Pets guard the boxes and say where the treasure is. Some always tell the truth, some always fib. Your child works out which box holds it. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
A treasure is hidden in one of three or four coloured boxes. Pets stand beside the boxes, and each pet says one thing in a speech bubble, such as It is in the red box or It is NOT in my box. A pet that tells the truth is always right. A pet that fibs is always wrong, so what it says is never true. The child has to decide which box can hold the treasure without any statement being broken. This is deduction from what is said, a puzzle form that appears in children's logic contests, and it trains a skill that is hard at 6 or 7: using the words of someone who is always wrong. The game keeps the wording plain, with a capital NOT instead of any double negatives, and a speaker button reads the whole puzzle aloud: the question, the boxes, and for each pet its box, its words and, in the first three levels, whether it tells the truth or fibs, so a child who cannot read yet can play. The pet's role is shown on a sign in the first three levels and is hidden after that.
Level 1 has one pet with a Tells truth sign and three boxes. It says where the treasure is, either by naming a box or by saying it is in its own box. Level 2 has one pet with a Fibs sign that says where the treasure is not, so the child has to turn the words around. Level 3 has two pets, one with each sign, and three boxes. Level 4 has two pets with question marks instead of signs and the clue that exactly one pet fibs, so the child tries each pet as the fibber. Level 5 has three pets and three boxes with the same clue. Level 6 has three pets and four boxes, and the clue is either that exactly one pet fibs or that exactly one pet tells the truth. Pets at levels 3 to 6 may say the box is, or is not, a named colour or their own box.
A puzzle is made by hiding the treasure, choosing who tells the truth, and giving each pet a sentence with the right truth value. Then the game checks the puzzle by brute force. It lists every world: a treasure box plus a truth or fib role for every pet that fits what the child is told about the roles. It keeps the worlds where each pet's sentence is true exactly when that pet tells the truth, and it requires that all of them put the treasure in the same box, so the three or four boxes have one answer and every other box is impossible. From level 4 it also requires that without the exactly one clue the answer would not be forced, so the clue is needed. The tests repeat the search with separate code on 500 seeds for every level, reading the sentences from the speech bubble text, so the picture and the logic cannot drift apart.
Print a worksheet by choosing the level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles, and Letter or A4 paper. Each sheet has new puzzles and the last page is an answer key with the reason. The boxes are labelled with their colour name, so a black and white print still works. The daily set, Today's 5, is made from the date on your device, so a child who plays on two devices on the same day sees the same five puzzles. There is no timer by default, no ads inside the play area and no account. The game does not use a pet that sometimes tells the truth, it does not use sentences about other pets, and it never asks the child to explain their reasoning in words. Progress is saved in this browser only.
They are made for a child of about 6 or 7. Level 1 has one pet that always tells the truth, which most children manage straight away. Level 2 asks for the opposite of what a pet says. Levels 4 to 6 ask the child to try each pet as the fibber, which takes several tries at first.
No. Every puzzle is checked by listing all the worlds, a treasure box plus a truth or fib role for each pet, that fit what the pets say. In every puzzle those worlds all put the treasure in one box. The tests repeat this on 500 puzzles for each of the six levels.
At levels 4 to 6 that is the puzzle. The child tries the first pet as the fibber, sees where the treasure would then be, and checks whether the other pets are still honest. The answer shown after each puzzle walks through the story that fits.
A small word is easy to miss, and a missed NOT changes the whole puzzle. The capitals make the word stand out in the bubble. The game never uses double negatives.
Choose a level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles and Letter or A4. The sheet is made in your browser from new puzzles each time, in black and white, with the colour name under each box. The last page is an answer key. Nothing is uploaded.
Only in this browser, on this device: the level, stars and daily progress are saved in local storage and nothing is sent anywhere. The page counts visits with Google Analytics, never answers. Clearing site data for this page removes the saved progress.