How does Category Mastery work, and how do you earn stars?

Category Mastery lets you work through every one of the 40 puzzle generators at Easy, Medium and Hard. Each challenge is three puzzles; finish fast with no mistakes for 3 stars. There are 360 stars to collect, and you can replay any challenge to improve.

The Category Mastery grid listing generators with Easy, Medium and Hard challenges
The Category Mastery grid listing generators with Easy, Medium and Hard challenges

The grid

The screen opens with your total — Stars: 0 / 360 — and every generator grouped under the five puzzle types (Sequences, Outliers, Equations, Transforms, Operators). Each generator, such as Arithmetic, Geometric or Squares, has three challenges: Easy, Medium and Hard. Tap one to start.

Earning stars

Each challenge is 3 puzzles. The app’s own legend:

StarsWhat it takes
⭐⭐⭐“fast, no mistakes”
⭐⭐“moderate time”
⭐“complete all puzzles”

“Harder difficulties get more time!” — the time you need for 3 stars is longer on Medium and Hard than on Easy. When you finish you see the stars you earned and your time, with Retry for Better Stars or Back to Grid.

Challenge Complete with two stars earned and the time taken
Retry any challenge — only your best result counts.

A category counts as mastered when every challenge in it has 3 stars.

Mistake Practice

“Redo the sequence puzzles that beat you.” Every sequence puzzle you get wrong is logged, and this mode serves them back:

  1. First you see the exact puzzle that beat you.
  2. Solve it, and you get a fresh puzzle of the same kind.
  3. Solve that too, and the mistake is cleared for good.

Without Premium you get one short session of 5 puzzles a week; Premium sessions have 10 and there is no weekly limit.

Mistake Practice showing a puzzle labelled Your mistake
Puzzles are labelled Your mistake, Weak spot or Warm-up.

Practice Studio (Premium)

“Build your own practice sessions.” Choose the exact puzzle types, a difficulty of Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert, and a session that is endless, a set number of puzzles (10, 20 or 30) or timed (60, 90 or 120 seconds). Setups can be saved as presets, and each session ends with a short report: accuracy, correct answers, best run and average time.

Frequently asked questions

Do I lose stars if I replay a challenge and do worse?
No. Only your best result is kept, so replaying can only add stars.
What happens if I get a puzzle wrong in Mastery?
You stay on that puzzle until you solve it. The mistake doesn't end the challenge, but it rules out 3 stars.
Where do the puzzles in Mistake Practice come from?
Every sequence puzzle you get wrong in modes like the Daily Challenge, Marathon, Speed Blitz, Zen, Duel, Tournament and Mastery is logged. Classic, Kakuro, Number Cascade, Math Maze, the IQ Test and Brain Training are not.

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