A PatternPop round asks you to remember which pads were targets. It does not ask you to repeat a flashing sequence. The blue diamond pads appear together; when they disappear, you can select their positions in any order. That distinction matters: a player who tries to reconstruct an imaginary sequence is doing extra work the game never checks.
Open PatternPop, choose a mode, and press Ready when you are prepared to look at the board. On a touch screen, select pads directly. With a keyboard, focus the board, move with the arrow keys, and select with Enter or Space. Wait for the recall phase before answering.
A six-target board you can check
The following board is a constructed teaching example, not a captured Daily puzzle. It follows round five's 4×4 size, six targets, and one decoy. Rows A–D run downward and columns 1–4 run to the right. A blue ◆ means remember; a red × is a distraction. The table freezes both kinds of pad together so you can study them; in the game the decoy flashes briefly.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | ◆ | ◆ | · | · |
| B | · | × | · | ◆ |
| C | · | ◆ | ◆ | · |
| D | · | · | · | ◆ |
- Read row A as a pair: A1 and A2.
- Read row B as one target at the right edge: B4. Do not add B2.
- Read row C as the middle pair: C2 and C3.
- Read row D as one at the right edge: D4.
You now have four small descriptions: left pair, right single, middle pair, right single. Check the total: 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 6. This grouping is a practical way to describe this board, not a claim that every pattern has a neat shape.
Compare two decisions
The costly decision: B2 caught your eye, so you tap it before the six diamonds. B2 is not a target. In Classic or Daily, that mistake costs one life, leaves all six targets to find, and removes the error-free scoring bonus for this round. Any other non-target pad has the same life cost; the red decoy is not a special extra-penalty cell.
The useful decision: recall only the six target positions. A1 → A2 → B4 → C2 → C3 → D4 completes the set. D4 → C3 → C2 → B4 → A2 → A1 is equally valid. You may use a consistent row-by-row order to avoid losing your place, but the game does not require it. Selecting a pad already chosen does not count as finding another target.
What changes after the early rounds?
The board is 3×3 for rounds 1–4, 4×4 for rounds 5–8, 5×5 for rounds 9–14, and 6×6 from round 15. Red decoys begin at round five and eventually reach four. A normal decoy flash lasts 0.3 seconds. Identify the diamond or cross as well as the color, and reset your mental row boundaries whenever the grid grows.
Classic and Daily start with three lives. Endless has unlimited lives and is useful for comparing recall methods without ending a run after a few errors. Speed starts with one life; its current memorization timing matches Classic. Daily uses shared seeded layouts and can be replayed for practice. A repeated attempt is practice on a familiar course, so say whether you replayed when comparing results with a friend.
Use the score without rushing into guesses
A completed round earns 100 × the number of targets: this example earns 600 base points. The game doubles the round to 1,200 when there are no wrong selections and its measured average is under 0.5 seconds per target. Treat the bonus as a reward for confident recall, not a reason to guess a seventh pad. Finishing correctly without the speed bonus still earns the base points.
If you lose the pattern, the hint replays the same targets more slowly and preserves the targets you already found. It does not replace the board with an easier one. Use a replay to inspect the uncertain row, then continue from the remaining positions rather than selecting everything again.
Try one recall check
Cover the teaching board. You have already selected A1, B4, and C3 correctly. Which three targets remain, and should B2 be selected?
Show the answer and reasoning
A2, C2, and D4 remain. B2 was the red ×, so leave it alone. The remaining targets may be selected in any order. If you remembered “something in row B” but not the symbol, the error came from mixing a decoy with the target set; revisit that distinction before trying to tap faster.