SEQUE-NCD

SEQUE-NCD is a number sequence with one term knocked out, dressed in green terminal type and an all caps voice. The board gives you a short run of numbers with a question mark where one of them should be, a single field and a SUBMIT button, and the help panel puts the budget at three attempts. Its own worked example, a run of powers of two, shows the gap sitting in the middle rather than at the end, which is the detail that makes the game harder than it looks: the terms on both sides of the blank are constraints. Puzzles are numbered, a new one lands every day at midnight, and a bell in the corner offers a reminder.

1. Read the run and work out the rule that ties the visible numbers together.
2. Type the missing number into the field.
3. Press SUBMIT. You have three attempts.

Sequence puzzles usually live in IQ tests, where the honest answer is often that several rules fit and you have to guess which one the setter meant. The 10 per cent band is a neat fix for exactly that, because it lets the game reward you for finding the right kind of rule even when your version of it is off, and three attempts with a mid run gap is enough rope to test a hypothesis rather than just fire a number at it.

Three outcomes, each with its own colour block in the help panel: correct, close, and wrong with an invitation to try again. Close is defined rather than vague, meaning within 10 per cent of the answer, and that is the state worth playing for when you are unsure, because it separates a rule that is right in kind but off in scale from a rule that is simply not the one.

Core play

The game offers a single default puzzle: a short run of numbers with one term replaced by a question mark, a single input field and a SUBMIT button. You get three attempts and receive one of three feedback outcomes (correct, close, within 10%, or wrong). Puzzles are numbered, a new one appears each day at midnight, and a bell offers a reminder.

• Treat a close verdict as a diagnosis rather than a near miss. Landing inside the 10 per cent band says the shape of your rule is worth keeping, so adjust the scale instead of starting the reasoning over.
• Do not assume the blank is at the end. The help panel's own example puts it inside the run, which means the terms after the gap constrain the answer as hard as the ones before it, and checking both directions costs nothing while a wasted attempt costs a third of your budget.