How to read and compare your game scores

All 21 scoring rules, side by side

Compare results within the same game. A shorter time, a longer sequence and fewer moves measure different things.

What a completed result means in each game
Game	Scoring rule
Spatial Reasoning Test	Each correct answer earns one point, up to 12. Each of the three sections contributes four questions equally. Nine correct is 75%; there is no speed bonus, difficulty weighting or penalty beyond a missed point. Only a completed test updates your local best and latest result. Different generated questions and practice familiarity affect difficulty. Scores are puzzle results, without IQ, percentiles or a population rating.
Photographic Memory Test	Each correct answer earns one point, up to 25. Accuracy is correct answers divided by 25: 18 correct is 72%. There is no speed bonus or wrong-answer penalty. Only a completed five-scene run saves to My Progress. Different pictures and repeat familiarity affect difficulty, so your best is a game record, not a standardized measure or comparison with other people.
Mini Sudoku	A solved board saves requested hints; fewer is better and 0 means no hints were requested. Checking, notes and undo are free; undoing a hinted entry does not remove its hint. Different puzzles are not equal-difficulty comparisons. Completed daily drafts do not save another result on refresh.
Nonogram	Complete every filled square and empty X mark to save hints used; fewer is better. Checking and undo are free, but undo does not cancel a requested hint. Sizes and layouts differ, so the best hint count is not a matched-difficulty comparison. A restored completed Daily board does not record another completion.
Word Ladder	A completed route saves its number of changes, including hinted words; lower is better. Undo shortens the route and is not a step. The finish message reports hints and this pair’s shortest length. Personal best stores length, not whether it was unaided; pairs have different shortest lengths and are not equal-difficulty comparisons.
CalcuDoku	A completed board saves requested hints; fewer is better. Notes, checking, erase and undo are free; undoing a hinted entry does not remove its hint. Different cages may have different difficulty. Completed daily drafts do not record another result on refresh.
Word Search	Finish all eight words to save the number found without a hint, from 0 to 8; higher is better. A starting-letter hint marks that word as assisted before you find it. Invalid selections cost nothing. A completed daily puzzle is not saved again on reload. Different layouts are not equal-difficulty score comparisons.
Pattern Recognition	A completed set saves your correct answers out of 12; higher is better. There is no speed bonus or penalty. Wrong answers still advance the set after the explanation. Completing a saved daily set does not create another result on refresh. Sets differ, so compare the result with the questions you played.
Sliding Puzzle	Your result is the number of moves used to finish a board; lower is better. Each slide and each undo adds one. Restarting an unfinished board saves nothing. Starting layouts differ, so personal bests are not comparisons of equal puzzles.
Lights Out	Your result is the total moves taken to turn every light off; lower is better. Every tap and undo counts once. There is no timer. Only solved boards are saved, and different starting boards may require different numbers of moves.
Code Breaker	Cracking the code earns 9 minus the number of guesses: 8 points for a first-guess solve down to 1 point on guess eight. An unsolved eight-guess round saves 0 points and reveals the code. Higher is better. Erasing an unsubmitted symbol does not use an attempt.
Make 24	A completed round saves the number of puzzles solved without revealing a solution, from 0 to 3; higher is better. Undo and Reset numbers are free. Show solution gives 0 for that puzzle. Select Finish round after the third puzzle to save; starting a new round discards unfinished results.
Number Memory	Your score is the length of the longest number you entered correctly in that run, from 3 through 12 digits. If you miss the first level, the score is 0. It is a game result, not an assessment of ability.
Sequence Memory	Your score is the number of steps in the longest sequence you repeated correctly, up to 10. The score describes this game run only.
Visual Memory	Your score is the number of squares in the largest pattern you completed, up to 12. It is simply a record of the current session.
Memory Match	The result reports the number of moves used to clear all eight pairs. Fewer moves is better for this game.
Reaction Time	Your result is the mean reaction time in milliseconds across five valid trials. Lower is faster for this game. An early click is rejected and does not count as a valid trial.
Schulte Table	Your score is the elapsed time required to select all 25 numbers in order, measured from the correct selection of 1. Lower time is better for this game; incorrect selections do not move the target forward.
Color Word	Your score is the number of correct ink-color choices out of 10. It is a result for this set of questions only.
Mental Math	Your result is the number of correct answers out of 10. Blank, decimal, expression, or non-numeric entries are not accepted as answers. Existing personal bests are retained; older results may come from the previous, simpler questions and are not directly comparable with the current set.
Typing Speed	WPM is the number of correctly positioned characters, including spaces, divided by five over the 60-second run, rounded to a whole number. Higher is better. Text accuracy is correct retained characters divided by all retained typed characters; corrected mistakes no longer count. An unstarted or restarted run is not saved.

Work through the numbers

A five-trial reaction example

Suppose your valid reactions are 250, 280, 310, 260 and 400 milliseconds. Their total is 1,500 milliseconds; dividing by five gives a result of 300 ms. The 250 ms trial is not your saved result: this game saves the mean of the five valid trials.

An early tap is rejected and does not count as a zero or a sixth trial. Previously completed trials remain in the current run. These numbers are an illustration, not a benchmark for your age or ability.

Why your last score can differ from your best

If your saved Reaction Time best is 280 ms and your next run averages 300 ms, the last result becomes 300 ms while the best remains 280 ms. Lower is better for this game.

For Mental Math, the direction reverses. A new result of 9 correct answers replaces a best of 7. If the next round finishes with 6 correct answers, your last result is 6 and your best remains 9. No combined score is calculated across games.

Make a comparison you can repeat

Choose the same game and input method. Compare mouse runs with mouse runs, or touch runs with touch runs.
Finish the full round or run. Restarting halfway does not save a completed result.
Change one approach at a time, such as grouping digits in pairs. Check the game’s feedback before deciding whether to keep that approach.
Remember that My Progress stores your best and latest result, not every attempt. To compare several runs, keep your own notes; the site does not provide a session-history chart.

Read the unit before the number

A lower reaction time is better within the reaction game. More correct answers is better in Mental Math. Number, Sequence and Visual Memory record successful recall; Memory Match instead counts the moves used to finish its board. These units describe different tasks; adding them into a single brain score would hide that difference.

Explore the games and their scoring rules

One run is only one run

Distractions, familiarity with the controls and a lucky guess can affect an attempt. A personal best is simply your strongest completed result saved in this browser. Mental Math retains older bests, but its previous, simpler questions are not directly comparable with the current calculations. A best is not an average, a percentile, or a comparison with other people. There is no public leaderboard on Brain Workout.

Check hints and starting puzzles

Mini Sudoku, Nonogram and CalcuDoku save hints used: 0 means none were requested. Check and undo are free, but undo does not cancel hints. Word Ladder saves route length, including hinted steps; its finish message discloses assistance. Different pairs, board sizes and layouts have different difficulty. A personal best is not a controlled comparison of identical puzzles.

Reaction time includes your setup

The timer runs in your browser. Screen updates, input hardware and the browser itself introduce delay. A result therefore describes your interaction with that setup. For a useful personal comparison, keep the device and input method the same and wait for the actual cue instead of anticipating it.

Keep results in perspective

These are recreational games, not standardized assessments. They cannot diagnose conditions, assign an IQ, or tell you your brain age. You may get better at the game as its rules become familiar. That result alone does not establish a change in everyday cognitive ability.

Your progress stays with you

Completed runs update a small record in your browser’s local storage. It includes your best result, last result, play count and last-played date. Clearing browser data removes it. You can also clear only your game history from My Progress. Private browsing or blocked storage may prevent results from being saved.

View your progress

Written by Brain Workout. Practical notes about our games, for recreational play.