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Day 8: Circuit of Trust

Previously

Following a mysterious signal from a beeping radio, you decoded a message pointing to the Ferris wheel deep within the twisted carnival grounds. Navigating through the eerie festival, you reached the towering structure, where something — or someone — appears to be waiting for you in the shadows.

Narrative

The Ferris wheel towers above you, rusted and creaking, casting long shadows in the dim light. As you approach, the faint hum of machinery catches your ear. From behind a pile of debris, a pair of glowing eyes flicker to life, followed by a crackling voice.

“Hey there! I didn’t think anyone would show up,” the voice says, cheerful despite the distortion. A small, worn-out robot emerges from the shadows — its metallic body dented and rusted, with carnival insignia still visible under layers of grime.

“I’m Jolly,” the robot continues. “I used to guide visitors and keep the carnival running. But, well... things haven’t exactly been cheerful around here for a while.”

Jolly explains that it has been stuck in the broken-down Ferris wheel, barely functional, watching the corruption spread through the carnival. It has a plan to retrieve the Crystal of Joy, but its systems are too damaged to act on it. Suspicious of outsiders after years of isolation, Jolly hesitates before revealing the full plan.

“There’s a Power Core in the old generator that could get me running again,” Jolly says cautiously. “But before I trust you with my plan, I need to know I can rely on you. Consider this a test. If you can help me restore my systems, we can talk about the rest.”

Jolly needs a Power Core to restore its basic functionality, but it’s locked inside a corrupted generator deeper in the carnival grounds. You’ll need to navigate the decaying machinery and solve a logic puzzle to retrieve the core.

As you reach the central generator, you see the decayed remains of an access mechanism, with faint lights blinking on and off. The Power Core is stored behind a locked compartment, but the only way to access it is by activating a mechanism that will light up the control panel. This mechanism is tied to a series of circuits and gates that control the flow of power.

Objective

Retrieve the Power Core by solving the logic gate puzzle to reroute the power and light up the mechanism, unlocking the compartment. Return the Power Core to Jolly to restore its power.

Challenge

The Power Core is locked behind a security compartment within the generator, and the only way to access it is by rerouting the electrical current through a series of logic gates to activate a mechanism. Once the correct sequence is established, the mechanism will light up a lamp, signaling that the compartment has been unlocked.

The circuit board in front of you displays a series of interconnected AND, OR, XOR, and NOT gates, each affecting the flow of electricity. Your goal is to guide the power from the input through the logic gates in such a way that it activates the output lamp.

Instructions:

  • You must manipulate the switches connected to the input so that the output result activates the lamp.
  • AND Gates require both inputs to be active for the power to pass through.
  • OR Gates allow power to pass if at least one input is active.
  • XOR Gates allow power to pass only if one input is active, but not both. If both inputs are active, the power is blocked.
  • NOT Gates invert the signal, meaning an inactive input becomes active and vice versa.
  • The answer must contain the activation state of the switches from the top to the bottom, where 1 indicates active and 0 indicates inactive. An example of a possible answer (obviously wrong) could be 00011.
  • Note that there is more than one possible answer.
Hint 1 Start by focusing on the end of the circuit where the lamp is. Work backwards from there to figure out how the power needs to flow to reach the output.
Hint 2 The last two switches in the sequence are very direct and will help you narrow down the correct path. Pay close attention to those.
Hint 3 Be careful with the XOR gates — they require exactly one input to be active, so ensure you're sending only one signal through.

Answer

Wrong answer!

Outcome

After solving the puzzle, the mechanism activates and the lamp flickers to life, indicating that the compartment has been unlocked. You retrieve the Power Core and return it to Jolly, who quickly installs the core, its systems whirring back to life.

“Not bad! I’m back online, but I’m still stuck without a servo motor to move around. That’s hidden in the old carousel. If you can find it, we can finally put my plan into motion.”