Still Life Hints

Pat's House: How can I open the locked chest in the attic?

  • 1 of 11: First you will need to be able to see the chest properly -- try turning on the light.
  • 2 of 11: From where Victoria stands when she first climbs up the stairs into the attic, the light switch can be seen just behind her head.
  • 3 of 11: There are five cylinders on top of the chest, each of which has a set of four symbols on it.  Note: The black figures are more difficult to see. 
  • 4 of 11: Each cylinder is identical to the others.  If you were to turn any one of the cylinders to look at the symbols on it, the order of symbols on each cylinder (from left to right) would be diamond, spades, heart, and club. 
  • 5 of 11: The symbols (spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts) must be turned to a specific order or "combination" in order to unlock the chest.
  • 6 of 11: Clicking on a single cylinder rotates that cylinder plus two others.  Sometimes the rotation is left to right; sometimes right to left.
  • 7 of 11: What each cylinder rotates -- and the direction of rotation -- is always consistent.  For example, selecting the cylinder on the far left always rotates the three left-most cylinders (and always in the same direction). 
  • 8 of 11: It is helpful to write out (or print out) the pattern of movement of which cylinder rotates what, so that you always have the patterns handy.
  • 9 of 11: The cylinders start out (from left to right) as diamond, heart, diamond, spade, and club.  To return to this pattern again, hit the "reset" button under the cylinders.
  • 10 of 11: In order to solve the puzzle it will be necessary to cause all the cylinders to rotate -- even the one that is already correct.
  • 11 of 11: Using the details of which cylinders rotate what, try to search for patterns and relationships between the movement of the cylinders.  Don't be afraid to experiment, you can always return to the starting position again later, if necessary.