Brain Out Level 44

Overview

A faucet pours water into a branching pipe network on the board, leading down to seven numbered cups arranged in two rows. Cup 1 and cup 2 sit directly below the top splitter; cup 3 and cup 4 hang under cup 1, while cups 5, 6, and 7 branch off under cup 2. The prompt asks which cup gets filled first. The pipe layout looks like a simple downstream race, but one route is blocked and one cup can be moved out of the way before the water reaches it. Tracing the open channels, the cup that ends up filling first is cup 4.

• Difficulty: Hard
• Estimated moves: 2

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Read the prompt and follow the water from the faucet at the top. Note the splitter that divides the flow left toward cup 1 and right toward cup 2 before tracing each branch downward.
2. Trace the left branch first. Water reaching cup 1 can flow toward cup 3 on the left or cup 4 on the right, and you need to check which of those lower channels stays open.
3. Check the route to cup 3. That line is blocked or sealed, so cup 3 will not receive water even though its branch appears connected.
4. Look again at the cup 1 section. Cup 1 itself can be slid out of the way, which changes how the water distributes through the left-side channels.
5. Slide cup 1 out of its position to clear the obstruction. With cup 1 moved aside, the water on the left side routes down to the open channel leading to cup 4.
6. Tap cup 4 once the routing is set. The board accepts cup 4 as the first cup to fill and the success panel appears. If another cup was tapped first, re-check the blocked branch and the cup that had to be moved aside.

The level combines pipe tracing with one movable cup. Reading which channels are open is the main task, and shifting cup 1 removes the last interference on the route to cup 4.

Strategy & Reasoning

Pipe-network puzzles are solved by following open channels rather than guessing the nearest cup. The branches that look complete on paper can still be sealed at some joint, and a cup sitting in the way can divert flow before it reaches the lower row. Here the cup 3 branch is the blocked one, while moving cup 1 lets the left-side water continue down toward cup 4.

Tracing only the top row fails because cups 1 and 2 are middle splitters, not final recipients. Guessing cup 3 fails because its channel is sealed. Following the right branch toward cups 5, 6, and 7 fails because that side does not produce the first filled cup. The intended check is to mark blocked joints, move the obstructing cup, then follow the open left channel to its final destination.

Tips & Common Mistakes

• Do not pick the closest cup under the faucet. Cup 1 and cup 2 split the flow onward, so neither is the final filling target.
• Verify which lower branch is blocked before choosing a cup. The route to cup 3 does not open, so the left-side water continues toward cup 4 instead.
• Slide cup 1 out of the way as the setup move, then tap cup 4. If the level rejects the tap, confirm cup 1 was moved aside and the open channel to cup 4 is still unobstructed.