Unlocking the Secrets of the Mak-Yek Puzzle

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle features its share of challenging puzzles, but none are quite as tricky as the Mak-Yek Puzzle. Once you reach Voss’s Camp in Sukhothai, you’ll encounter this puzzle while on the hunt for cash to obtain the rebreather.

The complexity of this puzzle, with its nuanced rules, might leave you scratching your head for hours if you attempt to work through it randomly. If you’re struggling to make sense of this ancient Siamese board game or just need guidance on where to find it, this guide will help you out.

How to Start the Game of Wits Mystery

In the far back of Voss’s Camp, close to where the Royal Army Uniform is found, you’ll see a large green tent that serves as the housing for the Nazis. To initiate this mystery, ascend to the second floor using the staircase located behind the tent. There, you’ll find a table featuring the board game and two notes.

A safe sits behind the table. To solve this mystery, you’ll need to decipher the puzzle using the notes and then enter a four-digit code into the safe.

Beware, there are a few enemies patrolling the area. You can either eliminate them or wear the Royal Army Uniform to go unnoticed while you work on the puzzle.

Take Lorenzo’s Challenge and Mak-Yek Rules from the table to kickstart this mystery.

This room also has a footlocker filled with gold, a medicine bottle, and the comic book Tales of the Dread #5.

How to Solve the Mak-Yek Puzzle

According to Lorenzo’s Challenge, the objective of the puzzle is to capture all the red pieces by moving just four blue pieces, one time each. The Mak-Yek Rules explain that you can move a piece straight, either horizontally or vertically, until it meets another piece. To capture a red piece, you must surround it with two blue pieces. If several red pieces line up in a row or column, you can capture them all by moving blue pieces to both ends.

If you flip over the Mak-Yek Rules, you’ll discover an added rule on the back. If you move a blue piece between two red pieces that are one square apart, you’ll capture both—this is known as an intervention capture, an important concept to grasp to successfully solve the puzzle.

To unlock the safe, simply note the number from the row where each blue piece lands, in the order you move them. As you maneuver each piece, jot down the row number, and by the time you’ve moved all four, you’ll have your four-digit code.

You cannot actually move the pieces on the Mak-Yek board, so you’ll need to visualize each move instead.

Mak-Yek Puzzle Solution

Your first move should be to slide the blue piece from F1 upward to F3, which captures the red pieces on E3 and G3. This gives you the first digit of the code, 3.

Next, slide the blue piece from H1 to D1, capturing the red piece at C1; this gives you the second digit, 1.

Then, move B1 all the way up to B8. This captures all the red pieces in the top row, giving you the third digit, 8.

Finally, slide the piece on F8 down to F6, which captures the last two red pieces on F5 and F4, providing you with the final digit, 6.

Now head to the safe behind the table and enter the code 3186. The safe will open, and you’ll uncover your reward. Congratulations on completing A Game of Wits!

All Mystery Note Locations for Secret of Secrets

Note	Location
Lorenzo’s Challenge	On the table on the second floor of the green tent in Voss’s Camp
Mak-Yek Rules	Underneath Lorenzo’s Challenge on the same table in the green tent, second floor