Nancy Drew 30: The Shattered Medallion Hints

How do I solve the train puzzle?

  • 1 of 9: This is the puzzle you get at the beginning of the game. To start, go forward into the Rails activity stand and click on the Team Tui table.
  • 2 of 9: As you probably figured out, the goal here is to create an unbroken train track from the upper left corner to the upper right corner by moving the pieces of track around the board. Read to the end of this hint for a picture showing how it will look when you finish.
  • 3 of 9: First, notice that two of the pieces are fastened into place, so you'll need to build around them.
  • 4 of 9: The pieces can't be rotated, which makes this a little easier. Also, there won't be any isolated track pieces -- that is, when you're done you'll have one unbroken loop through the entire board.
  • 5 of 9: So the best place to start is the two ends. The first piece at the upper left has to connect to the fastened-down piece right next to it, so that piece of track has to be a straight horizontal piece. There's only one piece like that, so put it in place.
  • 6 of 9: Similarly, the other piece that's fastened down will need to have a piece that curves sharply to the left in order to connect up. Put the only possible piece in place.
  • 7 of 9: Note that there are some pieces that look similar but aren't quite. For example, the piece at the upper right ought to curve sharply down, but one of those pieces lines up perfectly with the exit and the other one doesn't. Use the perfect one.
  • 8 of 9: The final design has two places where the tracks cross, forming an X. Track pieces with odd lines through the middle of the track (like one of the ties was made of silver) or with odd bits in the corners will be those Xs.
  • 9 of 9: Still frustrated? Here's what the final track looks like: