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012 - Follow the Arrows013 - Pick the Pen014 - Find the Station!

Pick the Pen is a puzzle in Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. The puzzle must be solved in order to progress the story.

Puzzle

US Version

Only one of the four pens shown below actually works. Here are some clues to help you identify it:

  • All four pens currently have the wrong-colored caps.
  • When assembled correctly, all four pens have one white section.
  • The working pen is to the left of the one that should have the green cap.

Choose the working pen, A, B, C, or D.

UK Version

Only one of these four pens is actually usable. Use the following clues to find the usable pen:

  • All four pens currently have the wrong colour cap.
  • With the caps arranged correctly, all pens will have one white part.
  • The usable pen is to the left of the one that should have the green cap.

Touch the letter of the usable pen.

Hints

Click a Tab to reveal the Hint.

US Version

For starters, remember that "the working pen is to the left of that one that should have the green cap."

There are three possible arrangements for which this condition can be true:

? Green ? ?, ? ? Green ?, or ? ? ? Green.

UK Version

First, remember the condition: "The usable pen is to the left of the one with the green cap."

From this condition, you know that there are three possibilities for the correct line-up of caps: ?-green-?-?, ?-?-green-? and ?-?-?-green.

US Version

Next, remember that "when assembled correctly, all four pens have one white section."

The only pen without a white section currently is C, so you know that that white cap definitely belongs to pen C.

UK Version

Next, recall that "all pens will have one white part". Since the only pen currently without a white part is C, pen C definitely gets the white cap.

US Version

From Hints One and Two, you know that the correct order of caps can be either Blue, Green, White, Blue or Blue, Blue, White, Green.

You can now figure out the correct order from the puzzle's first clue.

UK Version

From Hints 1 and 2, you know that the order of the caps must be either blue-green-white-blue or blue-blue-white-green.

You can work out from the remaining condition what the correct order is.

US Version

Blue, Green, White, Blue can't be the correct order of the caps, becuse pen D would have the same color cap that it started with. This would violate the puzzle's first clue.

Therefore, the correct order of the caps must be Blue, Blue, White, Green.

That should give you the answer!

UK Version

The cap order blue-green-white-blue doesn't fulfil the first condition because pen D would have the same colour cap as it started with. The correct cap order must therefore be blue-blue-white-green.

Now you know the answer!


Solution

Incorrect

US Version

Too bad!

Go through each clue one at a time.

UK Version

Too bad.

Check the conditions one at a time.

Correct

Inkredible!

US Version

Pen C is correct.

UK Version

You can use pen C.

Once you pick them all up, however, it's easy to forget which one was usable.

UF013S
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