Pattern Master

The Master is thinking of a rule.

It is a rule about rows of coloured shapes — and he will not tell you what it is. He will only show you a few rows that follow it, a few that do not, and then answer any row you care to build.

So build one. Ask. Watch where it lands.

Three red squares follow the rule. Two red and two yellow do not. So is it about the colour? About how many there are? About the ones on the ends? There is one way to find out, and it costs nothing: take a row you already understand, change a single thing about it, and ask again.

When you are sure, say the rule out loud. Get it right and the puzzle is yours. Get it wrong and the Master does not buzz at you — he quietly puts down the one pattern that proves you wrong, and you carry on knowing more than you did a moment ago.

WHAT IS IN IT

• Twenty-four hand-built puzzles that teach by getting out of the way. The first is three shapes and two colours — eight possible rows in the whole world, few enough to try every single one.
• Endless puzzles after that, made fresh and never repeating. More shapes, more colours, rules about neighbours and symmetry, and in time rules with two conditions at once.
• A new puzzle every day, the same one for everybody.
• A Master who will hand you one well-chosen example when you are stuck — never the answer.

NO SCORES. NO TIMERS. NOTHING TO LOSE.

Ask a thousand questions or ask three. Nothing is counted against you and nothing runs down, because the wondering is the whole game and it would be strange to charge you for it.

Plays offline. No ads. No sign-up. Nothing to buy.

Find the hidden rule.

Recent changes:
• Plainer words all through the game. There is no Master to ask any more: the button under the board simply says Check, and an answer talks about the hidden rule instead of "mine" and "yours".
• The first puzzle now walks you through it in four short lines — what the two columns mean, build a row, check it, name the rule. Nothing is blocked while it runs and Skip is always there.