Who Has the Biggest Brain guide (for Pogo.com)

Recently, Pogo.com released their fourth Starter album, which includes the first ever challenges for their Who Has the Biggest Brain game.  The object is to score as well as possible in four minigames that last for one minute each.  There are eight different minigames to play: two in each category, one of which is chosen randomly to be played each game.

Although none of the challenges require doing particularly well, two of them can be completed faster by a skilled player.  Also, anyone who intends to earn the rank badges available for the game will have to get good at it — rank progress is only made by scoring 500 points or better in a minigame, and reaching rank 50 takes a very long time, even if you can get 500+ in every game every time.  So I decided to put together a guide to each of the available minigames, to hopefully help players achieve better scores.

General tips:
- Wrong answers deduct from your score.  It's generally better to take your time and answer fewer questions but get them all correct than to answer a lot but get several of them wrong.
- If there's only a few seconds left in the round, it may be better to let the time run out without answering rather than guessing.  There's no penalty for running out of time mid-question.
- For the memory and visual games, you earn some points for each part of the correct answer, and a larger amount of points for completing all the answers.  But in most games, if you give any wrong answer, the question immediately ends and you get a new question.

Analysis games

Scales
My best score: 912
My average score: 763

Here, you're shown a number of objects placed on different scales and asked to identify which is the heaviest.  Note that the objects are essentially placeholders that change with each question and aren't necessarily congruent to their weights in real life.  (For example, the rabbit might be heavier than the rhino, or the mug might be lighter than the beach ball, etc.)  The puzzles start out easy, with only one scale and a two or three items, but eventually have as many as 4 scales and up to 6 different items.

If the same object appears on both sides of the scale, they essentially cancel each other out.  So in the above example, it essentially shows the weight of a coin + a button is equal to the weight of one eggplant; therefore, the eggplant is heaviest.

Here, the right scale shows the nut is heavier than the cake and the onion.  The left scale shows the mushroom is heavier than the nut; therefore the mushroom is heaviest.

Middle scale: The cake is heavier than the candy.  Left scale: The cheese is heavier than the cake.  Right scale:  The cupcake is heavier than the cheese.  So, the cupcake is the heaviest.

Tricks:
- If there are no balanced scales, and a particular item appears only on the lower side of each scale, it's the heaviest item.
- Don't forget that identical items on each side of a scale cancel each other out!  They're just there to confuse you; you can pretend those items aren't even there.
- If you can get to the point where it gives you four scales in each puzzle you're doing well.

Counting Blocks
My best score: 1176
My average score: 1002

This is the game I consistently score the highest at.  A set of blocks drop down and you're asked how many there are.

The trick to solving these quickly is to mentally group blocks together by their height.

In this example, there is one group that is 3 blocks tall, three that are 2 blocks tall, and three single blocks.  So I would quickly determine: 3 + (2×3) + (1×3) = 3 + 6 + 3 = 12 blocks.  Or as I would count aloud:  3, 5 - 7 - 9, 10 - 11 - 12.

I generally count the groups from tallest to shortest, so I'd count the three block tall column first, then all the two block columns, then the single blocks.  Going shortest to tallest could also work if you're more comfortable doing it that way.  Also, take your time; start counting over if you're unsure if you've missed a column or counted one twice; like in all the games, wrong answers cost you points, and you'll also waste time waiting for a new set of blocks to drop in.

Tricks:
- If you have a number pad available on your computer, I recommend using it for this game, as I find it much easier to enter numbers quickly and accurately than with the number row on the standard keyboard.
- The minimum and maximum number of blocks increases as the round goes on and your score increases.  The first few questions will always have single digit answers, whereas later sets (if you are doing well) will always have 10 blocks or more.  The largest group I've seen is 20, although if you're very fast it could be possible for bigger groups to appear.
- Stacks of blocks can be up to 4 blocks tall.
- Sometimes the game gives a very easy grouping of 4 stacks in a square.  Usually these are all the same height, although sometimes one stack has a block missing or an extra block added.  Get used to answering these very fast; it can really boost your score if you're lucky enough to get more than one of them in the same round.

Mathematics games

Math Problems
My best score: 1080
My average score: 870

There's not really much to say about this one.  Just answer the math problems.  If you're good with basic math you'll do well here; if not, it can be a struggle to reach 500 points.  The only way to get better at this one is to practice, really.

You typically start off with problems only using single-digits, then move on to double-digits, then to two-step problems.  Remember to always do the part in parenthesis first.

Tricks:
- Like the block counting game, I recommend using the number pad if your keyboard has one.
- If you give a wrong answer, the game waits about half a second before declaring you wrong.  If you enter your answer and don't get the green checkmark, you can quickly use the backspace key to erase your entry and guess again.  For problems involving large numbers, you might guesstimate your answer and delete the last digit repeatedly until you get it right.  (Though if you take too long doing this, the points lost from getting through fewer problems may outweigh the penalty for just accepting the wrong answer and moving on.)
- Remember your multiplication tables, simply multiplying or dividing two numbers comes up a lot.
- I haven't seen it ever give problems where the answer was more than 99, but the game does allow you to enter three digits, so it may be possible that it gives problems with three digit answers near the end if you're really good.
- I don't generally attempt this (I found it out completely by accident), but it's possible to get a little bit of a head start if you're lucky, as it allows you to type during the "3-2-1" countdown at the beginning of the game.  If you happen to enter the correct answer for the first question (which is often a single-digit number) during this time, you'll hear the "ding" sound and it will immediately credit you for the first question when the game starts.  If you enter a digit but don't hear the ding, quickly backspace so it doesn't get marked wrong when the game starts.

Fill in the Symbol
My best score: 880
My average score: 718

Like the other math game, you're pretty much either good at it or you aren't, but practice can help.  Here you're given an equation with either a +, -, ×, or ÷ symbol missing and you have to decide which it is.  It starts out very basic but advances to larger numbers and two-step equations after awhile.

Tricks:
- If there's a three-digit number before the equals sign, and division is not shown in the part already given, division is probably the correct answer.
- Sometimes the earlier, lower-number questions can be trickier.  For example, plugging a + or a × symbol into an equation can sometimes result in an equation that are only one or two off being correct.
- Don't worry if you get a few wrong.  When you get to the larger numbers you can usually guesstimate correctly.


Memory games

Card Matching
My best score: 814
My average score: 688

In this game, you're shown up to five pairs of cards, face up.  The cards are then flipped over and you're tasked with revealing each matching pair, one at a time.

The game is straightforward at first, but after the first couple rounds, it will begin to switch two of the face-down cards when you make a match.  And if you do well enough, later puzzles will use different cards that are all the same color.

For these rounds, it helps to remember the shapes as:  Circle, square, triangle, star, and dots.

Tricks:
- In the rounds with ten cards, if you can't remember all the cards try to remember at least three of the pairs.  Unlike other games it does not reset with a completely new puzzle when a wrong answer is given, so if you match three of the pairs you should be able to get others with no more than one wrong guess (if you're wrong you'll see the positions of one each of the two remaining shapes, then click one of the two you didn't guess and match it up.)
- Pay attention to the cards that switch around.  After a card moves, match it up immediately if you can so you don't lose track of it.
- The game never switches two matching cards around.  So when two cards are switched, you know they aren't a match (and if there's only two pairs remaining, the match must be one of the cards that was moved and one that wasn't.)
- If you are quick enough to make a match while two cards are in the middle of switching positions, they will immediately stop where they are.  Just be aware that this can sometimes cause one card to be partially underneath another card, which may lead to clicking the wrong one by mistake.

Remember the Sequence
My best score: 756
My average score: 590

My least favorite game, and one of the two where I still fail to reach 500 points every time (although I get it more often than not.)  A sequence of objects are shown.  You have a few seconds to memorize the sequence, or you can click the screen to immediately cover them up and begin answering.  Buttons on the bottom show the objects that were in the sequence, as well as some that weren't.  Click the buttons to fill in the blanks in order from left to right.  At first the sequences only contain three items, but as you progress they can get as long as seven items.

There are a few different groups of items that are used; it helps if you can come up with a name to distinguish each one within a group.

Animals

Foods 1

Colors

Foods 2

Objects

Sushi

The problem is the groups generally have a few objects that are hard to give names to that aren't ambiguous with another object in the group.  The colors group and animals group are simple enough because everything in the group is a clearly different color and calling them by color will work.  For the sushi group, I refer to the items (as pictured left to right) as black, red, yellow, meat, fish, frill, and butter.  Unfortunately I don't have any good way to distinguish the other three groups.

Tricks:

- I find it helps to say the names of the objects (or their colors for groups where that will work) as they appear.

- Most of the groups appear in random order, but the sushi group only appears (and always appears) after a specific number of right answers.  Possibly because the game designers thought it would be more difficult to remember (for people who don't know their sushi, at least), but I can usually remember them well enough using the terms I came up with them.

- A sequence will never use the same item more than twice.

- The order the buttons appear in when making your selections seems to be random; unfortunately sometimes trying to find the object you know is next takes a moment.

- If you can get the first sushi question right without more than a couple mistakes, you probably have around 500 points.

Visual Processing games

Asteroids
My best score: 1067
My average score: 958

Click on the asteroids in order from lowest to highest numbers, or alphabetical order when they occasionally have letters instead of numbers.

It starts off simple; the first few puzzles only have three asteroids, and only use positive numbers.  As you progress, it starts throwing in negative numbers, sometimes spells out words between zero and ten instead of using the numerals, spins the asteroids around faster, and has up to six asteroids to order per puzzle.

Tricks:
- Remember that all negative numbers will come before the positive numbers.  Words that are spelled out are always between 0 and 10, so they usually come between the negatives and other positives, but sometimes there will be a positive numeral lower than the spelled out word to throw you off.  Just be careful.
- I've never seen any asteroids with a number below -50 or above the mid-80s.
- Always read all the asteroids before clicking on any.  It's not uncommon for some of the numbers or letters be close in sequence, and if you rush too much you'll likely end up, for example, clicking the asteroid with B immediately only to find there was one with an A showing as well.
- When letters are used they are underlined to prevent confusion with letters that look the same when oriented differently, such as N or Z.  Make sure to pay attention to the underlines so you don't mis-identify a letter.
- It's not entirely necessary but very helpful if you can read the numbers when they're upside-down.

Puzzle pieces
My best score: 854
My average score: 646

You're given a picture with pieces missing, and an assortment of possible missing pieces to choose from.  You need to pick out the correct missing pieces.

There are five different pictures, which always appear in the same order (the picture changes after every few puzzles).  It helps if you remember what each one looks like, so here they are:

If you do well there will be more pieces missing out of each picture as you progress.

Tricks:

- After the fifth picture, it cycles back to the first picture again.

- Remember the pieces can be rotated like an actual jigsaw puzzle.  You need to find pieces that both are the same shape and have the correct image to fill in the missing spots.

- Click pieces you're sure are correct first; clicking a wrong piece immediately resets the puzzle with new pieces.  You still get some credit for getting some of the pieces right.

Did you find this guide helpful?  Any tips you have that I missed?  Feel free to let me know in the comments.