What a finished puzzle does
Most maps roll four or five puzzles. A normal puzzle takes 30 seconds off the Escape clock, but only when that puzzle is fully done. The cake platter takes off 60 seconds. When a puzzle finishes, a jigsaw marker shows above it for everyone, including Banana, so leave the station.
Unfinished stations show a red mark. Finished ones show green. Banana cannot turn puzzles backward. Banana can stand on the station or leave a peel in the doorway.
Slime covers the valve, keypad, and picture puzzles until Banana spawns. Cake is the exception.
Cake platter
Carry loose slices to the big plate. Each map has two fixed places the plate can appear. The count that agrees across the escape notes and the XP notes is:
- The plate starts with 1 slice already on it.
- The puzzle completes at 7 slices on the plate, so Runners bring 6 more.
- 8 slices spawn, so one spare exists if someone holds a piece.
- Each slice you put on the plate is reported at 2 XP.
A separate puzzle write-up says you must deliver 7 extra slices. If the plate completes before you have moved that many, stop. The lower total is the one that matches the other two accounts. Banana likes to camp the plate, so do not all arrive together.
Valves
Three wheels are scattered around the map. Click or tap a wheel until it turns green. Lights on the wheel show how many of the three are done. The 30-second cut happens only after all three are green. Turning a valve is loud.
Keypad
Find a 3-digit code painted on a floor, wall, desk, bench, or belt. Digits run from 1 to 7. Enter them on the wall keypad. The digits stay unreadable until Banana has entered the round. Type the code in team chat once you can read it so someone already at the panel can finish it.
Picture board
A 4 by 4 board, 16 tiles, usually a cake or a peel. Rotate a red tile until its border turns green. Do this alone. A second player clicking the same board can spin a finished tile back to red. Some rounds spawn two picture boards.
Reported puzzle XP is about 3 XP when a standard puzzle completes. That figure comes from match notes, not from a developer XP table.