Treasure Trails/Guide/Celtic knots

The Celtic knot is an puzzle from an elite treasure trail that must be solved in order to proceed further. It was released on 4 August 2010 as part of the rework and expansion of the treasure trails reward system.

To solve a real-life celtic knot puzzle, you must make the knot have rotational symmetry. A celtic knot puzzle has two solutions, as rotational symmetry can go two directions. An online interactive celtic knot puzzle can be found here.

A theoretical online replica of the RuneScape celtic knot puzzle can be found here.



Description
A celtic knot puzzle is based on decorative knots or chord designs, both physically and visually depicted in various art media, which usually are shown as being endless, interlaced, or continuously looping.

The RuneScape celtic knot puzzle consists of three loops, each one a different colour and with a different sequence of 16 runestones. It will appear on the screen when the player attempts to open a scroll box. The message at the top of the puzzle reads, "Paths interlace and intersect. May runes match where they meet," which eloquently describes the goal of the puzzle as well as its function. The arrows are used to move the runestones on a loop one space in the desired direction, and there is a button which can be hovered over to "flip" the puzzle, revealing the runestones hidden under the intersections. Once all runes are matched (indicated with a green circle surrounding the junctions of the loops), the knot can be "unlocked" to open the scroll box.

Strategies
The general algorithm to solve these puzzles is as follows:
 * 1) First choose one ring. This will be your primary ring.
 * 2) Choose another ring to be your secondary ring.
 * 3) Choose a spot where these two rings intersect to focus on. Begin by matching all possibilities of the secondary ring to the rune of the primary ring at the intersection you are focussing on.
 * If, when this intersection turns green, all other intersections of these two rings are not green, turn the first ring one spot and try again. Keep doing this until all of the intersections between the first two rings are green.
 * 1) Lastly, turn the third ring to match the first two.
 * 2) If all possibilities of one intersection on this ring are tried, and the puzzle is not solves, move the first ring one space and keep trying.
 * 3) When all intersections are green, click "Unlock" to solve the puzzle.

Below are simple ways to solve the puzzles. These may not be all the types of puzzles.

6-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise up to 16 times. You are looking to match the two intersections where the red and blue knots meet. A green circle indicates matching intersections.
 * 2) If the two intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the red knot, move the blue knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until the two intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the silver knot until the remaining four intersections match.

8-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise 16 times. You are looking to match the four intersections where the red and silver knots meet. A green circle indicates a matching intersections.
 * 2) If all four intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the red knot, move the silver knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until all four intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the blue knot until the remaining four intersections match.

10-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise 16 times. You are looking to match the two intersections where the red and blue knots meet. A green circle indicates a matching intersection.
 * 2) If the two intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the knot, move the blue knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until the two intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the silver knot until the remaining eight intersections match.

12-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise 16 times. You are looking to match the four intersections where the red and blue knots meet. A green circle indicates a matching intersection.
 * 2) If the two intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the knot, move the blue knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until the two intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the silver knot until the remaining eight intersections match.

Tips

 * Players may rotate the knots either clockwise or counter-clockwise. The direction does not matter.
 * If the last knot will not match, the first two knots may not be matching correctly. Try another intersection combination.
 * If a particular type of Rune is on one knot but NOT another (for instance, the blue knot could have 2 Soul Runes while the red knot has none), you can immediately deduce this Rune can NOT be placed at any intersection between those two knots.