Download Hints

Get quick and convenient access to just the hints you need for Nancy Drew: Danger By Design, without staying on our website. Just download a free trial version of our UHS Reader software and a copy of these hints. You will get the same gradual hints you see here -- unlike ordinary cheats or a walkthrough that can spoil your game.

You can also buy the full version of the UHS Reader for Windows or macOS. For just $14.95, you get full access to hints for hundreds of games and 1 year of free updates. You can also search, decode, or print an entire game's worth of hints at once.

Ask the Author

If you have questions about a puzzle that aren't answered anywhere in these hints, you may contact the author.

Nancy Drew: Danger By Design Hints

How do I set the colored panels?

  • 1 of 11: What you found in one of the other "noisette" boxes will help you here. Read to the end of this hint to get the color code you need.
  • 2 of 11: Remember the long string of letters and numbers on the first page of the journal that you got from the tunnel in Dieter's room? It's clearly a code that you need to decode.
  • 3 of 11: And for that, you'll need two things: an M380 coding machine, and the settings for the wheels.
  • 4 of 11: The machine you can get from one of the sellers at The Park.
  • 5 of 11: For the wheel settings, look around Minette's studio for three wheels.
  • 6 of 11: See those massive stone disks? If only they weren't covered in paint so you could see what the carvings on them say!
  • 7 of 11: When you have both machine and wheel settings, click on the bottom part of the machine to open it and set the wheels correctly. That's --
  • 8 of 11: Now you can decipher the code from the beginning of the journal you got from the tunnel in Dieter's office.
  • 9 of 11: When you finish, you have five easy French words that are colors. (If you don't know what colors, you can get a French dictionary from one of the sellers at the flea market to help you; look on page 4.) Set the panels in those colors, top to bottom.
  • 10 of 11: From top to bottom, the colors are:
    But be aware that these colors won't work until you actually use the M380 to decipher the code.
  • 11 of 11: Once you've opened the door in the floor, it'll be open when you come back. You don't have to set the colored panels again; just head for the hole in the floor.