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Symbol code

A legend pairs symbols with digits; translate a symbol, then strings of them, into digits fast. Bigger codes, longer strings, a fresh legend each time.

  • Attention and speed
  • Timed
  • Endless levels

How it plays

A legend pairs a few symbols with digits — ★ = 4, ● = 1, ▲ = 7. Below it is a symbol, or a string of them. Give the digits they stand for: a single symbol by pressing its digit, a string by typing the digits in order.

The legend is reshuffled every question, so there is nothing to learn by heart — the skill is looking up quickly without slipping. Levels grow the code from three symbols to nine, lengthen the string without end, and give less time.

From a point on the legend holds a lookalike pair, such as ◆ and ◇, and the string uses one of them. A typed string earns credit for each digit in its place.

Keys

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

What it trains

This practises fast, accurate lookup against a key — the coding task of processing-speed tests. It improves this task, and claims nothing about general speed or intelligence.

Learn

How to get better at symbol code: 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. Look at what you have to translate first, on the bottom line, and only then go to the legend. You need the pairs you are asked for, not the whole code.
  2. Find each symbol in the legend and read the digit to its right: “★ = 4”. The legend is three pairs to a line, in a shuffled order, never sorted by digit.
  3. For a string, go left to right and type each digit as soon as you have it, rather than finding them all first.
  4. From level 4 the legend holds a filled and hollow pair, such as ◆ and ◇, and the string uses one of them. Check the fill before you read its digit.

Techniques and tricks

  • Look up from the question, not the legend

    Start from the symbol you need and search the legend for it. Reading the legend through first spends time on pairs you will never use.

  • Remember what you have looked up

    A symbol can come back later in the same string, though never twice in a row. Keep the digits you have found in mind, so a repeat needs no second lookup.

    e.g. ★ ● ★ ▲ with ★ = 4, ● = 1, ▲ = 7 is 4147: the second ★ is free.

  • Tag the lookalike pair

    When the legend has a filled and hollow pair, fix it as two words before you start: “filled 3, hollow 8”. Then a ◆ in the string is answered from that tag, not from a fresh search.

  • Never skip a digit

    A typed string earns credit for each digit in its right place. If you lose one, type your best guess in its place, so every digit after it still lines up.

  • Press the digit itself

    For a single symbol the keys are the digits: key 4 answers 4. No search for a button, just the number you found.

As the levels climb

  • The code grows from three symbols to nine, at levels 1, 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16. A bigger legend means a longer search, so lean harder on remembering what you found.
  • The string lengthens by one every few levels, without end: from one symbol (the “Symbols to translate at level 0” setting) to two at level 2 — when you start typing — and three at level 6.
  • Lookalikes arrive at level 4 and stay. The clock tightens at levels 3, 7, 10 and 13, to 54% of its start; it still grows with each symbol in the string.

Traps to avoid

  • The lookalike swap: ◇ read as ◆, ○ as ●, ☆ as ★. One of the pair is always in the string, so check every filled or hollow symbol.
  • Reading the wrong digit on a legend line. In “★ = 4 · ● = 1 · ▲ = 7” each digit belongs to the symbol on its left; reading the one to the right of a · gives the next pair’s digit.
  • Taking one plain symbol for another at speed: ♠ and ♣ are both small and dark. Look at the top of the shape — the spade’s point, the club’s three lobes.
  • Losing your place in a long string and typing one digit too few. Count the symbols, or watch the hint under the box, which says how many digits are due.

How to practise

  • Set “Answer by” to “Always typing” so even single symbols are typed, and the typing becomes as quick as the lookup.
  • Raise “Symbols to translate at level 0” (1 to 6) to practise strings, and remembering what you looked up, from the first level.
  • If lookalikes cost you when they arrive at level 4, set “Time pressure” to “Relaxed — 1.5× time” until the fill check is a habit, then go back to Normal.

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.

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