Axiom (Mind Loft)

About Axiom (Mind Loft)

Axiom turns the scientist's question, which rule explains the evidence, into a daily word puzzle. The board holds about two dozen everyday words. Every one of them is already true or false under a hidden rule, but you can only see a few: some start green (the rule holds for that word) and some red (it does not). Under the board sit five candidate rules, and exactly one of them fits every tile.

You get six tests a day, and each one uncovers a tile's colour. The trick, as the game itself points out, is that most tiles teach you nothing: if every surviving rule predicts the same colour for a word, flipping it only confirms what you already knew. The useful tests are on words where two live rules disagree. Crossing out rules and tiles as notes is free and does not touch your score.

When you are ready you press Name it and pick the rule still standing. The button shows the score you would bank at that moment, which starts low and rises as your uncovered words rule out the other candidates; naming too early is a gamble, a wrong name costs points, and tests beyond the minimum needed also cost a little. Each board is generated and checked so that one candidate fits and no single test settles it alone. Sundays bring a wider field of candidate rules.

How to play Axiom (Mind Loft)

1. Open Axiom and press Uncover the board.
2. Read the five candidate rules and the words that start green (true) and red (false).
3. Work out which words the surviving rules disagree about, and spend a test to flip one of those.
4. Cross out every rule the colours contradict.
5. Press Name it and choose the one rule left standing.

Tips

• Before spending a test, write down what each live rule predicts for that word; if they all agree, choose another.
• Two well chosen tests can settle a board, so save the rest rather than spending them for comfort.
• Rules about letters (vowels, length, double letters) are easy to check at a glance; vowels here are A, E, I, O and U, never Y.

Questions