A Live Path (carrying electricity).
A Safe Path (not carrying electricity).
A Signal Path is a component on a circuit board, as seen in the Electronics Mini-Game.
There are 10 Signal Paths on any circuit board, running across the entire board from left to right. Each path crosses exactly 7 Logic Chips along the way, and ends in a single Exit Chip.
Signal Paths can be either "Live" (carrying electricity) or "Safe" (not carrying electricity) at any given time. Depending on the Logic Chips a Path runs through, it may change from Live to Safe and vice versa many times along the way.
The goal of the mini-game is to disconnect all Signal Paths from electricity, so that they do not carry any current into any of the Exit Chips. This is done by switching the Logic Chips around, thus affecting the current flowing through the Paths.
Visual Description[]
The Circuit Board. 10 Paths are seen running across the board from left to right.
A Signal Path is a long thin line running across the circuit board from left to right. There are exactly 10 of them on every board.
Each Path usually changes direction and crosses over other paths as it makes its way across the board, but most importantly each path will go into and out of no less than 7 Logic Chips. At the end of its "journey", on the far right side of the circuit board, each Path ends in an Exit Chip.
Signal Paths are shown in different colors to indicate whether they are carrying electricity or not. A "Safe" wire is shown in green - it is not carrying electricity. A "Live" wire shows a moving red-and-black pattern to indicate that it is carrying an electric current.
The pattern may "switch" from Live to Safe many times during the path's progress across the board. This is caused by the Logic Chips it runs through. A Chip may cause a Live path to go Safe, or a Safe path to go Live, depending on the logical operation performed by that Chip.
The Goal[]
A Safe (green) Signal Path running into a Target Chip at the end of its journey.
All 10 Signal Paths eventually reach the right-hand side of the circuit board. Each of these paths ends in single Exit Chip - either an Alarm or a Target Chip.
The objective of the game is to make sure that all 10 Paths are showing Green (no electricity) as they go into their respective Exit Chips. When this occurs, the Mini-Game ends successfully.
If at any time a Path carries electricity into an Alarm Chip, the mini-game ends immediatly. The wiretap will fail unless you secured the last target chip at the same time.
Logical Operations[]
Each Path runs through exactly 7 different Logic Chips as it makes its way across the board. It enters the Logic Chip on its left side, and exits out the right side. Each Logic Chip has two paths running into it in this way - they are referred to as the "Top" Path and the "Bottom" Path.
Depending on the type of Logic Chip involved, each Path may exit with the same state (Live or Safe) as it entered, or it may be "inverted" to carry the opposite state to what it came in with. Therefore, a Path may change from "Live" to "Safe" and vice versa each time it goes into a Logic Chip - based on the specific operation performed by that chip.
Path Crossovers[]
- Note: Do not confuse this with the Crossover Logic Chip
Two consecutive 2-Way Path Crossovers.
A common 4-Way Path Crossover.
A very complex 10-Way Path Crossover.
Throughout their journey across the board, it is quite common for Paths to cross over one another. This "Path Crossover" is meant to be an extra challenge, confusing the player as to where each Path is going. This makes it more difficult to predict where electricity will flow whenever the setup of the circuit board is altered.
This can be fairly simple, with two adjacent paths crossing over one another before they both enter the next Logic Chip. Many times however, Signal Paths can make very complex-looking crossovers, with the most complex being a situation where all 10 paths cross over one another.
Being able to correctly spot where each Path is going is practically imperative. If you don't know where a Path is going, you cannot anticipate what will happen to the electricity running along this path when you switch the Logic Chips around.