What's Your IQ

YOUR LAST PUZZLE, DECODED

Here’s how a puzzle works

CountThe number of shapes goes 1 → 2 → 3 across each row.

ShapeEvery row and column uses each shape once: circle, square, diamond.

FillAlways solid — this one never changes.

Dark rows are the rules doing the work; the pale row is a feature held constant. Play the game above and this panel explains your own last puzzle.

Almost every matrix uses four kinds of rule

Learn to spot these and most puzzles collapse into a quick checklist. Each strip below is one row from a matrix.

Progression

Something grows or shrinks step by step — here the count goes 1, 2, 3.

Distribution of three

Three values appear once each in every row, in a different order each time.

Constant

Some things never change. Spotting them early tells you what to ignore.

Combined

Two rules at once — count rises while the fill rotates. Solve them separately.

Solve it before you look at the answers

The six options are designed to trap you: each wrong one is off by a single detail. Strong solvers build the answer in their head first, then go and find it.

Looking at the options too early is the most common mistake. They make wrong answers feel familiar.

Scan one row

Look across the top row only. What changes from tile to tile?

row 1: ● → ●● → ●●●

Name every change

Check each feature separately: count, shape, fill. Say each rule out loud.

count ↑ · shape same · fill same

Check the columns

Confirm the rules hold down the columns too — some rules only run one way.

col 1: circle, square, diamond

Predict, then find

Build the missing tile in your head. Only now look at the six options.

expect: 3 × striped diamond

The puzzle that measures reasoning without words

No reading, no vocabulary, no maths — just shapes and rules. That's why matrices are among the most widely used reasoning tests in the world.

1938

Raven’s matrices

John C. Raven publishes his Progressive Matrices to measure reasoning free of language and schooling.

1987

The Flynn effect

James Flynn shows scores on matrix tests rose by roughly three IQ points per decade across many countries.

1990

Why they’re hard

Carpenter, Just and Shell find top solvers aren’t faster — they keep more rules in working memory at once.

INSIDE YOUR BRAIN

The front–back reasoning loop

Reasoning tests light up a network linking the front and back of the brain. Pick a region.

Based on Gray's Anatomy, fig. 728 (public domain)

SourcesRaven (1938), Progressive MatricesCarpenter, Just & Shell (1990), Psychological ReviewFlynn (1987), Psychological BulletinJung & Haier (2007), Behavioral and Brain Sciences

WHAT THIS GAME TRAINS

Finding the rule in a pattern

Spot the rule that runs across the rows and columns, then pick the missing piece. Matrix puzzles are a core part of many IQ tests, from Raven's to the Wechsler scales.

corestrongsomelight

coreFluid reasoningWorking out a new rule from scratch.

corePattern recognitionSeeing what changes and what stays the same.

strongWorking memoryHolding several rules at once.

someVisual analysisBreaking shapes into features.

ON AN ORDINARY DAY