How to solve the Silent Hill 2 coin cabinet puzzle in Wood Side
A complete guide to the Wood Side coin cabinet puzzle in Silent Hill 2
The Silent Hill 2 Coin Cabinet puzzle involves finding three coins to act out a series of poems in the Remake. There's a lot involved just to get the parts you need, including at least one other sub-puzzle. Even when you have everything you need there are then multiple poems to decipher, with double sided coins to place currently from the answers you get.
There's a lot to do and it's one of the first times you'll have to deal with multiple overlapping things along the way. So if you need help finding the coins to solve the Silent Hill 2 Coin Cabinet puzzle, here's what I did to complete it.
How to solve the Silent Hill 2 coin cabinet puzzle in the Remake
You'll discover the Silent Hill 2 coin cabinet puzzle when you arrive at Wood Side Apartments, not long after finding the greenish blue car in Silent Hill 2 that got you the key to get in. It's sitting in a room behind the reception area with a save point. However, you'll have to ultimately explore and clear most of Wood Side apartments to find the coins you need to solve it.
That will get you a Man, Snake and Woman coins (I've listed the locations below if you need help finding them) and with them you will finally be able to solve the Silent Hill 2 coin cabinet puzzle.
First Coin Cabinet poem solution in Silent Hill 2
The first Coin Cabinet poem give you a location and order to place the coins on the machine to start things:
Three bright holes in the five holes be, first sits the maiden under underneath the tree.
The wind from behind the maiden doth blow, a beautiful flower alone has to grow.
And here comes the man, so sleek and fine, in the pale moonlight his eyes doth shine.
So that means you place the woman coin under the tree, the flower (on the reverse of the snake coin) behind her on the far right so it's 'alone', and the man goes under the moon:
- Slot 1 - Man coin
- Slot 2 - Empty
- Slot 3 - Woman coin
- Slot 4 - Empty
- Slot 5 - Flower coin (the reverse side of the snake coin)
Second Coin Cabinet poem solution in Silent Hill 2
The second Coin Cabinet poem is this:
The man doth approach, his Blade now revealed, his face disappears behind shining steel.
Away from the man the maiden doth flee, towards the flower, away from the tree.
That's this order, with the man coin flipped to show a sword in slot 2 and both that and the maiden coin moved one space right:
- Slot 1 - Empty
- Slot 2 - Sword coin (reverse side of the man coin)
- Slot 3 - Empty
- Slot 4 - Woman coin
- Slot 5 - Flower coin (reverse side of the snake coin)
Third Coin Cabinet poem solution in Silent Hill 2
The third Coin Cabinet poem is this:
Where once grew a flower, a venomous glee, where once was a maiden, but a stone doth be.
And over her grace the man doth remain, his blade never met the vile serpent's vein.
That sees all the coins lined up on the right hand side, with the woman's coin flipped to show a gravestone and the sword flipped back to the man side.
- Slot 1 - Empty
- Slot 2 - Empty
- Slot 3 - Man coin
- Slot 4 - Grave coin (reverse of woman coin)
- Slot 5 - Serpent coin
Who is to blame in the Silent Hill 2 Remake Coin puzzle?
There's one last poem but, importantly, THERE IS NO RIGHT ANSWER HERE- whatever you pick here will 'solve' the puzzle regaurdless:
The Beast who its teeth in her flesh doth bore, He who has failed, She who is no more.
Now unto you falls a grievous chore, who carries the blame for what fate had in store?
This is an entirely open question as, whatever you pick, will unlock the cabinet and get you the apartment 201 key you need anyway. This choice ties into the Silent Hill 2 Remake endings, so you might want to check that depending on the ending you're aiming to get.
Whatever you decide, make your choice and move on. With the 201 key, the way ahead is open, eventually leading to the Silent Hill 2 Remake clock puzzle. This is another 'main' puzzle with a series of interconnected challenges that will have you crisscrossing a map to find all the parts you need.
Now let's take a quick look at all the coins and where you find them in Silent Hil 2.
Silent Hill 2 Remake man coin location
The Silent Hill 2 man coin will be the first you can physically get, although you will see another along the way in a garbage chute (which is for later). To reach this one you'll need to unlock a lot of Wood Side apartments, including using the Silent Hill 2 Remake chute courtyard key to get out of the reception area and access more of the building.
However, it's the Silent Hill 2 Remake Golden Apple that's important here. That earns you access to a room containing a Silent Hill 2 Remake Wood Side Safe, which contains the coin. You can check my guide there for more detail on the safe, but the short version is that different pictures on the wall give you the combination 13-7-11, which will open the safe. That will get you the man coin and a key to get out of the room.
Silent Hill 2 Remake snake coin location
The snake coin is in the pool area you access after meeting Eddie for the first time. This is tied to basic story progression so you can't miss this one - you just have to check the pram in the middle of the pool once you've killed the lying figures scuttling around it.
Silent Hill 2 Remake woman coin location
You should have seen the woman coin before you can get it, right at the start of your exploration of Wood Side apartments, lodged in a garbage chute. you'll need to reach the laundry room off room 312 however before you can do anything. Like the Snake coin and meeting Eddie, this is part of your core progression so keep following the path until you find the room with the garbage chute and a pack of juice. To get the snake coin you need to throw the juice down the chute to dislodge the blockage, then get all the way back to the courtyard you opened with the chute key when you first arrived - the coin will be on the floor for you to pick up.
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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.