How to play MindGate

You are a token running down a three-lane track that never stops moving. A question sits at the top of the screen — a sum, a missing number, a sequence to continue, which operator fits, or a quick "largest" or "only odd" — and three gates race toward you, each carrying one possible answer. There is no button to press and nothing to confirm: you work the answer out while you run and steer into the gate showing it. Tap the left or right half of the track on a phone, or use the arrow keys. Take the wrong gate and you lose one of three shields; lose all three and the run is over. The run opens gently and tightens the further you get, with the track speeding up and your thinking time falling from nearly four seconds to two and a half. The questions grow to match — bigger sums, missing-number gates, halves and doubles — so the pressure late in a run comes from the arithmetic rather than raw speed, and nothing is ever asked with less time than it needs. Score comes from distance run and from gates answered in a row, and a good streak earns a clear stretch of track carrying a power-up: steer into the token to slow the track for eight seconds, double your next five gates, or — when you are down to your last shield — patch one back. Free at Skorven, no download.

More like this: Number games · all brain games

Tips & strategy

• Move early. Gates are resolved at the moment they reach you, and the token glides between lanes rather than snapping, so committing late can leave you between two answers.
• Streaks are worth more than metres. Ten correct answers in a row score several times what ten scattered ones do, which makes one careless guess expensive well beyond the shield it costs.
• When you cannot solve it in time, eliminate. The two wrong answers always sit within a dozen of the right one, so checking the last digit of a sum often rules out two lanes without finishing the arithmetic.
• Use the clear stretch. Every sixth correct answer buys you empty track — that is the moment to settle back into the middle lane, where either side is one move away.
• Spend power-ups where they pay. A freeze is worth most late, when the track is at full speed; a surge is worth most when your streak is already high, because it doubles the streak bonus too.

MindGate FAQ

How do I answer a question in MindGate?

You steer. The sum sits at the top of the track and each of the three gates ahead shows a possible answer, so moving into a lane is how you commit to one. Tap the left or right half of the track, or use the arrow keys.

What happens when I get one wrong?

You lose one of three shields. Losing all three ends the run, so guessing at a gate you have not solved is never free. Getting one wrong also resets your streak, which is where most of the score comes from.

Does MindGate get harder?

Yes, but the difficulty moves into the questions rather than the speed. Over about two minutes the track speeds up gently and the thinking time you are given shrinks from 3.8 seconds to 2.5, while the sums grow and new gate types join in — missing-number gates, halves and doubles, number sequences, pick-the-operator gates, then quick glance-only picks. Only the slowest families to work out, multiplication and the operator gates, drop away once the clock tightens.

How is the score worked out?

One point per metre run, plus points for every gate you answer correctly. A gate is worth far more inside a streak, so a run of correct answers beats the same number of scattered ones, and every sixth correct answer earns a clear stretch of track.

What are the power-ups?

Tokens that drift down a lane like gates do; steering into one collects it. A green +1 restores a lost shield and drifts down as mercy when you are on your last one, a blue snowflake slows the whole track for eight seconds, and an amber ×2 doubles the points from your next five gates. Every clear stretch — the reward for six correct answers in a row — carries one.

Is MindGate free?

Completely — browser-based, no download, no signup.