Groups of four
A board of 12 to 20 words, and exactly four are the same kind of thing. Find them among near misses that come in threes. Connections, one group at a time.
How it plays
Of the words on the board, exactly four belong to one kind — birds, metals, sports, parts of the body. Every other kind on the board has three words or fewer. Select the four.
At first the kind is named and the other words come from far-off kinds. As you climb the board grows to 16 and then 20 words, the other kinds come closer (fish and insects beside the birds), and then the kind is no longer named: you have to find which kind has four. There is a top: 20 words, near kinds, nothing named.
Every word in the game belongs to exactly one kind, so there is one answer. The working lists the four and every near miss that was one short.
Keys
Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.
What it trains
This practises sorting words into kinds and resisting a near miss. It makes you better at grouping puzzles like this one; it claims nothing wider.
Learn
How to get better at groups of four: 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
- When the kind is named, sweep the board once for it and select only the words you are sure of.
- When the kind is hidden, give every word its kind as you read it: “shape, metal, tree, metal…”.
- Keep a tally. The kind that reaches four is the answer; every other kind on the board stops at three or fewer.
- Before you submit, count again: four words, all one kind, and no kind you skipped that might also reach four.
Techniques and tricks
Tally by kind
Count each kind as you meet it rather than hunting for one. The board is built so that exactly one count reaches four.
e.g. neem, poplar, banyan, beech make four trees; every other kind on the same board stops at three or fewer.
Threes are decoys
When a kind reaches three, look hard for its fourth. If a full pass finds none, it is a near miss — drop it and move on.
e.g. iron, titanium, cobalt — three metals and no fourth, so metals are not the answer.
Name the exact kind
Kinds here sit inside broader families: birds, fish, insects and mammals are all animals; trees, flowers and landscapes are all outdoors. Label each word with the narrow kind, never the family.
e.g. orchid and poplar are both plants, but one is a flower and one a tree.
Each word has one kind
Every word in the game belongs to exactly one kind; words with two strong meanings were left out. So file each word once, by its plainest meaning.
e.g. mercury and earth are planets here, not a metal and a landscape; dew and sunshine are weather.
Start from the strange words
Unfamiliar words slow you down if you meet them last. Label them first, while you are fresh, then the easy ones fall in quickly.
e.g. kabaddi is a sport, veena an instrument, khichdi a dish.
As the levels climb
- You start with 12 words, the kind named, and the other words from far-off kinds.
- Then the board grows to 16 words; then one nearby kind joins in — fish beside the birds; then the kind is no longer named, and you must find which kind has four.
- Then 20 words, and then several nearby kinds at once. That is the top: 20 words, near kinds, nothing named.
- The clock grows with the board: two seconds a word, fifteen more when the kind is hidden, and more again as the kinds come closer. Use it to tally, not to stare.
Traps to avoid
- The three-word near miss. Every other kind can have up to three words, so three of a near kind plus one stray looks like a group. Check that all four share one narrow kind.
- The near kind. Fish among birds, or vegetables among fruit, pass a quick “animal” or “food” check. Name the exact kind of each.
- Your own second meaning. A word you would file under two kinds has one kind here. Go with the plain meaning the game uses — mercury the planet, not the metal.
How to practise
- Set “Name the kind” to “Never” to practise finding the kind from the first board, or to “Always” to practise speed once the kinds are known.
- After a miss, read the working: it lists every kind on the board that was one short. Say why each word you wrongly picked belongs to its own kind.
- Run through the kinds the game uses — birds, fish, insects, metals, gemstones, trees, flowers, weather, landscapes and the rest — and name four of each without looking.
Levels
It is untimed unless you turn the clock on. There are 6 levels with the default settings, and the counter stops at the real top. 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.
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