Patent ID: 8651487

Claim:
A puzzle solution method, comprising: presenting to a user a plurality of push buttons arrayed on the outer surface of a toy; providing a latching mechanism within said toy that latches each of said plurality of push buttons in a pushed-in position provided each of a selected subset of said plurality of push buttons is pushed by the user in a predetermined order, wherein said latching mechanism unlatches any latched push buttons when one of said selected subset of push buttons is pushed-in out of said predetermined order; and providing a chance mechanism that unlatches any latched push buttons upon the occurrence of an event unknown to the user, said event relating to user operation of said toy, wherein the outer surface of said toy is substantially symmetrical in shape with respect to a spatial center of said toy, and wherein said latching mechanism is implemented using a rotor at the spatial center of said toy, the rotor having magnets of one polarity in the direction of each push button, there being a magnet of the opposite polarity on the inner side of each said button.