top-right corner |
| 5 (right) | 1 | Top-left corner |
How the door code works. Each red mark is the outline of the grid lines around one block. It shows which sides of that block touch another block. Find the block whose sides match the mark, and that's the block for the slot. If you know pigpen cipher, it's the same idea, though the game never calls it that.
Reading each slot:
- Slot 1 has lines on the top and the left. The only block with neighbors above it and to its left, but not below or to the right, is the bottom-right corner: block 9.
- Slot 2 has lines on the top, left and bottom and is open on the right. That's the edge block on the right side of the middle row: block 6.
- Slot 3 is a closed box. Only the center has a neighbor on all four sides: block 5.
- Slot 4 has lines on the left and the bottom. That's the top-right corner: block 3.
- Slot 5 has lines on the right and the bottom. That's the top-left corner: block 1.
Read left to right, that's 9, 6, 5, 3, 1. Some guides write it as 96531. When the answer is right and you submit it, the five blocks light up blue.
If your answer keeps failing:
- You matched glyphs. Start again and only think about where each block sits in the grid.
- You counted the slots from the right. Slot 1 is the leftmost slot, the one with the mark like the top-left corner of a box. Block 9 goes there.
- You counted the blocks down the columns. Count across the rows: 1, 2, 3 on top, 7, 8, 9 on the bottom.
- You mixed up the two corner marks on the right. The mark with lines on the left and bottom is block 3. The mark with lines on the right and bottom is block 1.
- You moved other blocks around first. The numbers refer to where the blocks start. Restart the puzzle to put every block back.
Picarats, hints and hint coins
Gate to the Ruins! is worth 50 picarats. Hints cost hint coins, not picarats: each of the first three hints costs one coin to unlock, and the Super Hint costs two, so opening all four costs five coins. Wrong answers are a separate matter, and on many puzzles they lower the picarats you earn. A wrong answer here just gets "Too bad. Clear your mind and try again," and you can retry straight away.
If you're out of coins, use the free hints on this page instead and save your coins for puzzles where you'd rather work it out yourself. With all four hints open, only one slot is left for you to work out.
Versions and systems
- Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS and New 3DS: no difference. It's a touch-screen puzzle with no motion controls.
- North American and UK/European copies: same door, same five marks, same answer. Only the puzzle name and a few words of the text change.
- Japanese Miracle Mask Plus: the 2013 Japan-only re-release added extra help and content, but the ruins door puzzle isn't known to have changed.
- Other systems: Miracle Mask is a 3DS game. There's no Switch, mobile or PC version of it.
After the door (story spoiler)
Spoiler warning: this section covers what happens in the scene around the puzzle. By the time Hershel solves the door, he's alone. The two of them had reached B8 and seen the final door when Randall slipped into the chasm, still holding the Mask of Chaos. Hershel opens the door for him, calling it the one last door that stood between Randall and his treasure. Behind it is the Azran treasure chamber, full of gold and gems. Hershel wants no part of it, and the flashback ends with him leaving the ruins. The story then returns to the present day, where Puzzle 101, Wonky Wiring, comes next.
FAQ
Where is the answer to Puzzle 100?
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 100 called?
Gate to the Ruins! in North America and The Last Door in the UK. In German it's Das letzte Tor.
Why don't the block glyphs match the door symbols?
They aren't supposed to. The glyphs are decoration, and the game's first hint says there's no link between them and the slots.
Where is Puzzle 100, and can you skip it?
It's on Ruins B8, the last floor of the Akbadain ruins in Chapter 6. It starts automatically and the story won't go on until it's solved, so it can't be skipped or saved for later.
How many picarats is Puzzle 100 worth?
50 picarats.
What if I have no hint coins left?
You don't need any. The hints on this page are free, and they follow the game's own hints. In the game, hints cost one coin each and the Super Hint costs two.
Is Daily Puzzle 100 the same as Puzzle 100?
No. Daily Puzzle 100 is Flight 03 (Flight Path 03 in the UK), one of the Aerial View daily puzzles. Story Puzzle 100 is the ruins door.
Is Gate to the Ruins the last puzzle in the game?
No. It's the last puzzle of the ruins flashback, which is why the UK version calls it The Last Door. The main list has 150 puzzles.
More Miracle Mask puzzles
- Puzzle 60: Dangerous Holes
- Puzzle 113: Chip Champions
- Puzzle 118: Evenly Matched 3
- Puzzle 122: Kitty Solitaire 3
- Puzzle 099: Ancient Artistry 2
- Puzzle 101: Wonky Wiring
For the rest of the game's puzzles, see the Miracle Mask puzzle index.