Think Fast
In each level of the game, some information is briefly displayed on pressing “start” before disappearing, and we must select the squares in the correct order to win. In each of the seven levels, we must figure out the rule to follow by trial and error. (For example, if the numbers 1-5 show up on the screen, we must click all the numbers shown in increasing order.) As we progress through the three difficulties in each level. the number of tiles we must remember increases.
Upon solving the “hard” level in each of the seven levels, we are asked to go to a location at MIT for a “final exam” – the expert level. After sending as many teammates as are needed to finish them (e.g. with a strategy of assigning one person to remember each square), we unlock permanent access to the expert grids and a final image.
The final image suggests that we should look for the given number of tiles at the end of each of the seven expert levels. We find that the last few tiles in each level always occupy the same relative shape. Looking at these, we can read off the final answer, CUPPERS.
| Level | Description | Example | Invariant Tiles in Expert | Letter Drawn Out | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Click numbers in increasing order |  | C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Click revealed squares in row major order |  | U | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Click letters in alphabetical order |  | P | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Follow the arrows, starting at the dotted arrow and ending at the dot |  | P | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Click numbers in alphabetical order |  | E | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Spell the unique perfect pangram |  | R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Click colors in ROYGBIV/CMY order |  | S |
Authors' Notes
Special thanks to Steven Hao for letting us use a modified version of the abc game for this puzzle.