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Spatial scenes

A board of things: what is left of the cone, where do two moves right and one up land you, which way do you face — and where must the new thing go?

  • Spatial
  • Timed
  • 18 levels

How it plays

Four kinds of question about one scene. Relations: what is the first thing directly left of, above or diagonal from another. Paths: start on one thing, follow the moves, say what you land on. Turns: you face north and turn right, then around — which way now?

Placement is free: you are given rules — same row as the ●, somewhere left of the ☂, not touching the ★ — and tap the one empty cell that satisfies them all. The rules are chosen so exactly one cell does.

Levels grow the board and the number of things, add diagonals, eight compass points and two-step questions, and tighten the time. In the settings the scene can vanish before you answer, so you work from memory.

Keys

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

What it trains

This practises reading positions and directions off a scene and holding them. It is practice at this, not a measured change in spatial ability at large.

Learn

How to get better at spatial scenes: 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 which of the four questions it is — a relation, a path, a turn, or a placement — because each has its own quick method below.
  2. Name the squares like a map: columns A, B, C… from the left, rows 1, 2, 3… from the top. The working uses the same names, so “the cone is on C2” is something you can check.
  3. Turn the words into a number move before you look at the board: “directly left” is the same row, columns moving towards A; “two right, one up” is +2 columns, −1 row.
  4. Apply the move once, from the named thing, and read what is there. Then glance at the options: “nothing” and “an empty cell” are real answers.

Techniques and tricks

  • Nearest in a straight line

    For “directly left of”, stay in the same row and walk left one square at a time; the first thing you meet is the answer. Anything in another row, or farther along, does not count.

    e.g. Cone on D3, ball on B3, star on A2: directly left of the cone is the ball

  • Diagonals move both at once

    “Diagonally up and to the right” changes the row and the column by one each step, together. Count the steps on both and keep them equal.

    e.g. From B4, up-right goes C3, D2, E1

  • Net the moves first

    For a path, add the left–right moves into one number and the up–down moves into another, then make one jump. Each move stays on the board, so the sum is always safe.

    e.g. 2 right, 1 up, 3 left, 2 down: 1 left and 1 down

  • Count turns in steps

    Count clockwise steps: right +1, left −1, around +2, on four points. With eight points, count in eighths: right +2, left −2, around +4, half right +1, half left −1. Add them up and step round the compass.

    e.g. Facing north: right, around, half left = +2 + 4 − 1 = +5 eighths, so south-west

  • Strongest rule first

    For a placement, apply the rules that pin a row or column first — same row, same column, top row, rightmost column — then the “somewhere left of” ranges, then the “not” and “touching” rules. Only empty cells count.

  • Touching includes corners

    “Touching the ★, even if only at a corner” means one of the eight squares around it. Picture the 3 × 3 block with the ★ in the middle.

As the levels climb

  • Levels take turns between four things: the board grows a size (from 3 × 3 to 7 × 7), another thing is added, the questions get harder, and the clock tightens. Each grows a step at a time, in that order, until it is full.
  • The question tiers: first straight lines and plain left and right turns; then “turn around” and longer paths; then diagonals, all eight compass points, half turns, and “not in the same row” and “touching” rules; last, two-step relations like “below the thing right of the cone”.
  • Two-step questions are two one-step questions: answer the inner one first, say its name, then ask the outer one from there.
  • The clock closes in three steps, to 80%, 65% and 55%. The ladder stops when every axis is full: a 7 × 7 board, the most things, two-step questions and 55% time.

Traps to avoid

  • The thing that is left of it but not in the same row. “Directly left” means the same row; check the row before the direction.
  • The second thing along, not the first. The answer is the nearest thing that way — stop at the first one you meet.
  • Missing “nothing”: walking off the edge without meeting anything. If the way is clear to the edge, “nothing” is right.
  • On turns, mixing up which way is right. Right is clockwise: north to east. And a half right is only an eighth, north to north-east.
  • On a placement, picking a cell that satisfies the rules but already holds a thing. The answer is always an empty cell.

How to practise

  • Use Questions to pick one kind at a time — “Follow the moves”, say — until its method is automatic, then go back to “A mix of all four”.
  • Set The scene to “Vanishes — answer from memory” once the board feels easy. You get a short look first; say each thing’s square to yourself, row by row, and answer from that list. It does not apply to placements.
  • Lower Options shown to 2 or 3 when you start, so the method matters more than scanning; raise it later so the near neighbours are offered too.
  • On turns, say each heading after each turn, aloud or under your breath, until counting the steps takes over.

Levels

Each question has a clock that comes from the work it asks for. There are 18 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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