Which Figure Comes Next? Visual Pattern Sequence

Official explanation

Official Solution & Community Favorites After sharing this puzzle across our Reddit communities, we received many different answers and approaches. What made the discussion particularly interesting was that several people reached the same answer through slightly different observations. From all the responses, we selected six of our favorite community solutions. We chose these not only for getting the answer right, but also for the quality, clarity, or originality of the reasoning. The correct answer is D. 1. u/Key-Win-8602 Community answer: “The large black square is moving like a knight in a clockwise rotation around the board. Starting at position 1, moving through positions 6,7,2,9 the next position will be 4, centre of the left column. The smaller black diamond is moving through the squares in sequence starting at 1 (it’s there, but not seen because the large black square is also there) moving through positions 2,3,4,5, the next position will be 6, centre of the right column. The grey square is appearing every second table, moving counter-clockwise around the board at the corners. Starting at position 9, the sequence is 9, missing, 3, missing, 1, on the next table it will be missing. The answer is D.” Why we selected it: This was one of the most complete solutions submitted. Key-Win-8602 independently tracked all three elements and even recognized that the diamond is already present in the first frame but hidden beneath the large black square. The step-by-step positional reasoning makes the solution particularly easy to verify. ⸻ 2. u/RedRoachDK Community answer: “Rule 1: Black square moves clockwise 3 spaces along the edge each step. Rule 2: Grey square moves 1 space counter-clockwise along the edge each step. Rule 3: Black diamond moves from left to right and top to bottom, and starts in the top left corner. Rule 4: If any of the figures land on the same spot, they overlap, which can be seen in the following: Step 1 (Top left: Black square + black diamond) Step 2 (Mid right: Black square + Grey square) Step 3 (Top right: Black diamond + Grey square) Step 4 (Top mid: Black square + Grey square) Using these rules we eliminate all options but D.” Why we selected it: The four-rule structure makes this one of the clearest explanations we received. Most importantly, RedRoachDK explicitly identified the overlap rule. Some symbols only appear to disappear because another symbol occupies the same position. Showing those overlaps frame by frame provides strong evidence for D rather than simply identifying a visual pattern. ⸻ 3. u/Mactucrus87_ Community answer: “Hii! I’ll say D 1. the little black square goes a step right every time, in the starting point it is behind the big black square. When it reaches the third square in the first rank, it start over again in the second rank. This alone could solve the puzzle but lets give an explanation for the other two. 2)the grey square spin anti-clock wise, in the solution is correctly under the black square. 3. the big black square its really interesting, because it follows the knight chess like pattern. So it moves like an L, AND it can’t go in the place that were in the previous matrix. That is my response, thank you very much this really fun one!” Why we selected it: We particularly liked that Mactucrus87_ realized one pattern was already sufficient to identify D but continued investigating the other two anyway. The comment then independently identifies the grey square’s movement, the overlap, and the chess-knight-like movement of the large black square. It is a good example of finding an answer first and then testing it against the remaining evidence. ⸻ 4. u/airhead91 Community answer: “D: Black square moves from corner to middle rotating (star pattern) Black Diamond moves liner square one two three four etc (in the first box it is behind the black square) Striped square moves counterclockwise is behind The black every other So D: Black square is middle right, Black diamond is spot 6, Stripe is behind black square Edit: Better wording and updated one pattern.” Why we selected it: This solution stood out because airhead91 paid attention not only to where the pieces move, but also to why some of them are not visible. The observation that the diamond begins behind the black square and that other apparent disappearances can result from overlapping pieces is an important part of understanding the sequence rather than merely guessing its next frame. ⸻ 5. u/inmaginarycasey Community answer: “I believe it’s D First, the black square was rotated by units of three clockwise so at the sixth sequence the square would be at the mid-left Second the grey square is rotating one unit counter clockwise and sometimes gets overlaid by the black square so by the sixth sequence the grey square would be in the same spot as the black square Finally the rhombus is moving one unit counter a path towards the right, one it hits the end of a layer it drops down a level and starts to the left before moving right again, at the sixth sequence the rhombus would be at the right of the second layer.” Why we selected it: Rather than relying on a single clue, inmaginarycasey follows all three objects independently. The black square’s clockwise movement, the grey square’s counter-clockwise movement and overlap, and the diamond’s row-by-row progression all converge on the same next frame. That independent cross-checking makes the reasoning especially convincing. ⸻ 6. u/Satyr2024 Community answer: “Black square +3 clockwise, diamond +1 moving left to right across rows, grey square +1 counter-clockwise; symbols can overlap.” Why we selected it: This is the shortest of our six favorites, but that is exactly why it stood out. Satyr2024 compressed essentially the entire mechanism of the puzzle into one sentence: the three independent movements and the fact that symbols can overlap. It demonstrates that a strong solution does not necessarily need to be long when every important observation is present. ⸻ The Official Answer: D These six explanations approach the sequence in slightly different ways, but together they reveal the underlying mechanism clearly. The elements follow their own movement patterns, and when two occupy the same cell, they can overlap rather than one of them actually disappearing. Following those movements into the next frame leads to D. A big thank you to u/Key-Win-8602, u/RedRoachDK, u/Mactucrus87_, u/airhead91, u/inmaginarycasey, and u/Satyr2024, as well as everyone else across the Reddit communities who attempted the puzzle and shared their reasoning. We enjoyed seeing the different approaches, including several solutions that reached the same answer in ways we had not expected.