Quiet Observatory: Fortune Lane

About Quiet Observatory: Fortune Lane

Quiet Observatory: Fortune Lane is a solo card puzzle set in a clockmaker's workshop at night, among clocks that have stopped at a dozen different hours. The bench is brushed steel with rivets and oil stains, and the lamp over it turns the brass amber. On it lie twenty-eight working drawings in three peaks of three tiers over a shared base of ten, and a brass crown wheel waits beside them.

A card is open when nothing lies on it, and it is played onto the wheel when it is one rank above or below the card on it, with the Ace and the King meeting. Three vices hold a card aside, and the parts drawer holds fourteen more to draw. Clearing a course of the drawings reverses the worth of the suits, and four small dials under the weights point at what each suit is worth now.

A lane is five deals, one for each weight of the great clock. Before each deal you choose one of two rule cards face up, and the points of every deal are added down the lane. As you clear a deal its weight climbs on its chain; a deal won winds the weight to the top with a green lamp lit over it, and a deal lost lets it fall. Score only: nothing is staked.

Once in each deal you can use the echo card. It repeats your last move: the same step up or down from the wheel, again and again while an open card continues the pattern, up to five times, or another draw, or another vice. Every move it makes is one the bench would have allowed, and it never makes one that leaves the deal impossible to clear. The pendulum kicks wide while it works. Every deal is checked by a solving player before you see it, and the lane saves where you leave it, in this browser only. Wind all five weights and the hour is struck.

How to play

Before each deal take one of two rule cards. Tap an open card, or drag it to the wheel, when it is one rank above or below the card on the wheel. The Ace and the King meet.
Put a card in a vice to reach the one beneath: drag it there, or tap it and then the vice. It can be played from there later.
Draw from the parts drawer when no play is left. Each card left in it at the end of a deal adds to its score.
Use the Echo button, or press G, once a deal. It repeats your last move for as long as the bench allows, and only when a safe repeat exists.
Clear every card of the three peaks to win a deal, and win all five to strike the hour. Press H or the Hint button for a good move, and U or the Undo button to take a move back.

Controls

Tap a card, or drag it to the wheel — play it
Drag a card to a vice, or tap it and then the vice; R — park
Tap the parts drawer or press E — draw a card
Echo button, G or RT — repeat your last move, once a deal
Arrow keys or WASD, then Space or Enter; D-pad or stick, then Ⓐ — play
Undo button, U or Ⓨ — undo; Hint button, H or LB — a hint
P, Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

What is a lane?

Five deals in a row, one for each weight of the great clock. Before each deal you take one of two face-up rule cards, and the points of the deals are added together. Nothing is staked.

What does the echo card do?

Once in each deal it repeats your last move: the same step from the card on the wheel, again while an open card continues the pattern, or another draw or vice. It does so up to five times, and only when a safe repeat exists.

Can the echo spoil a deal?

No. Every move it makes is an ordinary legal move, and it only chooses moves after which the deal can still be cleared. If there is none, the button stays dark and the echo is kept.

Can every deal be cleared?

With "Winnable deals only" (the default, and always for today's challenge) a solving player has cleared the deal before you see it. Choose "Any shuffle" in the settings for the luck of the draw.

Does it save my game?

Yes, in this browser only. Your lane in progress, best scores and badges are never uploaded. The echo card is renewed when you resume a deal.