How to play Split
Twelve numbers and one target. They divide into four groups of three that each add up to the target — and there is only one way to do it. Tap three, submit; a right group locks. Three rounds a day, on the second shelf, outside the daily line-up.
Play today's Split · Watch the gameplay demo
The rules
- Twelve numbers between 1 and 20, no two the same, and a target above them. Tap three numbers and submit. The running sum shows under the grid as you pick, so the arithmetic is never the obstacle.
- A right group locks in a color and stays put. A wrong group costs a mistake — and the game tells you whether it added up. Submit the same wrong three again and it is refused, not charged twice.
- A triple that hits the target but is not one of the four is a decoy. Decoys are the whole difficulty: the round line says how many there are, and the three rounds climb — two or three, then four or five, then six or seven.
- Once three groups are in, the fourth locks for free: the last three numbers have nowhere else to be.
- A clean round scores 100 and each mistake costs 20. Your score for the day is the average of the three rounds, out of 100.
- One puzzle a day. Your progress is saved round by round, so a refresh is not a second attempt; the archive holds every past day.
Strategy
- Start with the awkward numbers. The biggest number needs the smallest pair, the smallest needs the biggest; a number at either end usually has only one or two ways to complete a group. Find those first.
- Count each number’s options. Before submitting, ask how many pairs on the board would complete each of your three. A number with a single partner pair is forced — and forced groups are never decoys.
- A group that uses up a number’s only option is right. If 20 can only reach the target with 12 and 3, that group is in the answer, however many other triples add up.
- Decoys share numbers with real groups. A triple that adds up but would strand another number — leaving it no pair to finish with — is a decoy. Check what is left before you commit.
- The mistakes are the score, not the time. There is no clock; a moment’s counting beats a guess.
Scoring
A round scores 100 less 20 for each mistake, never below 0; the day is the average of the three rounds, out of 100. Three clean rounds is 100; two clean and one with two mistakes is 87. Split sits outside the daily line-up, so its score never moves your day’s total.
Full details on how scoring works.