The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s Hudson Construction sign puzzles are a great way to rack up a few Rupees in the early game, and they provide moderately helpful items throughout, but whether they have any long-term rewards isn’t immediately clear. While adventuring, players will often come across the zealous, helmet-haired Hudson Construction employee Addison, clinging to a wooden sign for dear life and needing help keeping it standing. Players are welcome to solve TOTK‘s Hudson sign puzzles however they wish, but there are usually some building materials nearby to aid in the effort. The idea is to use Ultrahand to cobble together a structure stable enough to keep the sign standing until Addison can secure it.
Once his sign is up, Addison always rewards the player handsomely with a handful of Rupees and assorted sundries before announcing that he’s off to put up another sign elsewhere. His work keeps him busy; there are dozens of Hudson signs scattered across TOTK‘s map, and sometimes they’re found in strange locations that are decidedly out of the way for the average consumer. But however much, or little, traffic Hudson is getting out of these oddly-placed billboards, it’s impossible not to admire his (and Addison’s) enthusiasm. Still, even after Addison’s thanks, it seems like this quest is building towards a larger final reward.
Once TOTK players have helped Addison put up all the Hudson signs around Hyrule, they’ll be rewarded with Addison’s Fabric, one of TOTK‘s 53 paraglider fabrics. This particular fabric is emblazoned with an artful image of the mustachioed Hudson himself. It can be applied at Hateno Village’s dye shop. The pattern was hand drawn by Addison, whose talents are clearly wasted in the sign-posting department. Rendered in deep purple, neon orange, and mint green, the pattern is bold and bright. Hudson’s face stands out when Link is floating through the sky with Addison’s paraglider fabric, so it may just be another way of advertising for their construction business – a kind of simplified skywriting.
Certainly of more use, and probably most players’ main incentive for completing the Hudson sign puzzles in TOTK, are the little rewards Addison provides after solving each one. First, he’ll give the player 20 Rupees – little more than pocket change by itself, but it adds up. Feeling a monetary reward alone is insufficient, Addison then follows up with a home-cooked meal. Finally, he’ll fork over a handful of spare materials from his stash, which are typically quite useful with TOTK‘s emphasis on building and crafting. Even though the final reward is underwhelming, it’s worth doing whatever sign puzzles players come across; Addison’s smaller gifts are actually pretty useful in the short term.
There are 81 Hudson Construction sign puzzles in TOTK. Compared to the number of Korok Seeds and Shrines of Light, that might not seem like much; however, there’s no listed quest for the Hudson Construction signs, which means no map markers. Players will have to navigate to these remote signposts all on their own, which may prove tedious, but isn’t the most difficult aspect. With open-ended puzzle solutions, there are multiple ways to solve each one.
The first step to solving a Hudson Construction sign puzzle in TOTK is to survey the sign and the immediate area. Players should start by observing where Addison’s sign is supported, and where it might not be. It’s also worth considering how its weight is distributed, and whether the placement of its different pieces might make it tilt to one side when Addison lets go. Players should also take note of the building materials in the general vicinity; every one of TOTK‘s Hudson sign puzzles has a pile of lumber nearby.
When helping put up Hudson signs, TOTK players should also be on the lookout for uneven terrain. If the sign is posted on a steep slope, it might be necessary to accommodate that in building the foundations of the sign’s scaffolding. Some of Addison’s signs also have visible chunks missing, or holes conveniently the same size as common building materials. These are often good places for support beams, as the slots in the sign will usually snag on them for extra support. Others don’t have extra support around their signposts, so bolstering these with heavy objects can also be a big help. Naturally, the ideal solution also depends on what materials are readily available nearby, and what Zonai Devices players have in capsules.
A useful, near-universal strategy to complete almost any Hudson sign puzzle in TOTK is to support the sign itself – the part with Hudson’s face on it, not the post – by placing a platform beneath it, with vertical supports reaching wherever the sign’s shape deems necessary. This may require diagonal placement of certain parts, and creative fusing of materials to ensure they’re the right height and width. From there, it’s all trial and error. If players are uncertain about whether their design is secure enough, they can talk to Addison to test it out. There’s no penalty if the sign falls, and whatever they’ve already built should stay mostly intact.
However, once players have progressed enough to have a hefty stash of Zonai Capsules to spare, two of TOTK‘s Zonai Devices, in particular, can simplify the process immensely. Hover Stones are essentially small, floating platforms that stay in midair wherever they’re placed. By placing a Hover Stone beneath the sign with Ultrahand, players can eliminate the need for more complicated constructions. Zonai Stabilizers are also incredibly useful for Hudson signs, especially those on particularly uneven terrain – fuse a Stabilizer top and center, and it’ll keep the sign standing tall no matter what.
With so many of these often confusing physics puzzles scattered around Hyrule for a merely cosmetic reward, helping put up all of Addison’s Hudson Construction signs may not be the first thing on every TOTK player’s to-do list. The game itself doesn’t incentivize completing all of them; it doesn’t give players any help when it comes to finding Addison on the map. It’s certainly worth taking on whatever Hudson sign puzzles players come across on the way to Temples, Lynel fights, side quest markers, or whatever else players might be doing along their usual travels. However, finishing all 81 is best left to the most hardcore completionists of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.