Shlomik, Pymetrics Games Expert at at JobTestPrep.
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What Are the Pymetrics Games?
The Pymetrics test includes 12 online mini-games for pre-employment candidate evaluation. Unlike "regular" psychometric tests that use a standard question-and-answer format, Pymetrics uses innocent-looking games. Yet, don't be fooled by their appearance because these games are cleverly designed to observe your every move using an advanced AI algorithm. Playing through all the games will take approximately 25 minutes.
What Do Pymetrics Games Measure?
Pymetrics measures personality by examining behavior. It uses neuroscience games based on well-known psychological experiments to determine one's status on a wide range of 91 traits, including attention, risk tolerance, decision-making, and more.
In 2022 Harver – the talent acquisition and talent management company – purchased the Pymetrics games. They added these gamified tests to their platform with data-driven recruitment solutions to enhance their innovative Harver Assessments.
Is the Pymetrics Assessment Hard?
The Pymetrics games are easy to operate, as they are simple games with simple instructions. The hard part is understanding how to behave in each game. You will face numerous decisions, and every one of them will have an effect on your personality profile. Deciding what action to take is not easy and requires understanding what stands behind each game.
Even if you do know the psychological logic behind each game, how can you be sure what your employer is looking for exactly? And on what basis are candidates being rejected?
This is not only hard but extremely frustrating. The first step is to know the Pymetrics games and what each game measures.
Want to enhance your Pymetrics Games performance?
Pymetrics Across the Market
Several major and competitive companies, including JP Morgan, Unilever, Mastercard, BCG, Accenture, and Blackstone, use Pymetrics in their application processes.
The Pymetrics Test — Practice for All 12 Games
Pymetrics Balloon Game
In the Balloon Game, you need to gather as much money as possible by pumping balloons. Too much pumping will explode the balloon if it reaches its explosion point.
- Each time you click "Pump," the balloon increases in size and earns you $0.05.
- To retain the money you've made, click "Collect" before the balloon explodes.
- If the balloon explodes before you click "Collect," you will lose the money.
Here is an example of a different balloon color. Can you spot the difference?
What Is the Goal of the Game?
As this game assesses your pattern recognition and risk tolerance, you need to make your choices according to the characteristics required in the position you applied for. For example, in the finance world, risk-taking is a crucial trait. However, if you are applying for a role that requires more calculated methods, such as research analysis, it may be preferable to present more cautious tendencies and collect the money sooner without the risk of losing it.
The challenge:
The trick here is that the balloons come in different colors, and every color behaves differently. During the game, you are expected to analyze the behavior of each color and quickly recognize its explosion pattern.
💡 The explosion point for each color is not set in stone, and it varies from balloon to balloon. Having said that, each color has its own probability of an explosion.
While playing the game, pay close attention to the colors and make an educated guess as to when each is about to explode. Every explosion is a chance to learn more about the patterns and how to make a better decision in the next balloon.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Risk Tolerance — How comfortable are you with risk-taking?
- Impulsivity — Do you think before you act?
- Pattern Recognition — How good at learning new things are you?
- Decision Making — Are you a thoughtful planner or act on your instincts?
While the Balloon game requires you to follow the same set of rules all the way through, the focal point of the next game is your ability to focus on one task for a long time.
Pymetrics Stop Game
In the Stop Game, you will be presented with a red circle or a green circle –
- When you see a red circle, you will need to press the spacebar.
- When you see a green circle, you don’t need to do anything.
What Is the Goal of the Game?
The game assesses your attention span and ability to stay concentrated, which manifests in your consistency and level of impulsivity. This characteristic is crucial in almost every field of work, from consulting to Data Science.
The Challenge:
What makes this Pymetrics game hard is that both red and green circles quickly flash on your screen, requiring you to respond quickly while also being precise and inhibiting unwanted clicks. Under the pressure of a test, it can be quite difficult.
💡 Pay close attention when you see a sequence of red circles. Once the green circle appears, it will be much harder to inhibit your response. So, when you recognize a sequence, you need to be extra alert for that green circle.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Attention — Your capacity to manage information and filter distractions.
- Focus — Are you better at remaining on a single task or a dynamic multi-tasker?
As the Stop game, the next game also assesses your attention and your ability to shift from one task to another swiftly and effectively.
Pymetrics Arrow Game
In the Arrow Game, you will be presented with different sets of flashing arrows, and you will need to indicate the direction of the arrows according to two rules –
- If the arrows are blue or black, you will need to indicate the direction of the middle arrow.
- If the arrows are red, you will need to indicate the direction of the side arrows.
Though it might seem easy enough, it’s more confusing when arrows are facing opposite directions:
And even more difficult when you need to quickly identify the rules changed and shift your attention to the side arrows:
What Is the Goal of the Game?
The Arrow game assesses your learning abilities, attention, and adaptivity. These traits are essential in most lines of work and are crucial for positions such as trade, risk management, and Financial Analysis.
The Challenge
It is cognitively draining to quickly understand the types of arrows and react accordingly while remaining on high alert for a long period of time.
💡 This game consists of 135 rounds and lasts 3 minutes. It is a very long game, so mentally prepare for a prolonged focus period when you reach it. Just knowing what you are up against will help,
Major traits Being Measured:
- Learning — How does new information influence your behavior?
- Attention — Your capacity to manage information and filter distractions.
- Adaptivity — How quick are you at learning from mistakes?
Mastery of this game requires quick mental transitions between the different scenarios and rapid application.
While the Arrow Game requires you to divide your attention between different elements, the following game focuses on one main trait; this time, it’s your planning ability.
Pymetrics Tower Game
In the Tower Game, you will be presented with three towers, each with a different arrangement of colored disks stacked on them, and an example of how the towers should look.
You will need to rearrange the disks to match the example, using the fewest moves possible.
What Is the Goal of the Game?
The purpose of this game is not to see if you can solve the task but to evaluate your behavior and planning methods. In fact, the game assesses two factors – the number of moves you make and the time it takes you to make your first move. Taking a few extra moments to make your first move can be a sign of good planning and strategy, which are valuable traits to highlight in many positions, especially managerial roles and those that require forecasting a few steps forward.
The Challenge
Mentally strategizing your moves demands imagining the outcomes of each block you move, a challenging fit for many. On the positive side, this game rewards taking time to strategize.
💡 Two factors are recorded in the game: the number of moves you make and the initial time it takes you to make the first move. Waiting a bit longer before making the first move shows that you can plan ahead and build a strategy—a great trait to emphasize.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Decision Making — Are you a thoughtful planner or act on your instincts?
In the Tower Game, you are assessed on your ability to plan ahead, while the next game is a bit more personal as it evaluates your trust in other people.
Pymetrics Money Exchange Game #1
In the first Money Exchange Game, you will be paired with an AI player –
- You start the game with $10.
- You can transfer any amount to the other player. Once it's transferred, the amount will be tripled.
- Then, the other player can decide how much to return to you.
- Finally, you will need to rate how fair your partner was during this transaction.
What Is the Goal of the Game?
For the first Pymetrics Money Exchange Game, you need to decide how much money you want to transfer to the other player according to your trust in him. By transferring a large amount, you show you trust the other player to be fair and return some of the money he gained. By transferring a small amount, you display suspicion toward the other player.
In real life, as in this game, too much trust can lead to a loss, and thus, trusting other people is often involved in taking risks. These two qualities are tested in almost every working environment when working with your colleagues, clients, and affiliates.
The Challenge
There's a line between showing trust and risking too much — and you will have a single chance to show that you know the line.
💡 Trust correlates to cooperation—if you tend to trust people around you, you are more likely to get involved in tasks that require cooperation. Emphasizing trust could tell your employer that you are a good team player.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Trust — How confident are you in the integrity of those around you?
- Risk Tolerance — How comfortable are you with risk-taking?
The first and next Money Exchange Games are both called “Money Exchange Games,” and though they look similar, this one assesses the trust you put in others, while the next game evaluates the trust that can be put in you.
Pymetrics Money Exchange Game #2
In the second Money Exchange Game, you will once again be paired with an AI player, but this time with different rules -
- Both you and the other player start with $5.
- Only one of you will receive an extra $5.
- You have the option to share some of your extra-earned money with the other player and then rate the fairness of the transaction.
Now, you play a second round with a different player.
- Only you get an extra $5.
- You get to decide whether to give the other player a sum of money or take it from them and then rate the fairness of that transaction.
What Is the Goal of the Game?
For the second Pymetrics Money Exchange Game, you must decide whether to give money to the other player even though you don’t get any money in return. This action demonstrates your altruism. In contrast to the first money game, you have total control over determining the amount of money you and the other player will end up with.
The Challenge
While having a strong sense of altruism has its merits, it is crucial to establish boundaries. Being overly generous and giving away all your money can result in having none left, indicating a lack of thoughtful planning. However, in some positions involving aiding other people, it is essential to demonstrate that you can see other people’s needs. The meaning is that similarly to the first money exchange game — you will have to find the line between too much and too little.
💡 Unlike the first money exchange game, you have full control over the amount of money you and your partner end up with. Therefore, you have to be consistent and stand behind your choice when evaluating the fairness of the transaction.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Generosity — Do you prioritize the needs of others above your own?
The Pymetrics games assess different aspects of your personality. For example, they can assess your altruism, as in this game, or your motivation and decision-making strategy, as in the next game.
Pymetrics Hard or Easy Task Game
In the Hard or Easy Task Game, you will need to choose between two tasks –
- An easy task that you will most likely be able to complete, but the reward is low
Or - A hard task that will be harder to complete, but the reward is high
What Is the Goal of the Game?
The goal of this game is to assess your willingness to work hard and your strategic thinking.
As in all of the Pymetrics games, your strategy needs to be based on the job you applied for. For instance, as a consultant, you are required to take risks by providing advice to clients on complex problems, but as an accountant, you are often required to follow established procedures and avoid unnecessary risks.
The Challenge:
The trick here is that you will have a different probability of earning that money for each round. This means that you can put a lot of effort into the hard task and end up with no money at all.
💡 In case the winning probability is low AND the reward for the hard task is low, it makes sense to choose the easy task. This decision shows that you are able to think strategically and that you know where to put your effort.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Effort — Are you a hard worker who puts equal effort into all tasks, or are you outcome-driven?
- Decision Making — Are you a thoughtful planner or act on your instincts?
The Hard or Easy game might seem simple at first glance, but it assesses the crucial ability of strategic decision-making.
How can you turn the Hard or Easy Game into The Easy Game?
A similar misleading game is the next one, but don’t let its simplicity fool you, as it evaluates your processing speed.
Pymetrics Keypress Game
In the Keypress Game, you need to press on the spacebar as many times as you can in a limited time.
For the Pymetrics Keypress Game, you need to repeatedly press on the spacebar as quickly as you can from the moment you see the message “GO” and stop the moment you see the loading page, indicating that the game is over.
What Is the Goal of the Game?
This game assesses your ability to process information, such as understanding and following instructions, while also avoiding impulsivity. Thus, you have to be careful not to press the spacebar before you see the “GO” and not after the time runs out. This game also assesses your pressing speed, indicating your lateralized coordination.
The ability to process information quickly is necessary for a wide range of positions, from traders who need to process information quickly and make decisions based on that information to financial advisors who help clients with their financial planning.
💡 Be alert for the “GO!” message, as it will surprise you. Pressing the key too early might signal that you are impulsive.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Attention — Your capacity to manage information and filter distractions.
- Impulsivity — Do you make rush moves?
As opposed to the Keypress Pymetrics game, which requires your attention but not complicated thought, the next one is a bit more challenging, as it assesses your pattern recognition.
Pymetrics Cards Game
In the Card Game, you will be presented with four decks of cards.
In every draw, you can either earn money:
or lose money:
What Is the Goal of the Game?
This test measures two main competencies – risk and pattern recognition. At first, before you recognize a pattern in the decks, you are demonstrating your risk tolerance; hence you can’t know in advance which card will win or lose. After a few draws, you will recognize that every deck has its own pattern. Thus, by implementing your new knowledge, you can maximize your profit.
The Challenge:
When drawing a card, you can either win or lose. Although it seems random at first, as you progress, you should start recognizing the underlying pattern to make the most efficient choices and earn a larger amount of money.
💡 You are expected to pay attention to the patterns and act accordingly. Make sure you have a strategy for deciding which deck to draw from, and avoid clicking on a random deck.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Risk tolerance — How comfortable are you with risk-taking?
- Pattern Recognition — How good at learning new things are you?
As in this game, the following game also assesses your learning ability and your ability to pay attention to details.
Pymetrics Lengths Game
In the Pymetrics Lengths Game, you will be presented with two images of a face –
- When recognizing a face with a short mouth, you need to press the left arrow key.
- When recognizing a face with a long mouth, you need to press the right arrow key.
In some rounds of the game, you will earn a reward when answering correctly.
Can you identify which of the faces has the longer mouth?
What Is the Goal of the Game?
The Pymetrics Lengths Game assesses your attentional ability. You are required to recognize within a short time whether the face has a short or long mouth. Simple as it might look, this is quite a challenge as the lengths of the mouth differ by only 10%.
In addition, the game also assesses your motivation and checks if you are after the reward or after getting the correct answer.
Attention to detail is a demanded quality in many roles, including auditing, which requires notice every minute, and accounting, a position in which you are responsible for maintaining accurate financial records.
The Challenge:
This is a very hard game, as the lengths of the short and long mouths are very similar to one another. It is almost impossible to distinguish unless you look at both at once.
💡 In some cases, you will earn money for the correct answer. Don’t be fooled. This does not happen EVERY time you get it right. So, learning from your earnings is only a probability and not a rule.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Learning — How does new information influence your behavior?
- Attention — Your capacity to manage information and filter distractions.
- Effort — Are you a hard worker who puts equal effort into all tasks, or are you outcome-driven?
Another vital quality for those positions is a good memory, which is what the next game assesses.
Pymetrics Digit Memory Game
In the Digits Memory Game, you are presented with a sequence of numbers. You must remember the sequence and type the digits in the same order. The sequence will become longer and harder to memorize in each round.
Let’s try an easy one:
And now, take a shot at a harder one:
What Is the Goal of the Game?
The Pymetrics Digits Memory Game tests your memory by asking you to memorize increasingly longer sequences of digits each round. If that is not hard enough,
This ability is essential in almost every job, from Portfolio Managers who need to track various investments and their performance to Financial Planners who need to recall their clients’ financial goals, risk tolerance, and past investments.
The Challenge
Besides memorizing long lists of items, the digits change fast, and you have only a short time to memorize them.
💡 While the digits appear quickly on your screen, try to read them out loud. Your memory performs better when you are active and not passive.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Memory
Until now, most of the Pymetrics games we’ve seen assessed various cognitive abilities and competencies, such as your memory ability in the digits memory game. The next and final game is quite different, as it evaluates your emotional intelligence.
Can you improve your emotional intelligence?
Pymetrics Faces Game
In the Faces game, you are presented with pictures of faces with different expressions and a list of words that describe the emotion in the picture.
Some pictures will be accompanied by a brief story that describes a situation, other pictures will be shown on their own, without context.
You will need to choose the word that best reflects the emotion in the picture.
What Is the Goal of the Game?
To assess your ability to identify emotions, which is a key aspect of emotional intelligence and empathy.
The Challenge
Sometimes the story accompanying the picture is deliberately confusing and even contradicts the immediate choice. In other cases, there is more than one word that can describe the facial expression, and sometimes there is no distinctive word that can describe the feeling you identified.
💡 In some cases, the expression seems to describe a certain emotion while the text implies a totally different emotion.
When this happens, pay extra attention and choose wisely.
Major traits Being Measured:
- Emotional intelligence — Do you rely on people's facial expressions or the context to interpret their emotions?
How to Prepare for the Pymetrics Games Assessment?
The Pymetrics test is not another ability assessment but an algorithm-based test comprised of a series of online games. Although interactive and even fun, Pymetrics games assessment is smartly crafted to evaluate your cognitive abilities, characteristics, and behaviors, such as memory, attention, decision-making, and risk tolerance. The gathered information is combined to create a cohesive candidate profile, which is then compared to the role description and qualifications to ensure you are the perfect match for the job.
Preparation for the Pymetrics Games Assessment consists of several steps:
- Recognizing which traits and capabilities are tested in the game.
- Understanding the recommended results for your role.
- Practice the game for the first time and receive your Pymetrics results to get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses. Feedback on your performance can help you better understand these. This will also help you better understand where you stand in relation to the required results.
- Reiterate the game as much as you can, each time considering the feedback and what should be changed for improvement.
Follow these steps for each game separately, and you will see rapid improvement.
Full Online Pymetrics Practice Games & Guidance
To familiarize yourself with all the Pymetrics games' unique features and challenges, our Full Pymetrics Preparation Pack accurately simulates the Pymetrics games assessment. Starting at 79$, you can get a head start over the other applicants and maximize your potential score.
Our Pymetrics Games comprehensive PrepPack includes –
- 12 Pymetrics Games simulations to enhance your abilities and boost your confidence before taking the Pymetrics assessment.
- Detailed explanations of each test guide you in addressing each game to demonstrate your traits and abilities best, considering the job you applied for.
- Tips and tricks on how to formulate the best strategy for each game.
- Performance feedback allows you to review your strengths and weaknesses and where to focus your efforts.
Pymetrics Test FAQ
The Pymetrics Test is a 12-game pre-employment assessment designed to evaluate various cognitive capabilities and personality traits. The tricky part about the Pymetrics test is that it is hard to tell precisely what is being evaluated, and above all, as different employers look for different traits, which results will prove beneficial for your application.
Definitely. Some games, like the Tower Game or Stop Game, can be practiced without any tool but your own laptop and some creativity. However, productive practice will demand constant feedback, catching your weak spots and helping you detect improvement between each iteration, until perfection.
This is a very subjective matter. While some traits are globally appreciated, others are role and work-culture-dependent. Some employers expect high risk-taking, while others would rather have employees who stay on the safe side.
As part of researching your prospective employer, read about their core values and appreciated behaviors and check online for traits and behavior patterns that have worked for others.
While it is hard to know the exact trait assessed in each game, proper background research combined with our deeply researched Pymetrics PrepPack will highly increase your chances of correctly showcasing your traits.
By repeatedly practicing each game with a feedback-based platform.
Read More About the Pymetrics Games
The Pymetrics Balloon Game Guide
The Pymetrics Money Exchange 1 Game Guide
The Pymetrics Tower Game Guide
The Pymetrics Digits Game Guide
The Pymetrics Cards Game Guide
Related Links
Procter & Gamble Practice Test
Free Pre-Employment Personality Test
Pre-Recorded Video Interview Preparation
In 2022 Harver – the talent acquisition and talent management company – purchased the Pymetrics games. They added these gamified tests to their platform with data-driven recruitment solutions to enhance their innovative Harver Assessments.
