In the enigmatic halls of Blue Prince, two haunting paintings guard secrets in every room-but their true purpose lies not in what they show, but in what they hide. This puzzle demands a linguist’s cunning: subtract letters like numbers, decode cryptic grids, and unravel a mansion-wide riddle that whispers of dates, gates, and eight safes. The answer? A single letter holds the key, shifting daily to test even the sharpest minds.
Our Blue Prince guide will tell why there are two pictures in every room and tell you everything you need to know about how to solve the picture puzzle, including examples, the solution, the reward.
Why are there two pictures in each room in Blue Prince?
In Blue Prince, each room contains two pictures-paintings, drawings, or other visuals-that form the basis of a key puzzle in the game. The purpose of having two images is to create a word puzzle where you identify two related words represented by the pictures that differ by only one letter. By subtracting the letters of the second word from the first, you find a unique letter to place on a 5×9 grid corresponding to the mansion’s layout. This process, guided by clues found in specific rooms like the Commissary and Study, gradually reveals a secret message that helps unlock codes for safes and gates throughout the house. The two pictures thus serve as a cryptic system to uncover hidden information integral to progressing in Blue Prince.
Before we outright spell out the solution to Blue Prince’s wild picture puzzle, we’ll point you in the direction of where you can find some hints. There are a few rooms you can draft that will give you some clues:
- Commissary
- Study
- Classroom 5
In the Commissary, check the bulletin board. You’ll see one picture labeled WITH and one labeled WITHOUT. This is the biggest clue about the process of solving this puzzle. It implies you need to, for lack of a better word, “subtract” one picture from the other.
In the Study, things are clarified even further. You’ll find a note asking for artwork and another with some unused examples. On the chalkboard, you’ll find a big hint about how to put it all together: a grid system that maps directly to a blank Mt. Holly blueprint, with the letter F in the spot the Entrance Hall always goes. Some small chicken scratch reads, “Face & Ace.”
If you manage to draft Classroom 5, you’ll find examples of pictures on the boards around the room. But the only two hints you really need are those from the Commissary’s bulletin board and the Study’s chalkboard.
[Ed. note: Spoilers follow for the Blue Prince picture puzzle below.]
How to solve picture puzzles in Blue Prince
In Blue Prince, solving the picture puzzles involves analyzing the two images found in most rooms. The key is to identify two words-one linked to each image-that differ by a single letter, then subtract the letters they share to reveal a letter clue. For example, in the Entrance Hall, the images represent “FACE” and “ACE,” and subtracting ACE from FACE leaves the letter “F.” These letters fit into a grid corresponding to the mansion’s layout, gradually unveiling a secret message. Clues to solve these puzzles can be found in rooms like the Commissary and the Study, where hints about the subtraction method and grid system are provided. Since the images change daily, players can revisit rooms to gather all letters needed to complete the puzzle and unlock further secrets in the game.
In most rooms, you’ll find two pictures. Generally speaking, these will be arranged with one on the left and one on the right. Your job is to find two words – one for the drawing on the left and one for the right – that differ by only one letter, and then remove the shared letters.
Let’s go through an example.
In the Entrance Hall, you’ll see a pair of pictures framing the door on the right. Both are of hands holding playing cards. On the left is a queen, and there’s an ace on the right. But a queen is also a FACE card. So, FACE without ACE is just F.
Let’s do some more.
Some pictures are used multiple times, though, and have different meanings.
- The TAG – the price tag with a ten on it – can mean TAG, TEN, or COST.
- The drawing of a PLANE can mean PLANE or FLIER.
- The drawing of a hand painting a moon(?) can mean PLANET or CREATE (because the hand is creating a drawing).
- The drawing of a tree can be a PINE or a FIR.
- The chart can mean CHART or RATE (because the arrow shows the rate of increase on the chart).
Other drawings only ever mean one thing, like the PRY bar, the TIGER or the TIERed serving dish.
Your task in each room is to look at the two pictures, and subtract the second from the first. The pictures change each day (more on this in a second), so if you get stuck, you can always try again another day.
For what it’s worth, not every room has pictures. According to our testing, green rooms like the Veranda or the Patio appear to never have pictures. Some hallways don’t have them. The Foundation doesn’t either. This is only a problem for one day at a time, though, as you’ll solve the pictures puzzle across multiple days.
Full Study chalkboard pictures puzzle solution in Blue Prince
The full solution to the Study chalkboard picture puzzle in Blue Prince involves using the 5×9 grid displayed on the chalkboard to map letters derived from pairs of images found in various rooms. Each pair of images represents two words differing by one letter, and by subtracting the shared letters, you isolate a unique letter for that room. For example, in the Entrance Hall, the images correspond to the words “FACE” and “ACE,” yielding the letter “F.” By systematically solving each room’s picture puzzle and filling in the grid accordingly, you gradually reveal a secret 44-letter message. This message provides crucial clues for unlocking safes and progressing in the game, making the Study chalkboard puzzle a key part of uncovering Blue Prince’s mysteries.
Refer back to the grid that was on the chalkboard in the study. (You’re going to want a journal for this.) As you figure out which letters go in which boxes, you’ll slowly fill out a complete phrase.
The house in Blue Prince is arranged in a five-by-eight grid. Each day, the rooms will move around based on how you draft them, and when they do, the pictures will change. That’s because the letters are always in the same position. (This is also why the pictures in the Entrance Hall never change.) That means, no matter what room you put there, the bottom left corner will always be S.
With a bit of work and some patience, you can fill in a grid with each letter you find there. When you’re done, you’ll be able to read the message.
See below for the full solution:
The message is: IF WE COUNT SMALL GATES EIGHT DATES CRACK EIGHT SAFES.
So now what?
Picture puzzle reward in Blue Prince
The picture puzzle reward in Blue Prince is a key part of uncovering the mansion’s secrets. By solving the two pictures puzzle in each room-where you identify two words represented by the images that differ by one letter and subtract the shared letters-you gradually fill in a 44-letter grid that reveals a cryptic message. Completing this puzzle unlocks clues to various safes scattered throughout the house, which contain red letters contributing to the game’s backstory. This reward not only advances the narrative but also provides essential codes and insights necessary for progressing deeper into Blue Prince’s complex mystery.
Basically, this phrase is a hint that anything with code or combination on it is looking for a date. This includes the Orchard gate – “if we count small gates.” The safes it mentions can be found in rooms like the Shelter (the time lock safe counts as a date), Office, Study, Boudoir, and more.
These safes reveal red letters, which in turn fill out the backstory for Blue Prince. Want to track them all down? See our guide on all safe codes.
Want to discover the secret trick behind the two pictures puzzle in Blue Prince
The secret trick behind the Two Pictures Puzzle in Blue Prince lies in deciphering pairs of images in each room that represent two words differing by exactly one letter. By subtracting the letters they have in common, you uncover a single letter for that room’s position on a mansion-wide 5×9 grid. For example, the Entrance Hall shows a “Face” and an “Ace,” leaving the letter “F.” This process repeated across all rooms gradually reveals a hidden 44-letter message that guides you to important codes and safes throughout the mansion. Key hints come from the Study’s chalkboard and the Commissary’s bulletin board, which explain how to treat the images as word pairs and how to place the letters correctly on the grid. The images and their corresponding letters change daily, so persistence and careful note-taking are essential to cracking the code.
What is the secret trick behind matching the two pictures in Blue Prince
The secret trick behind matching the two pictures in Blue Prince is to identify two words represented by the images that differ by exactly one letter, then subtract the letters they have in common to isolate that single unique letter. For example, in the Entrance Hall, the images show a “Face” and an “Ace”-removing the letters of “Ace” from “Face” leaves the letter “F.” This letter corresponds to a specific position on a 5×9 mansion grid. Each room’s pair of pictures works the same way, and by solving all pairs, you fill the grid with letters that form a hidden 44-character message. The puzzle is supported by clues found in the Commissary (a bulletin board showing “WITH” and “WITHOUT” hints) and the Study (a chalkboard with grid references and examples like “Face & Ace”). The images and their meanings can change daily, so players must carefully analyze synonyms or alternate interpretations of the pictures to find the correct letter for each room’s grid position.
