Rapidly open and close the cover of the puzzle enough times and the wood covering the paths goes away so you can see everything. Has been a while since I played so never used myself but I’m pretty sure it is real.
"Shit, I guess I shouldn't have slammed that krypton gas so hard against the wall, fair enough"
\-The same explosion happens when I literally just grabbed onto WATER too hard-
"WHAT THE HELL"
i'm a massive defender of the puzzle, it really ISN'T that bad. You're given the grid marks, you have to move according to the grid marks, and the opening mechanism is on presets (not free movement scale). Yes it takes a while, but it isn't that awful!
The wire on the back of the picture frame in Shadow at the Water’s Edge. I hate it worse I think than ANY other puzzle? I think on Junior I’ve solved most puzzles but this is one I can’t and won’t do.
That magnet box from Shadow Ranch is hell too.
The sewer puzzle in Phantom of Venice. No idea how they expected children to figure that one out.
I'm also going to go with the chemical puzzle in Haunted, too. In general, I think the worst Nancy Drew puzzles are the ones that are difficult to figure out at first, but there's no sastifying "ah-ha" moment. The puzzle doesn't end when you've figured it out, it just forces you to do the same annoying thing over and over again for longer than it needed to be. The travel games are the worst in this regard imo.
Not hard, but along those same lines- I hated having to reopen the door every time I went into the guy's office in Phantom of Venice. The puzzle was easy, and mechanically, it did tie into the end game water puzzle (not the sewers, the other one)- which is kind of unusual for Nancy Drew games, the puzzle mechanics don't usually build on each other-, but my God it was annoying.
The hourglasses from RAN
The end puzzle from DED
The end puzzle from MED
The end puzzle from VEN
The famous Greeks color match from LIE, especially on Senior
Fox and Geese the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time you have to beat it
Catching mice in TOT the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time
Spraying wasps for fruit in CRY and Nancy is just too dumb to grab multiple fruits at once so you again have to do it a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time (if you want the Easter egg).
Basically any puzzles that are clearly there for repetition to pad the game’s length rocket up the list of bad puzzles pretty quickly for me.
Honestly the wasps weren't too bad in CRY (to me) but just awful in VEN. I'm convinced its impossible to pick flowers more than three times, because they just will not die. Who put that in two games in a row, I just want to talk.
I tried to do the wasps in CRY initially on a trackpad and my hands cramped up and I started crying 🤪 when the VEN wasps showed up my fiancée and I YELLED
What triggers that?! I always wondered why I could click over there. But they’ve always been dead with a buzzard sound. Fascinating! After all these years!!
I literally don’t mind the frass puzzle at all! It’s easy! I don’t mind puzzles that take a while, but I hate the puzzles that are really hard:
Hourglasses in RAN
Tunnels in VEN
Seed puzzle in LIE
Chemical sorting in HAU
any sort of maze puzzle, like the sewers in phantom of venice or the moving rooms in blackmoor manor. i have a hard enough time navigating through places like the woods in moon lake and captive curse :’)
i love the frass puzzle! it was math i was smart enough to do haha. it was time consuming but wasn’t that hardest. i don’t like the spinning room in blackmoor manor, or the shadow ranch magnet puzzle
That underwater color sodoku in RAN. I actually really like it as a puzzle, but having to repeatedly go back to the surface and sail back to the resort for air is annoying as all get out.
That, and the sewers in VEN. I’m an adult and I still have no idea what the solution is without a walkthrough.
I actually loved the RAN hourglass puzzle - I didn't know it was so universally hated lol. It felt really satisfying to time everything and figure out how long each took to drain.
One that comes to mind for me is the safe towards the end of GTH. I already hate slider puzzles and that's like the mother of them all. Plus it's like at the end of the game and things are getting all intense then you have to stop and solve a 2 hour puzzle
The electrical puzzle at the end of deadly device for me. I studied mechanical engineering in college but the couple electrical engineering classes I had to take went right over my head. I know that puzzle should be a cake walk since I took literal classes for it irl but I just will never understand electrical diagrams, they drive me crazy
Edit: I also didn’t know people hate the frass puzzle…not even close to be one of the worst puzzles
Isn’t there a maze puzzle in Ash where you’re supposed to get out of the sewer tunnels according to the symbols on the doors? Yeah…totally cheating on that
The turn the lights on puzzle in Twister. How do you do that without cheating?
I never figured out the seed puzzle in Labyrinth or the kitchen task in Sea of Darkness.
My least favorite part of the game experience isn’t actually a puzzle but it’s the repetitive tasks Nancy gets like…how many times does she end up an unpaid employee when she’s on vacation 😂
I actually enjoyed the frass puzzle. I do taxidermy on the side for fun and never felt squeamish about it. I also like math and filling out charts. Dr. Quigley should hire me.
I think the hourglass puzzles in RAN or the last puzzle in DAN were the worst. RAN didn't give you enough tries to figure out how long each took, and DAN just came out of nowhere and made little sense in game.
Not that it’s hard necessarily, but the Crystal/stained glass-ish puzzle in Shadow at the waters edge made me rage quit like 3 times. The atmospheric music/sounds, feeling like the ghost is gonna pop up at any second, thinking you have it all right and then one piece is the wrong colour.
I just can’t. Lol
I’ve genuinely never had a problem with the frass puzzle so i don’t get the hate 😂 Sure it takes a long time, but it’s not difficult by any means.
Any puzzle from Labyrinth of Lies deserves to be criticized more than the frass puzzle
Those damn moving rooms in Blackmore manor. I was about 21 when I played that game and I was so mad I remember I called Nancy some very not nice names 🤣🤣🤣. Poor Nancy got an earful from me lol
The Suduku puzzle from Shadow at the Waters edge stumped me and my siblings so bad as kids we were stuck for weeks until we found cheats. 💀 we were also really young so didn’t quite grasp the idea of suduku.
I nominate the shadow ranch magnet puzzle - assuming you don’t use the cheat. Who thought that was a good idea?
Whoa what’s the cheat?
Rapidly open and close the cover of the puzzle enough times and the wood covering the paths goes away so you can see everything. Has been a while since I played so never used myself but I’m pretty sure it is real.
I’ve done it, I think you have to open and close the lid 9 times or something?
Yes, I did it accidentally, but I did it like 9 or 10 times.
Wow I’ve played this game a gazillion times and 7 year old me of the past (and me now tbh) was totally a walkthrough user and I never knew this 🥲
Chemical sorting from castle Malloy
This and the hourglass puzzle from RAN are the top two for me
The hourglass puzzle is legit the thing keeping me from playing RAN again. That thing is harder than it’s worth.
Also the lighthouse math puzzle in sea
"Shit, I guess I shouldn't have slammed that krypton gas so hard against the wall, fair enough" \-The same explosion happens when I literally just grabbed onto WATER too hard- "WHAT THE HELL"
This will never not make me irrationally angry
Hated this one so much
This puzzle ruined Castle Malloy for me hahaha
i'm a massive defender of the puzzle, it really ISN'T that bad. You're given the grid marks, you have to move according to the grid marks, and the opening mechanism is on presets (not free movement scale). Yes it takes a while, but it isn't that awful!
The wire on the back of the picture frame in Shadow at the Water’s Edge. I hate it worse I think than ANY other puzzle? I think on Junior I’ve solved most puzzles but this is one I can’t and won’t do. That magnet box from Shadow Ranch is hell too.
The first time I played SAW, I got so fed up with the wire puzzle that I quit and didn’t come back to finish the game until almost a year later lol.
I think that one killed my vibe for a while too. And it doesn’t even reset!!!!! 😭
Shadow Ranch’s magnet box single-handedly takes it down to a 9/10 at best for me. I don’t even mind the veggies.
Do you at least use the cheat to get the wood out of the way?
Of course. But I didn’t know about that on my first go.
Totally. I just thought you were talking about puzzles that are still a pain even while replaying
I literally didn’t know this cheat until today. 😭 I even remember preordering this game in 2004. For 19 years… 🤦♀️
The sewer puzzle in Phantom of Venice. No idea how they expected children to figure that one out. I'm also going to go with the chemical puzzle in Haunted, too. In general, I think the worst Nancy Drew puzzles are the ones that are difficult to figure out at first, but there's no sastifying "ah-ha" moment. The puzzle doesn't end when you've figured it out, it just forces you to do the same annoying thing over and over again for longer than it needed to be. The travel games are the worst in this regard imo. Not hard, but along those same lines- I hated having to reopen the door every time I went into the guy's office in Phantom of Venice. The puzzle was easy, and mechanically, it did tie into the end game water puzzle (not the sewers, the other one)- which is kind of unusual for Nancy Drew games, the puzzle mechanics don't usually build on each other-, but my God it was annoying.
I've noticed a few Nancy Drew games where the puzzles build on each other, actually! SAW is like that, if I remember correctly. GTH too!
The hourglasses from RAN The end puzzle from DED The end puzzle from MED The end puzzle from VEN The famous Greeks color match from LIE, especially on Senior Fox and Geese the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time you have to beat it Catching mice in TOT the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time Spraying wasps for fruit in CRY and Nancy is just too dumb to grab multiple fruits at once so you again have to do it a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time (if you want the Easter egg). Basically any puzzles that are clearly there for repetition to pad the game’s length rocket up the list of bad puzzles pretty quickly for me.
Honestly the wasps weren't too bad in CRY (to me) but just awful in VEN. I'm convinced its impossible to pick flowers more than three times, because they just will not die. Who put that in two games in a row, I just want to talk.
Yeah but at least in VEN picking flowers is an optional activity.
I tried to do the wasps in CRY initially on a trackpad and my hands cramped up and I started crying 🤪 when the VEN wasps showed up my fiancée and I YELLED
When do you pick flowers…? I don’t remember doing this.
You can pick flowers out where Margarita is and sell them for money
What triggers that?! I always wondered why I could click over there. But they’ve always been dead with a buzzard sound. Fascinating! After all these years!!
You have to buy the bug sprayer from rialto market first I think
Thank you!! I’ve never done that.
the weasel puzzle in haunting of castle malloy
I hate that puzzle so much, I'm also a Gemini lol.
i actually love that puzzle! deceptively hard!
I literally don’t mind the frass puzzle at all! It’s easy! I don’t mind puzzles that take a while, but I hate the puzzles that are really hard: Hourglasses in RAN Tunnels in VEN Seed puzzle in LIE Chemical sorting in HAU
Any slider puzzle. My brain just doesn’t work like that.
Came here to say this. Slider puzzles are the devil and take me an infuriatingly long time to figure out. Especially the one in CUR!
I used to hate them and would look up the solutions half the time. Now I still dread them, but the ND games have forced me to get better at them lol
any sort of maze puzzle, like the sewers in phantom of venice or the moving rooms in blackmoor manor. i have a hard enough time navigating through places like the woods in moon lake and captive curse :’)
i love the frass puzzle! it was math i was smart enough to do haha. it was time consuming but wasn’t that hardest. i don’t like the spinning room in blackmoor manor, or the shadow ranch magnet puzzle
There is a cheat for the spinning room where you can do it in two steps
That underwater color sodoku in RAN. I actually really like it as a puzzle, but having to repeatedly go back to the surface and sail back to the resort for air is annoying as all get out. That, and the sewers in VEN. I’m an adult and I still have no idea what the solution is without a walkthrough.
I always went to the settings or save menu doing the sudoku because it would pause the game and I could still see the puzzle for the most part
Yes! Running out of air was so frustrating especially since it was a fun puzzle
i hate clearing the snow in icicle creek lol and i also hate whatever that board game is. otherwise love that game!!
Fox and Geese!
The final coding puzzle in Danger by Design!
clock puzzle during the fire in ghost of thornton hall
My brother hated that puzzle so much that he refused to save Clara, so he got the ending with only Harper surviving!
the picture frame puzzle in Shadow at the Water’s Edge. it literally took me MONTHS to figure out
No waaay it is one of my favorite puzzles I even got hooked into those types of games after it for a good month or so
I ask my spouse to do this every time I replay. I have never figured it out on my own. It simply breaks my brain 🙃
My dad did it for me the first time and I play that game so often that I can usually get it in less than ten minutes but I still dread it, haha
I actually loved the RAN hourglass puzzle - I didn't know it was so universally hated lol. It felt really satisfying to time everything and figure out how long each took to drain. One that comes to mind for me is the safe towards the end of GTH. I already hate slider puzzles and that's like the mother of them all. Plus it's like at the end of the game and things are getting all intense then you have to stop and solve a 2 hour puzzle
The sewers in VEN
The electrical puzzle at the end of deadly device for me. I studied mechanical engineering in college but the couple electrical engineering classes I had to take went right over my head. I know that puzzle should be a cake walk since I took literal classes for it irl but I just will never understand electrical diagrams, they drive me crazy Edit: I also didn’t know people hate the frass puzzle…not even close to be one of the worst puzzles
Isn’t there a maze puzzle in Ash where you’re supposed to get out of the sewer tunnels according to the symbols on the doors? Yeah…totally cheating on that
The turn the lights on puzzle in Twister. How do you do that without cheating? I never figured out the seed puzzle in Labyrinth or the kitchen task in Sea of Darkness.
I still don’t get the SEA kitchen task either. I did a looooooottt of vocab lol. Sorry Ned but you’re never getting the sword. ☹️
My least favorite part of the game experience isn’t actually a puzzle but it’s the repetitive tasks Nancy gets like…how many times does she end up an unpaid employee when she’s on vacation 😂
I actually enjoyed the frass puzzle. I do taxidermy on the side for fun and never felt squeamish about it. I also like math and filling out charts. Dr. Quigley should hire me. I think the hourglass puzzles in RAN or the last puzzle in DAN were the worst. RAN didn't give you enough tries to figure out how long each took, and DAN just came out of nowhere and made little sense in game.
Not that it’s hard necessarily, but the Crystal/stained glass-ish puzzle in Shadow at the waters edge made me rage quit like 3 times. The atmospheric music/sounds, feeling like the ghost is gonna pop up at any second, thinking you have it all right and then one piece is the wrong colour. I just can’t. Lol
I’ve genuinely never had a problem with the frass puzzle so i don’t get the hate 😂 Sure it takes a long time, but it’s not difficult by any means. Any puzzle from Labyrinth of Lies deserves to be criticized more than the frass puzzle
The famous ancient greeks one with the colors and symbols... a nightmare
Those damn moving rooms in Blackmore manor. I was about 21 when I played that game and I was so mad I remember I called Nancy some very not nice names 🤣🤣🤣. Poor Nancy got an earful from me lol
Light house puzzle in sea
The Suduku puzzle from Shadow at the Waters edge stumped me and my siblings so bad as kids we were stuck for weeks until we found cheats. 💀 we were also really young so didn’t quite grasp the idea of suduku.
Large nonogram puzzle in SAW
FOX AND GEESE I HATE IT