Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has one of the best campaigns the series has seen in ages. Its wide variety of mission types, some of which can be completed in alternating ways, provides a surprising amount of replay value for its 8-hour single-player offering.
But perhaps the most interesting addition to the game is the moments outside those high-octane missions in the field. The Rook is a Bulgarian safe house that Black Ops 6’s heroes use as their base of operations. Aside from giving the team a place to upgrade their gear and weapons, it also contains an intriguing mystery hiding in plain sight. The puzzles littered throughout the safe house aren’t mandatory. But there’s a good deal of fun to be had uncovering the mansion’s secrets.
If you find yourself stumped solving some of these puzzles and riddles, fret not. Here’s a step-by-step guide on each of The Rook’s puzzles.
Acquire The Blacklight
To begin solving any of the puzzles at The Rook, players will need to first grab the blacklight in the Piano Room. When facing the Briefing Room from The Rook’s main entrance, turn left and walk through the doorway straight ahead. Here, you’ll find the Blacklight lying on the table to your immediate right. To get acquainted with the device and the kinds of hidden messages scattered throughout the house, it's a good idea to solve a puzzle hidden right there in the room with you.
The Piano Room
If you flip the black light on and look at any of the walls around you in the Piano Room, you’ll likely spot a series of numbers and letters accompanied by arrows. These letters correspond to notes on the piano (located against the wall on your right when you first walk in), while the numbers next to them indicate the order they need to be played.
Locate the first note above the piano. Follow the arrow to the second note above the fireplace on the wall to the right. Next, follow that arrow to the number and note above the archway leading outside, then that arrow to the fourth hidden combo above the other glass archway in the room, and then finally to the fifth note scrawled on the wall next to the chair.
In order, the notes are MN, PE, CN, AO, and PE. Head to the piano, hit the action button, and play them. Doing so will open a secret passageway next to the piano leading to a hidden basement. The door at the bottom of this staircase will be locked, so it's time to head to The Rook’s next puzzle.
The Boiler Room
Locate the door to the immediate right of the Situation Room entrance (where you typically select your next mission) and open it. This doorway leads to another basement not barred behind a locked door. In this basement room is a second door into a boiler room. Here you’ll find a note explaining that The Rook’s boiler is busted, and some instructions on how to reactivate it.
You first need to make sure the Fuel and Boiler wheels are all the way off. Next, turn the fuel wheel once to the right so it's at half fuel. Then, turn the Pilot switch on, which will activate a green light on its meter.
Now finally, turn the Boiler back on by turning its wheel and pushing the needle all the way to the right and into the red. Doing so will activate its power, thereby unlocking the door at the bottom of the Piano Room’s secret entranceway.
Keypad in The Piano Room basement
Head back over to the Piano Room and down the secret passageway. The security door will pop right open, leading you to your next puzzle. Turn right at the door and down the hallway, then a second right towards another locked door.
This door is locked and can only be bypassed with the correct keypad code. The code is randomized for every player, but that’s not an issue if you’re all familiar with the game Wordle. Activate the keypad and turn on the Blacklight once again with the action button. You’ll notice that a few keys have fingerprints, narrowing down your options. With five tries at your disposal before the code resets, guess one code at random using those fingerprinted options. Assuming your first guess isn’t correct, let the arrows, checks, and X’s at the bottom of your first guess, along with your logic, deduce where each number goes.
If you’re still struggling to find your solution, check out Inverse’s guide on Wordle, as Black Ops 6’s keypad mini-game shows up frequently throughout the campaign and it’s essentially the same as The New York Times’ mobile hit.
Hacking computers and picking locks
The easiest puzzles of the bunch are up next. After unlocking the keypad door, enter the room, turn left, then left again into a nook where a desk and computer are. Hack the computer by solving a simple series of numbered codes to decipher.
Like the keypad puzzle, the codes here are randomized. Finding the solution also relies on the same hacking minigame players encounter during campaign missions. To decipher the code word, simply enter the letter corresponding to the number in the provided legend. While the order is random, words will be “ROOM,” “BUNKER,” “HOLDING,” and “OPEN.”
Once the computer’s been hacked, head out of the room, then turn right down the hallway. Enter the first room you pass on your left. Pick the lock of the door directly in front of you and grab the key lying on the table at the center of the darkly lit room.
Tune the radio and listen closely
Next up, head back into the hallway, and back towards the room where you hacked the computer. You’ll need to go down the hallway opposite the computer room. As you make your way down the hall marked with blue lines, you’ll notice a signal emitting from a locked door on your left. Use the key to open this door, then tune the radio on the bookshelf against the wall in front of you.
Tuning the radio activates a randomized message presumably from a Soviet who inhabited The Rook years ago. It seems like they’re speaking total jibberish, but the message contains the final solution you’re looking for. Each line references objects in the room. Turning on the backlight reveals that several of these items have a hidden number scrolled on them or near them.
Use the blacklight to reveal the numbers on each item referenced.
Again, this message is randomized, but let’s use my message as a reference point:
“She stood in the dim light of the lamp, weeping at the family crest. Somewhere nearby, folk music players from a record. The girl’s tears fell to the rug below.”
I had to locate a lamp, a family crest, a record player, and finally a rolled-up rug. The order in which these objects are said provides the unique four-digit code. In my case, that code was 1-9-5-8.
Collect your reward
All that’s left is to take your unique combination to the locked safe on The Rook’s second floor. Head back upstairs, walk past the situation room and weapons bench, and up the wooden stairs. Turn left, then left again into a bedroom. To the left of the bed is the safe. Enter your combination from the message and boom: it will pop right open.
Doing so will earn you a PlayStation Trophy/Xbox Achievement called “The Puzzles, Mason.” Inside the safe is one of two rewards: $1,000 cash, or a blueprint for an equipable knife.
Again, the reward is a bit underwhelming considering the process of earning it. But solving this one is more about the journey than the outcome.
