How to play Deduce
Every day you get one puzzle: a building with several floors, the people who live there, and a set of clues. Use the clues to work out the one arrangement that fits them all.
The goal
Place every person on the correct floor (floor 1 is the lowest, the top floor is the highest) so that every clue is satisfied at once. There is always exactly one arrangement that works.
Step by step
- Read every clue first. Each clue narrows down where people can live. Get the full picture before you place anyone.
- Start from the strongest clue. A clue like "lives on the topmost floor" or "lives on the lowest floor" pins a person exactly — place them first to anchor the rest.
- Tap a name, then a floor. Select a person from the name tray, then tap the floor to place them. Tap a filled floor again to clear it and try another.
- Cross off clues as you use them. Tap a clue to strike it through, so you can track which constraints you've already applied and which remain.
- Submit when every floor is filled. The Submit button turns on once all floors have a person. You get three attempts — if a guess is wrong, you'll be told how many clues it violated.
A worked example
Suppose three people — Arjun, Bhavna and Chetan — live on floors 1–3, and the clues are:
1. Chetan lives on the topmost floor.
2. Arjun lives somewhere above Bhavna.
Clue 1 puts Chetan on floor 3. That leaves floors 1 and 2 for Arjun and Bhavna. Clue 2 says Arjun is above Bhavna, so Arjun is on floor 2 and Bhavna on floor 1. Done — one unique answer: Bhavna · Arjun · Chetan.
Tips for a faster solve
- Look for "anchor" clues (top, bottom, immediately above) before relative ones.
- Use "even / odd floor" and "exactly N floors between" clues to eliminate whole positions.
- After a wrong attempt, the count of violated clues tells you how close you are.
This is the same deductive technique tested in IBPS, SBI and SSC reasoning puzzles — practising it daily makes it fast and automatic. New here? Read what Deduce is or check the FAQ.
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