gamesblog

Cancellation

A board of symbols: find every one of the target — the count is told — while lookalikes try to pass for it. Bigger boards, closer lookalikes.

  • Attention and speed
  • Timed
  • Endless levels

How it plays

A board of symbols is shown with a target, say ▲, and how many of it there are. Tap each one to mark it. A variation asks you to count them instead.

Levels grow the board without end and change what fills it: first symbols nothing like the target, then a mix, then only lookalikes — △ and ▼ around the ▲, F and B around the E.

A cell marked that holds no target cancels one that does, so tapping at random earns nothing. Shapes, letters and digits are settings.

Keys

Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.

What it trains

This practises searching a page systematically for a target among lookalikes. It improves this kind of search; it claims nothing about attention in general.

Learn

How to get better at cancellation: the method, the techniques, what each new level asks of you, and the traps the wrong answers are made of.

Your approach to each question

  1. Read the target and the count before you look at the board — “▲, 5 to find” — and name to yourself the one feature its lookalikes lack: for ▲, filled and pointing up.
  2. Sweep the board in one fixed order, row by row from the top left, as you would read a page. Do not let your eye jump to whatever stands out.
  3. Tap each target the moment you pass it, so the board keeps your place for you. Never plan to come back for one.
  4. Watch “x of 5 chosen” under the board. When it is full the other cells lock; if you can still see a target, one of your taps is a lookalike — tap it again to undo it, tap the real one, then press Done or Enter.

Techniques and tricks

  • Check the one telling feature

    Decide what separates the target from its lookalikes, and check only that on each cell rather than the whole symbol.

    e.g. E against F and B: E has a bottom bar that F lacks, and is open on the right where B is closed.

  • Know the mirror letters

    b is hidden among d, p and q, which share its bowl and stick. Fix it once: b has the stick up and the bowl on the right.

    e.g. d: stick up, bowl left · p: stick down, bowl right · q: stick down, bowl left

  • One sweep, in reading order

    A random search visits some cells twice and others never. Reading order visits each cell once, so when you reach the bottom right you are done.

  • The count is a check, not a finish line

    If your sweep ends with fewer than the count, sweep again looking only at the lookalikes, since that is where a missed target hides.

  • Keep a running total by rows

    When counting, add each row as you finish it and say the total, so a lost place costs one row, not the whole board.

    e.g. Row 1: two, total two. Row 2: none, still two. Row 3: one, total three.

As the levels climb

  • The board gains a column, then a row, without end: 4×4, then 5×4, 5×5, 6×5. The clock grows with every cell added, so the same steady sweep keeps pace as the board grows.
  • At level 2 about half the other symbols become lookalikes, and from level 5 all of them are. This is where speed drops: stop matching the whole shape and check the one telling feature.
  • From level 3 the clock tightens a little every few levels, closing towards 60% of its start without reaching it. There is no time for a second sweep, so make the first one complete.

Traps to avoid

  • The lookalike tapped as a target: △ or ▼ for ▲, F for E, 9 for 6. A wrong tap also cancels a right one in the score, so a doubtful cell is worth one more look at its telling feature.
  • The target skipped in a crowded row, usually because the eye jumped ahead to a cluster. Keep to the row you are on until its end.
  • Pressing Done the moment the counter fills. A full counter only means you tapped enough cells, not the right ones — scan your taps once for a lookalike.
  • In counting, a row counted twice or skipped when your eye drops to the next line. Say each row’s total before you move down.

How to practise

  • Start with “Symbols” set to Shapes only, where lookalikes differ by fill or direction. Add Letters, then Digits, once the shapes are steady.
  • Switch “Answer by” to “Counting them” to practise a sweep with no taps to hold your place; only the order of your sweep keeps count.
  • When a board goes wrong, read the working: it lists every target by cell, A1 being the top left, and the lookalikes that were on the board.

Levels

Each question has a clock that comes from the work it asks for. There is no last level: at least one dial turns without end. Your level is judged on your last ten answers, every ten: 90% moves you up, below 80% moves you down, which holds most people near four in five right.

All of it is in the settings beside Start — how many answers a judgement looks at and how often it recalibrates, the thresholds, the time, which questions, how many options, and whether you see each verdict at once or review them together at the judgement. You can also jump to any level.

More attention and speed

All games →