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Here it is, the second of the 'boss levels' in Escape Academy. Once you've completed the previous levels, this is your only option to progress - a challenge that you must pass before you're allowed entry into the rest of the game. The Rival Room.

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This extravagant competition is laid out like some sort of obstacle course, and the obstacles in this case are puzzles. Devious ones that will test all the skills you've been honing thus far - perspective, mathematics, and lateral thinking. You have a whopping 35-minutes to tackle this level, but with our hints and solutions you'll barely need 20.

First thing's first, do not worry about the progress of your rival. She will not be able to complete the final puzzle until the 35-minute mark has passed, and that's a game over anyways.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Objective

Puzzle #1: Fire The Ballista

Escape Academy The Rival Room Ballista Gear Puzzle

The first puzzle of this gauntlet is to fire a flaming bolt from a large ballista that will open the way forwards. To start with, open up the cabinet, chest, and briefcase that you'll find on the left. Pick up the gears within, a Small Gear, Medium Gear, and Large Gear.

Examine the wall with gear pegs in it, and slot the gears in so that you can spin the handle and operate the ballista.

  • Place the Large Gear on the bottom-left peg.
  • Place the Small Gear between the two darker gears.
  • Place the Medium Gear on the rightmost peg.

Turn the wheel and move on to the next puzzle.

Puzzle #2: Symmetry And Perspective

Escape Academy The Rival Room Perspective Puzzle

This puzzle consists of two elements, a very large glass wall filled with names, and a field of busts. Each name corresponds to one of the busts, with the name appearing on a plaque just underneath the bust on the column.

Interacting with a bust allows you to move it across the field, and your goal is to move the three correct busts to the three buttons at the end of the field.

"Which three can you both see?" is the clue given to you - study the glass wall and work out which names are made up of totally symmetrical letters. These are Timmy, Wyatt, and Max.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Busts

Find the busts with these names on them and move them onto the buttons. The door will open to the third puzzle.

Puzzle #3: Weights And Scales

Escape Academy The Rival Room Weights Puzzle

There are two sections to this puzzle. The first is turning the power on. To do this, you need to find out the weights of each colored weight that you'll find on the left side of this puzzle. There are five in total: Green, White, Red, Blue, and Orange.

You'll need to pick up these weights and use the scales in between the weight racks to figure out how much they all weigh. They are all different weights, between one and five kilograms. Once you know the weight of one of them, use the arrows on the screen at the back of the puzzle to enter the weights - when you've entered all five in correctly, the power will come on.

It's pretty easy to work out that Red is the lightest weight and that White is the heaviest, but working out the three in the middle is a bit more involved.

Here's the solution:

Weight

1kg

2kg

3kg

4kg

5kg

Color

Red

Blue

Green

Orange

White

Escape Academy The Rival Room Weights Complete

Once you've entered this information into the display, the three screens at the end of the levers will turn on, each displaying a weight. This shows you that you must place weights on the bars until the total amount of weight placed on the bar equals the weight displayed on the screen: seven kilograms, nine kilograms, and 14 kilograms.

Each bar has three slots on it for a weight - one of them multiplies the weight by two, one multiplies the weight by three, and one simply adds the weight to the total.

Place the weights onto the bars as follows:

x1 Slot

x2 Slot

x3 Slot

7kg Bar

Red Weight (1kg)

-

Blue Weight (6kg)

9kg Bar

-

-

Green Weight (9kg)

14kg Bar

Orange Weight (4kg)

White Weight (10kg)

-

When all five weights have been placed, the door to the fourth puzzle will open.

Puzzle #4: The Rotating Chambers

Escape Academy The Rival Room Rotating Chamber

This is one of the hardest puzzles in the whole level. You are presented with six buttons, all of which will rotate the three chambers in front of you either clockwise or anticlockwise. The chambers have a number of pedestals on them, each of them having a symbol on them.

At the back of the level you can see a series of symbols - you must hit buttons in that order, rotating the chambers to be able to reach them.

  • The purple buttons will rotate the two chambers closest to you.
  • The green buttons will rotate the two outer chambers.
  • The orange buttons will rotate the two chambers furthest from you.

Hit the red Reset button to reset the puzzle. You must solve this puzzle in less than ten overall rotations. If you can solve the puzzle in under eight rotations, however, you'll get the Spin Specialist achievement.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Rotating Chamber Buttons

To solve the puzzle in just seven rotations, do the following:

  • Press the right purple button.
  • Press the right green button.
  • Head into the chambers and press the Circle button, the Spade button, and then the Club button.
  • Press the right green button.
  • Press the right purple button.
  • Head into the chambers and press the Triangle button.
  • Press the left green button.
  • Head into the chambers for the Square and Diamond buttons.
  • Press the right orange button.
  • Head into the chambers a final time to hit the Heart button.

With that, you should get the achievement and be able to progress to the next puzzle.

Puzzle #5: The Double-Sided Safe

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe

This is the final puzzle of the level, and it's made up of many, tiny puzzles. As you can see, the safe is arranged in a way that means you never have to leave it - everything you need is on this wall of mini-puzzles.

The diagram below will show you the order in which you'll be tackling these mini-puzzles.

5

4

1

8

6

3

Safe

2

7

9

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Flip Tiles

In Mini-Puzzle #1, simply darken the squares that correspond to the darker mini-puzzles on the safe itself. These are the four corners and the center tile.

Doing so will reveal a Cabinet Key. Pick it up.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Keyhole

Use the Cabinet Key to open up the lock on Mini-Puzzle #2.

This reveals a sentence: Ring The Bells My Dear Friend. The bolded letters here are underlined for a reason.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Bells

Take a closer look at the bells on Mini-Puzzle #3 - they all have letters on them. Hit them in this order: G - E - A - E - D.

You'll be able to pick up the Bronze Medal and be given a hint for the next puzzle: You'll escape when pigs fly.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Animal Dial

In Mini-Puzzle #4, you can spin the three wheels to make nonsense animals. To solve this puzzle, use the clue you just received: spin the wheels until you have the head and tail of a pig with some wings in the middle.

You'll be presented with a sequence of arrows.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Arrows

On Mini-Puzzle #5, hit the arrows in the order you revealed in Mini-Puzzle #4: Up, Right, Up, Left, Down.

You'll get some a collection of coins - one cent coins, five cent coins, and ten cent coins.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Money

Use these coins in Mini-Puzzle #6. There are two rows of three slots, each of which must be filled with a coin. When read either horizontally or vertically, each line and columns' coins must add up to the value displayed.

The table below shows how to arrange these coins:

2 cents

15 cents

11 cents

16 cents

1 cent coin

5 cent coin

10 cent coin

12 cents

1 cent coin

10 cent coin

1 cent coin

The cabinet will open and you'll get some playing cards.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Clock

Mini-Puzzle #7 requires that you set all four hands to the correct values on a clock that has playing card values instead of times. Pin the playing cards to your screen for ease of use and click on the suit icon buttons until the corresponding hands are pointed at the correct values.

  • Point the Heart at the K.
  • Point the Spade at 7.
  • Point the Diamond at Q.
  • Point the Club at 3.

The cabinet will open up, revealing the Silver Medal and the word 'BANE.'

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Code Dials

In Mini-Puzzle #8, just make the word BANE with the dials to get a box of Marbles.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Marbles

Use the Marbles with the funnels at the top of Mini-Puzzle #9. You'll have to click the orange and yellow buttons alternately, making sure that the orange marbles end up in the orange receptacles and the yellow ones end up in the yellow receptacles.

Hit the buttons in the following order:

  • Yellow
  • Yellow
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Orange
  • Orange

Inside this cabinet you'll pick up the Gold Medal, the third and final medal.

Escape Academy The Rival Room Wall Safe Trophy

Place the medals in the safe in the middle of the wall and you'll win the Rival Room competition and beat the level.

NEXT: Escape Academy: The Tea Kettle Walkthrough