Thistledown Hall has nine locked wings, a terrier called Biscuit and a Pyramid Folly waiting at the top. The new lock in Escape the Mansion After Dark is Portrait Pairs. A gilt frame holds two touching bricks, and its plaque shows the two numbers multiplied. A crown marks the bigger brick of a wide frame. Every brick is still the sum of the two below it.
Factors to try
A product alone gives a short list of possible pairs. 12 could be 1 × 12, 2 × 6 or 3 × 4. The rest of the pyramid then picks the right one. Here is a made-up example.
A frame, a crown and a top
The top is 21. The right brick on the bottom row is 7. A frame around the bottom-left pair has a plaque showing 12, and the crown sits on the right brick of the pair, so the right one is the bigger.
List the pairs
Two numbers that multiply to 12, the second bigger: 1 and 12, 2 and 6, or 3 and 4.
Test each pair
The top is left + 2 × middle + right. With 7 on the right: 1 and 12 gives 1 + 24 + 7 = 32. 2 and 6 gives 2 + 12 + 7 = 21. 3 and 4 gives 3 + 8 + 7 = 18. Only 2 and 6 gives the 21 we were given.
Climb to check
2 + 6 = 8 and 6 + 7 = 13. Then 8 + 13 = 21. The portrait fits its frame.
Why the middle counts twice
In a three-row pyramid the top is left + 2 × middle + right, because the middle brick is added into both bricks above it. That is the quickest way to test a pair: three small sums and you are done.
More about the book
The Family Tree at the end of the book is a taller board that uses portrait pairs again, and there is a mystery about a missing bell clapper. The story has Great-Aunt Mirabel and the inventor Barnaby Finch.
How a page looks in the book
A low-resolution page from Escape the Mansion After Dark, so you can see the layout. Nothing on it is solved.
Books mentioned
Escape the Mansion After Dark
A puzzle adventure gamebook: open nine locked wings to the Pyramid Folly by dawn, with 12 kinds of lock. Portrait Pairs is one of them.
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More field notes
Negative Numbers in a Pyramid: Moving Left on the Number Line
Adding a negative number is just a step to the left. A number line, a pyramid and a few easy habits make negatives feel ordinary.
Number Bank Pyramids: Place Every Number Once
An empty pyramid and a bank of numbers. Each number is used exactly once. A worked sample, a 20-second video and a pyramid to try yourself, with the one rule you need to read the hidden digits.
Pascal's Triangle: Patterns Hiding in a Number Pyramid
One simple rule builds a triangle full of surprises: doubling rows, counting and triangular numbers, Fibonacci numbers, a fractal and route counting. Each pattern is drawn step by step.
Escape the Museum After Dark: The Story and a Look Inside
Escape the Museum After Dark: the story, how a chamber plays and a look at a real page.
Frost Village Puzzle Hunt: What It Can Do for Players
Frost Village Puzzle Hunt (Ages 7 to 12): what is in it, what players can get out of it and how to run it.
Fossil Camp: Nine Sites, Nine Bone Cards, One Cracking Egg
A dinosaur egg is about to hatch and the nest is behind the Bone Gate. A tour of the Fossil Camp kit for ages 6 to 9, with its video.
Escape the Dwarf Halls: The Story and a Look Inside
Escape the Dwarf Halls: the story, how a chamber plays and a look at a real page.
Call It x: Your First Algebra Is Hiding in a Pyramid
When a brick is missing and the sums don't reach it, name it x. A gentle four-step method, drawn out.
Escape the Bakery After Dark: The Story and a Look Inside
Escape the Bakery After Dark: the story, how a chamber plays and a look at a real page.
The Case of the Vanishing Trophy: What It Can Do for Players
The Case of the Vanishing Trophy (Ages 8 to 12): what is in it, what players can get out of it and how to run it.
Timeline Rows: Equal Steps Like the Years on a Museum Wall
A timeline row goes up in equal steps, and every row above it is a timeline too, with a step twice as big. A lock from Escape the Museum After Dark.
Gauss's Trick: Add 1 to 100 in Ten Seconds
The famous 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 100 shortcut, why it works (with drawings), what we really know about the story, and the pyramid of bricks hiding inside it.
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