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Dear guest Hero!

You have arrived at an entry point of the online puzzle game "Solomon's labyrinth". If you are a newcomer, you would want to read a labyrinth user's manual, because without possessing the knowledge you have no clue and no chance of finding the solution.

Enter the labyrinth!
Read the manual.
Donate to the developer.

THE STORY SO FAR

The labyrinth is staying abandoned since the king Solomon had deserted his kingdom.

He, once so mighty and powerful, could not entertain himself in any way anymore. When the time has come to find a husband for his beautiful daughter - princess Cleopatra after her second divorce, he decided to have some fun.

So he gathered his wizards and asked to build a labyrinth, in which only a mentally powerful hero could reach the exit. They started by writing a specification, then proceeded with development, and after 3 years were ready with a working prototype. The front door of the labyrinth was ready to be opened by the first guest.

The labyrinth is a vast system of rooms, connected to each other by doorways, and the moment a hero enters one of them - the steel door is instantaneously shut behind him. In every room there are also other doors, through which it is supposed to leave the room. Some of these doors have hidden traps, which send a hero back to the start of the labyrinth.

All the doors have signs with very helpful information on them, which is always quite enough to find where to go, without any guessing. The problem is - everything written on a particular door sign can be a complete lie. In each room the hero has to figure out, which signs to believe, which - not to believe, and, finally - which door is safe to enter.

Many princes came to the king's castle on a tournament day to try their fortune and get the princess and the reward. The spontaneous Solomon's idea was - first to let the princess inside, then let inside all the princes, one by one. The hero who could make it out with the princess should become her husband, and inherit the kingdom.

So, when the tournament has begun, first the princess was let into the labyrinth, and all the princes followed her. Not a single one of them has ever returned from there since.

The first SMS from the princess Cleopatra was 10 minutes after the last prince entered the labyrinth: "Dear Dad, the noble princes stopped to discuss the world politics after the marriage." The king was pleased with the things so far.

On the next day the SMS from the princess Cleopatra came: "Dear Dad, the brave princes are fighting, to find out who is going to be my destiny.". The king was satisfied so far. But he sent his wizards - the creators of the labyrinth to observe the situation. Not a single one of them has ever returned from there until this day.

No more messages were coming from the princess, and the king has panicked. He waited for three days and nights more, took a copy of the users manual, and followed his daughter.

The last SMS from the princess was received on the 7th day, before her phone went down: "I hate you insane old man, the ugly bastards are now eating each other.".

Some years have passed since the accident, and the labyrinth nowadays is abandoned.

Some scientists say, such a big building could develop ist own inner ecology, having in mind the amount of biomass entered. One professor has stated that at a certain time, the forms of life, dwelling inside could on their own evolve smart enough to be able to crack the labyrinth's puzzle, and break out. But the people believe, that a day will come when a chosen one, a real hero will appear, who will free the poor prisoners of the labyrinth, and maybe even resque the princess and the king.

USER MANUAL

Dear user!

The labyrinth of king Solomon is a most marvelous creation of the most modern puzzle technology. To use the labyrinth rightly, please carefully read this user manual. Following all the rules is important for your safety, and for getting maximum satisfaction from your adventure.

The manual consists of three chapters -

You may skip the first chapter and directly proceed to the safety instuctions in case you are familiar with Raymond Smullyan's books "The Lady or the Tiger" and "What is the name of this book?".

The labyrinth team wishes you a pleasant stay as our guest. We hope you will want to return to the beginning of the Labyrinth many times.
Enjoy!

Solving the labyrinth

To be successful in solving the room puzzles you need to know quite a few things:
  • Some door signs are telling truth, other lie. What is not possible - true and false statements on a same sign.
  • Some doors let you to the next rooms, some hide traps. But at least one door in any room is safe to enter (otherwise it would be unfair!).
  • In general, the fact that a door sign tells truth does not imply that it is safe to enter. Same with the false signs.
  • The false signs also provide very valuable information! You need to have some skill of "inverting" the lie to produce the truth. In general, to do this, you need to keep the subject of a statement unchanged, but invert the fact of the statement. Consider the examples:
    • All green doors are safe. <-> At least one of the green doors is a trap.
    • Either all green doors are safe, or they all are traps. <-> Some green doors are safe, others of them are traps.
  • A way of solving the puzzles is - to speculate on values of the variables (door lies or tells truth, safe or a trap), and prove that you do not come to a paradox. If you have a paradox (some statements are not consistent with each other) - you have guessed the wrong values.
And more. Remember, the wizards are your friends, and they never lie. The humans can lie or tell truth, but they never mix lies and truth together. They sometimes may be not honest, nevertheless they are not enemies. The only enemy is a vampire - the natural liar. You can definitely say who the person is only if you see his open face. For defining how to behave with the guys who are hiding their faces - you may want to use your mental powers.

Safety instructions

It is important to understand that the Labyrinth is a complex mechanism, which utilizes magic powers of at least 100 kWatts per room, and therefore presents a dangerous environment for an unprepared visitor. To avoid potential injuries, please follow these precautions:
  • Do not place obstacles, including your own limbs into the shutting doors. The Labyrinth doors have a mass of 800kg and shut automatically behind you with a speed of 30mph, efficiently crashing anything in their way. Please hold your posessions in front of you when passing through a door.
  • In case you have made a mistake and got yourself into a trap - do not panic, you will fall into a delivery capsule which will bring you to the start of the Labyrinth in most efficient and comfortable way.
  • Stuck in a delivery capsule? Please, stay calm and wait. Another capsule will push you to the final destination, as soon as another visitor falls into a trap.
  • Lost in the Labyrinth, clueless, feeling frustrated, depressed? Please, relax! Slight disorientation is the reason for happiness and excitement you will feel when you find the exit. Learn to treasure the hours of peaceful thoughts and the solitude the labyrinth provides to you.
  • Please, behave. Do not leave any garbage in the rooms or inside the delivery capsules. In case you feel sick during delivery, use the paper bags, prepared in each capsule. Remember, that you are not the only Labyrinth user, care for others, who may be following you on their path.
  • Met another stranger? Be polite and try to help each other. In case you both are clueless - throw a dime to select who goes into the next door, the other should listen to the sounds from behind the door to get better chance. Seriously, how you treat the labyrinth inhabitants defines your success or failure.

Maintenance instructions

The Labyrinth is kept in functional condition by regularly carrying out the following simple maintenance operations:
  • Cleaning the door driving mechanisms from garbage of any mechanical or biological nature, which could eventually jam a door (shoes, buttons, rotting visitor remnants).
  • Regularly cleaning the delivery capsules from all the types of visitor body-products which can be left there after the delivery.
  • Regularly checking the signs are reliably fixed on the doors - door closing may cause them to eventually fall down.
  • Considering making a donation to the developer of this site.

Making a donation

If you liked the puzzles, if you have spent hours solving them, please, consider making a donation. Your active support, no matter how small it is, makes the big difference for me. I appreciate your generous help!
Copyright © Peter Kishalov, 2010.