Blue Prince
(Eingestellt am 21. Juni 2025, 06:34 Uhr von vfig)
~ 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 ~
The late Herbert S. Sousdecoup has left his mansion to his grandnephew Simon, on the condition that he find the mysterious room 10. Great-uncle Herbert often used to say “the best place to begin a journey is at its end;” but here we are at the beginning.
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Simon 👦🏻 must enter the grid at R9C5, and reach room 10 (the star mark ⭐) by finding a path to R1C5 and then leaving the grid through the North doorway. The path must not: enter a single cell twice, cross itself, enter the same room more than once, or pass through a room's black interior walls. The path may go diagonally. The path must turn once or more in each room that it enters.
The path is a ten-line. A ten-line is fully divided into contiguous, non-overlapping groups of digits that each sum to 10. Ten-line groups on the path may cross box borders.
Also, _____________________________________________. (Oh dear, it looks like a rule has gone missing!)
Digits separated by a gem 💎 sum to 10.
Build the mansion by placing all nine rooms into the grid, one into each box; two rooms have been placed already and may not be moved. Rooms may not be rotated. A doorway of a room may abut the exterior wall of the mansion or the perimeter wall of another room, but movement between rooms may only occur where both rooms have matching doorways. Each room has its own specific rule that applies only within that room:
ENTRANCE HALL (grey): A picture on the wall shows nine letters. Add the middle-right digit of each box to the corresponding letter in this picture (e.g. W + 5 = B). Then the shape of the path in this room spells out what Simon will find in Room 10.
MAP ROOM (orange): This room is locked; Simon must have the Key 🗝️ to access it. Adjacent digits along the path here must differ by at least 4. Each cell in the map room is paired with the central cell of the corresponding box: the path visits both, or neither.
PARLOR (blue): Three small boxes are here, each with a statement. At least one box is true. At least one box is false. Only one box contains the Key 🗝️, which Simon may obtain by entering its cell.
- ʙʟᴜᴇ ʙᴏx: “The black box has the Key.”
- ᴡʜɪᴛᴇ ʙᴏx: “One of the other boxes has the Key.”
- ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ ʙᴏx: “The blue box is even.”
BUNK ROOM (violet): Each digit on the path here has the same entropy (i.e. belongs to the same 123/456/789 set) as a digit on the path in the same position in another room.
WEIGHT ROOM (red): Simon lingers here for a while. He notices that adjacent digits along the path in this room must have different odd/even parity.
GREENHOUSE (green): Adjacent digits along the path here must differ by at least 5.
BOUDOIR (violet): Digits on the path here form a consecutive set in any order.
ATTIC (blue): Silent, jumbled. Simon searches carefully, but there is no sign of the missing rule in this room. “I remember it had ten words, and they all looked a little bit out of place,” he says. “It's around here somewhere. I must find it as soon as possible!”
ANTECHAMBER (grey): Normal rules pertaining to “the path” are all negated for this room (i.e. add or remove “not”). The North, South, East, and West doorways of this room are sealed. To move through one of them, Simon must first enter the cell with the corresponding lever (circle) to unseal it.
Spoilers: Full solution walkthrough.
Lösungscode: Row 9 (9 digits, no spaces)
Kommentare
am 2. Juli 2025, 10:55 Uhr von vfig
Clarified Map Room rule. Replaced the picture riddle because it was too obscure.
am 1. Juli 2025, 22:23 Uhr von kodra22
Loved this, what a lovely ode to Blue Prince
am 26. Juni 2025, 22:53 Uhr von vfig
Fixed character encoding in Chrome on MacOS
am 26. Juni 2025, 19:44 Uhr von fthompson
I haven't finished the puzzle yet, but FYI the title of the puzzle doesn't display properly in my browser (MacOS Chrome) here or on the Sudokupad page. Other than that, absolutely lovely puzzle so far!
[vfig:] fixed now, thank you!
am 24. Juni 2025, 17:13 Uhr von vitaminz
I definitely needed some help to get through it but it was worth the frustration! Aptly mimicking the game it’s based on.
am 24. Juni 2025, 14:20 Uhr von JayForty
Beautiful and extremely well crafted puzzle! A great homage to an equally beautiful game (even cleverly mimicking the arbitrary interpretation of paintings (I'm looking at you, Gallery!)). Thanks vfig! Auravei and Herbert would be proud.
am 24. Juni 2025, 04:38 Uhr von vfig
Revised rules slightly for clarity and to ease the break-in a little.
am 24. Juni 2025, 02:16 Uhr von Ratfinkz
Loved helping solve this! Wonderful puzzle!!
am 24. Juni 2025, 02:15 Uhr von jojo81gaming
A marathon but worth it and very fun all the way
am 24. Juni 2025, 02:11 Uhr von ViKingPrime
Much like its namesake, this puzzle was beautiful, infuriating, impressive, mind-melting and ultimately well worth every second of your time.
am 21. Juni 2025, 17:41 Uhr von DiMono
Just to clarify some rules:
There's nothing that says every room must be accessible, meaning the boudoir could be placed in box 3? There's nothing that says a room can't be a dead end, so the attic could be placed in box 3?
[vfig:] correct. both of these placements are allowed.
The rule for the Bunk Room is unclear. Does it mean there can't be any digits on the path in that room that only appear on the path in that room, or does it mean you can only place (for instance) 2 in position 8 on the path in that room if 2 appears in position 8 on the path in another room?
[vfig:] this will become clear as the solution progresses.
The rule for Antechamber says it negates path rules. Does that refer to the initial paragraph describing path rules that begins "Simon must reach room 10"? Because it looks like that would cause a contradiction with the "must turn" rule, but I can't think of another way to interpret it.
[vfig:] the Antechamber rule has a very specific criterion for which general rules it is modifying and which it is not. (i am happy to explain further if this is not enough of a hint.)
[DiMono:] I had a clarifying question here, but I realized it was caused by me overlooking something. Thanks for the response!
am 21. Juni 2025, 12:53 Uhr von ViKingPrime
I'm so excited to try this, so much so I felt compelled to comment before actually being able to solve it. I imagine this will be much like its namesake - a beautiful, maddening experience.
am 21. Juni 2025, 10:39 Uhr von Pairot
I read and re-read the rules very carefully, doing it on sudokupad seemed to help a bit. And after kinda thinking I have a grasp on the rules, I decided to open the puzzle, but it's beyond my pay grade.
I just wanted to say I absolutely LOVE the concept, congratulations on setting such a love letter to the game. I'll look at it again the next few days, maybe some eureka moment will come if I ruminate on it all.
[vfig:] i have revised the rules a little to clarify some rough spots, and might ease the solve. i have also posted a full solution video (link is above) that you can consult if you get too stuck!
