[CV056] The Lazy Guard

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055 - The Odd Sandwich

056 - The Lazy Guard

057 - Cut Which One?

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The Lazy Guard
Game	Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Number	056
Type	Write Answer
Location	Entrance
Given by	Stachenscarfen
Solved by	Professor Layton
Picarats	30
Mandatory	No
Reward	Furniture (Desk)
In other languages
日本語	何回曲がる？ nan kai magaru?
Deutsch	Der faule Wachmann
Español	El guarda perezoso
Français	Le moindre effort
Italiano	Il guardiano pigro
한국의	게으른 경비원

The Lazy Guard is a puzzle in Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Puzzle

The local museum has an exhibit that spans nine rooms, as shown in the diagram below. The entrance to the complex is marked by A, and the exit is marked by B.

The security guard on duty is a bit of a loafer and wants to walk each room of the exhibit while turning as few times as possible. What is the fewest number of turns he can make while still visiting every room?

As an example, the diagram below shows a course that involves six turns.

Hints

• →
• Hint 1
• Hint 2
• Hint 3

Click a Tab to reveal the Hint.

First off, pay no mind to the sample path shown on the screen.
Here's an additional hint for you. Nowhere within the problem does it say the guard can only enter each room once. It's OK for your path to move back through a previously visited room.

Has the layout of the rooms and the sample path shown made you feel like all your turns need to be 90 degrees?
This puzzle wants you to find the solution with the fewest number of turns. This means that movement will always be in a straight line, but the angle of any given turn is up to you.

There's no reason the guard should have to enter the exhibit at an angle parallel to the room. Consider a path that starts with the guard entering from a 45-degree angle.
Don't forget, you can move through the same room twice.

Solution

Incorrect

Give it another shot!

The puzzle shows you an example on purpose. Sometimes seeing an example keeps people from thinking creatively. Don't get stuck in a rut.

Correct

That's right!

If the security guard takes a path like the one shown above, he can finish his patrol of all nine rooms in just two turns.

Since the example shows the guard turning right angles to go from room to room, it's easy to assume that your solution works the same way even though that's not the case.