The map of Escape the Ice Pyramid is a nine-row pyramid and you go down it, from the apex to the Meltwater Gate. Its new lock is Ice Shards: this pyramid has shattered. You fit every shard back into the gaps, the way up it lies, so that every brick is the sum of the two below it. Then you work out the melted bricks.
A jigsaw with arithmetic
In the book each shard is a piece of two or three bricks that cannot be turned, and the sums tell you where each one goes. Here is a made-up example in the spirit of the lock, much smaller than the book's, with one pair and one single brick.
Two shards and a frozen top
The top is frozen at 22. The bottom row has three gaps. One shard is a pair, 4 and 7 side by side. The other is a single brick, 4.
Try the pair on the left
Pair in the left two gaps, single on the right: 4, 7, 4. Then 4 + 7 = 11 and 7 + 4 = 11, and 11 + 11 = 22. That matches the top.
Try the pair on the right
Single on the left, pair on the right: 4, 4, 7. Then 4 + 4 = 8 and 4 + 7 = 11, and 8 + 11 = 19. That does not match 22, so this fit is out.
One fit is left
Only the first fit works, and the shards have found their gaps. The melted bricks are 11, 11 and the top, 22.
Tips for bigger pieces
- Start with the piece that fits only one place. A long shard has fewer places to go.
- Use the frozen bricks. A frozen brick is a number you can trust, and every sum around it must hold.
- Check one sum at a time. A shard in the wrong gap shows up the moment a neighbouring sum fails.
How a page looks in the book
A low-resolution page from Escape the Ice Pyramid, so you can see the layout. Nothing on it is solved.
Books mentioned
Escape the Ice Pyramid
A puzzle adventure gamebook: go down nine frozen rows through 45 locked chambers, with 12 kinds of lock. Ice Shards is one of them.
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