Greenhouse Chess Board Puzzle: Find Your Piece Layout

The Greenhouse chess board can look ready while its clues are still scattered across A.R.E.S. A board copied from another save may eat the last of your loop’s power. Make this loop’s goal simple: get both links, decode both piece lists, then return to the board.

What you need

Reach the Greenhouse computer and chess board through the Lab. You also need access to Rafael’s locker in the Pod Bay and Rafael’s laptop on the top floor of the Lobby. Get the Data Disk from the upper Lab and use it on that laptop to reach its hexadecimal dictionary. Hexadecimal, or hex, is a code written with digits and the letters A–F. The lower Lobby computer has one of the clues, but it is not the decoder.

Hint — follow the links

Check the QR code on the lower Lobby computer where you installed K9’s contactless access, then check the code inside Rafael’s locker. A real phone can scan QR codes and show their full links. If your game shows patterned symbols instead of scannable QR codes, read the link printed above each pattern and use the digit key from the Pod Bay card builder to turn its symbols into the missing numbers. Each finished link belongs in one of the Greenhouse computer’s two browser tabs.

Spoiler — solution path

1. Lower Lobby: Record the full link from the contactless-access computer’s code.
2. Pod Bay: Open Rafael’s locker and record its link too. Keep the links marked by location so they do not get mixed up.
3. Greenhouse: Enter each full link in a browser tab. Copy the two hex lists and mark which is white and which is black. Include every part of each link, including its opening, numbers, and final slash.
4. Top-floor Lobby: Open the hexadecimal dictionary on Rafael’s laptop. Read the code in two-character pairs. For example, 61 31 becomes a1: 61 means “a,” and 31 means “1.” Decode every entry, keeping its white or black list label.
5. Greenhouse: Match each decoded piece to its square. In g7, g is the column and 7 is the row. Check the board labels before placing the next piece.

Board reference and worked example

One possible save’s layout, shown as a four-piece practice example: Suppose the white list gives king at a1 and pawn at a2, while the black list gives rook at e1 and bishop at g7. The diagram shows how those entries become placements; it is not a complete answer for your save. A dot means no piece is shown in this example.

       a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h
   8   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
   7   .  .  .  .  .  . BB  .
   6   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
   5   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
   4   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
   3   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
   2  WP  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
   1  WK  .  .  . BR  .  .  .
       a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h
W = white; B = black; K = king; P = pawn;
R = rook; second B = bishop

Place all pieces from your own two lists. When the layout is correct, a drawer in the board opens with Tarot Card 6. If power runs out, keep your links and decoded positions and make the board your next loop goal. K9 retains the contactless-access upgrade, so you can focus on the chess route.