How does the block counting test work?
Each item shows a stack of cubes in 3D. Count all of them, including the cubes hidden behind and underneath others, type the number and press OK. Every cube rests on the floor or on another cube, so a column you can see the top of is solid all the way down.
There are 10 stacks, growing from a few cubes to grids of 4 × 4 columns up to four high. The stacks are built into a back corner: no column is taller than the one behind it or the one to its left, so the top of every column is in view and each stack has one right answer.
How is your Block Counting Test result calculated?
Your result is how many stacks you counted exactly, out of 10, with the time you took and how many answers were off by one. After each answer the game shows every column's height from above, so you can see where any missing cubes were. No published average exists for these stacks, so there is no rating.
How do you count blocks quickly?
Count columns, not cubes. Find the top of each column, read its height from the cube edges on its sides or from the level of its neighbours, and add the heights. Counting layer by layer gives the same total: the bottom layer has a cube in every column, the next one in every column at least two high, and so on.
- Start at the back corner. It is the tallest column, and every other column steps down from it.
- Trust the floor grid. Each square of the floor holds one column; a bare square holds none.
- Add rows as you go. Three or four small sums are easier to hold than one long one.
How many cubes are hidden?
More than it looks. In the last and biggest stacks of 500 games made by the game's own code, an average stack held 21 cubes, and about 7 of them were buried: covered on top, in front and at the side by other cubes, with no face in view at all. None of them shows, but every one counts.
| Stack | Cubes (average) | Buried (average) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 × 3, up to 2 high | 7.8 | 1.5 |
| 4 × 3, up to 3 high | 13.7 | 3.2 |
| 4 × 4, up to 4 high | 21.3 | 6.8 |
Figures from the game's own stacks, with a fixed seed so they come out the same every time.
Is this the AFOQT block counting test?
No. The Air Force Officer Qualifying Test has a Block Counting subtest, 30 questions in 5 minutes according to Pearson VUE, which delivers the test, but each question asks how many blocks touch a given block in a pile. This game asks for the total in a stack instead. Both exercise the same skill: building a 3D picture from a flat drawing.
For more 3D thinking, try the Cross-Section Test or the Cube Net Test.