In Blue Prince, a mysterious chess puzzle awaits deep within the manor’s hidden Precipice, challenging players to match scattered chess pieces to their exact room locations on an unconventional 5×9 chessboard shaped like the estate itself. Solve it by recalling where each piece was spotted throughout your exploration, then place them precisely to unlock powerful, permanent abilities that can turn the tides of your game-if you dare to master this intricate test of memory and strategy.
However, that’s everything you’ve been given. There are no more hints nearby and you’re left on your own to solve the puzzle on this chess board, but as you recollect your thoughts, you might remember seeing chess pieces in specific rooms.
Here’s how to solve the chess puzzle in Blue Prince and where to find each chess piece.
How to solve the chess puzzle in Blue Prince
To solve the chess puzzle in Blue Prince, you first need to light all four blue flames to unlock access to the Precipice, where the puzzle is located. The puzzle features a large chessboard shaped like the estate’s floorplan, with six chess pieces: Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, and King. Throughout your exploration, take note of which rooms contain which chess pieces, as each piece must be placed on the corresponding spot on the board that matches the room’s location in your current estate layout. When placed correctly, the square beneath the piece will light up. Since the estate layout changes each run, you must draft rooms containing each piece and then return to the puzzle to position the pieces accordingly, making observation and careful mapping essential to solving it.
The chess puzzle features a 5×9 chess board matching the blueprint of the estate. When you place your chess pieces on a random position, nothing seems to happen. However, occasionally, the box under the chess piece will glow white, indicating you’ve placed that chess piece on the correct tile.
To solve the chess puzzle in Blue Prince, you’ll need to recollect where you’ve seen each chess piece, draft specific rooms containing each chess piece, and place each chess piece on that room’s respective grid location.
Unfortunately, this does mean that everyone’s solution will be different, and you’ll need a little luck to find each chess piece.
Blue Prince chess piece locations
In Blue Prince, each chess piece is found in specific rooms throughout the estate, and their locations are crucial for solving the chess puzzle in the Precipice. The Pawn can be located in rooms such as the Bedroom, Parlor, Den, Storeroom, Guest Bedroom, Dining Room, Walk-in Closet, Drawing Room, Bunk Room, Freezer, Solarium, and Lost and Found. The Knight appears in rooms like the Observatory, Security, Armory, and Treasure Trove. Bishops are found in the Chapel, Attic, Bookshop, and Rumpus Room. Rooks can be discovered in the Nook, Vault, Clock Tower, and Conservatory. The Queen is typically located in Her Ladyship’s Chamber and the Office, while the King is found in the Throne Room and Study. Players must place each piece on the chessboard corresponding to the room where the piece was found to solve the puzzle successfully.
Fortunately, chess pieces will always appear in specific rooms, so as long as you know where to find each chess piece, you’ll know which rooms you should be drafting. Here’s where you can find each chess piece:
- Pawn – Bedroom, Parlor, Den, Storeroom, Guest Bedroom, Dining Room, Walk-in Closet, Drawing Room, Bunk Room, Secret Passage, Dormitory, Freezer, Solarium, Lost and Found
- Knight – Security Room, Observatory, Armory, Treasure Trove
- Bishop – Chapel, Rumpus Room, Attic, Bookshop
- Rook – Nook, Vault, Clock Tower, Conservatory
- Queen – Study, Ladyship’s Chambers
- King – Office, Throne Room
If you draft multiple rooms that contain the same chess piece like the Bedroom and Parlor, you can place the pawn on either room.
For an example to the puzzle’s solution, here’s an image of what my chess board and blueprint looked like:
Which chess piece power should you choose in Blue Prince?
In Blue Prince, after solving the chess puzzle, you must choose one chess piece to gain a permanent ability that aids your gameplay. The King is generally considered the most advantageous power because it lets you select a color each day, increasing the likelihood of drafting rooms of that color, which is valuable for targeting specific rooms. The Knight power is also highly useful as it adds the Armory to your drafting pool, where you can acquire powerful items like The Axe that can permanently reduce room costs. The Pawn offers a flexible ability by allowing you to adopt the power of another piece upon reaching Rank 8 each day. Other pieces provide unique benefits, such as the Bishop granting gold instead of tithes and the Rook allowing multiple redraws during drafting. Choosing the right piece depends on your playstyle, but the King and Knight powers stand out for their strategic advantages.
After you’ve solved the chess puzzle, the walls around the room will rise up to the ceiling, revealing large statues indicating each chess piece. You’ll be asked to choose a piece to receive a new permanent power:
- Pawn: When you reach Rank 8 each day, you may choose Knight, Bishop, Rook or Queen. Gain the power of that piece until the end of the day.
- Knight: Add the Armory to your draft pool.
- Queen: Each time you draft a room on the Queenside (West Wing) of your house, lose 5 steps and gain 1 key.
- King: Each day, you may choose a color. Rooms of the chosen color are more likely to be drawn while drafting.
- Bishop: You do not have to pay tithes. Instead, gain 30 gold the first time you enter the Chapel each day with this power.
- Rook: You may draw floor plans up to 4 times when drafting the 4 corner rooms of your house.
In our experience, the King is the most useful chess piece as you can influence which room you’ll, draft and, if you’re looking for a particular room, the King’s power can be a great help. The Knight is also very useful as one of the items inside the Armory, The Axe, can be used to permanently remove the gem cost from a room. However, make sure you’re confident in which room you want to axe, as we have only been able to use the item three times.
How to change chess piece powers in Blue Prince
To change chess piece powers in Blue Prince, you must first solve the chess puzzle again from scratch. This involves drafting rooms that contain the chess pieces, noting their locations, and correctly placing the pieces on the puzzle board. Once solved, you can select a new chess piece power to use, but switching powers requires repeating the entire puzzle process, including redrafting rooms and repositioning pieces. This makes choosing your power carefully important, as changing it is a time-consuming task.
If you don’t like your chess piece’s power, you can switch to another chess piece. However, to do so, you’ll need to solve the chess puzzle again.
What secret strategies can help me crack the Blue Prince chess puzzle faster
Secret Strategies to Crack the Blue Prince Chess Puzzle Faster
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Take Detailed Notes During Exploration: As you explore the mansion, carefully observe and record which rooms contain which chess pieces-Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, and King-whether as statues, paintings, or furniture. This is crucial because the puzzle requires placing pieces on a 5×9 board that mirrors the mansion layout, and the correct placement depends on these room-piece associations.
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Map the Mansion’s Layout: Understand the mansion’s grid layout since the chessboard corresponds exactly to the estate’s blueprint. Knowing the position of each room on this grid helps you place the chess pieces accurately without random guessing.
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Look for Visual Cues: When placing pieces on the puzzle board, watch for subtle feedback-such as the box beneath a piece lighting up white-which indicates correct placement. Use this to confirm or adjust your placements incrementally rather than placing all pieces blindly.
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Complete Required Preliminary Tasks: Access to the chess puzzle requires lighting four braziers or activating blue flames to unlock the Precipice area. Ensure these prerequisites are done to avoid wasting time searching for the puzzle prematurely.
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Revisit Known Rooms Quickly: After noting down piece locations, return promptly to the chess puzzle chamber to place the pieces while your memory is fresh. This reduces confusion and the need for repeated mansion runs.
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Accept Some Trial and Error: Because the puzzle is randomized per run and no explicit clues are given, a bit of luck and iterative testing is necessary. Use logical deduction based on your notes and the mansion’s layout to minimize guesswork.
Employing these strategies together will significantly speed up solving the Blue Prince chess puzzle by turning a potentially frustrating memory test into a manageable, methodical challenge.
How can recalling chess piece locations speed up my solution in Blue Prince
Recalling the locations of chess pieces in Blue Prince is crucial because the puzzle requires you to place each piece on a 5×9 chessboard that mirrors the estate’s floorplan, with each piece corresponding to specific rooms where you encountered them during your exploration. By remembering which rooms contained which chess pieces-Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, and King-you can accurately position them on the puzzle board, triggering visual cues like illuminated squares that confirm correct placement. This targeted placement speeds up solving the puzzle by eliminating guesswork and leveraging your prior observations, as the game does not provide additional clues nearby, making memory your primary tool to crack the puzzle efficiently.
