LSAT GAMES TYPE identifications and approaches Flashcards
Simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Language = “in or out” “on or off” “selected or not selected” Order does not matter. No repeating entities.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
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note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt..
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats) note a “pre-group” is simply a smaller piece of a set given to you and defined for you in the problem.
When we how many times a set of entities can “repeat” wrt to another set of entities, we don’t mean each time it matches with the other set of entities, we don’t mean per match, we mean total. E.g. if we have exactly six loaves of bread, 3 flavors, and sliced/vs unsliced for each loaf, the loaves are the Group. The flavors are one set of entities, the sliced/unsliced are the other set of entities. Flavors can repeat on sliced/unsliced because obviously we will have some repeated flavors (to reach 6 total and we only have 3 to select from) and obviously the sliced/unsliced can repeat. See attached.
note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order. note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
SL Simple Selection
No subtypes *pregroups ok* in SL
Try to incorporate rules directly into diagram, i.e. if the prompt says “if the P is included, P is yellow” do not write the rules as if-then w/ subscripts. P–>Pg. Instead just write ~P on diagram for the other colors.
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note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.)
Restricts the game to just 1 entity per place in sequence.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
____
note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt.
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order.
note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - Standard SQ-ST
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note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.)
Allows 2 or more entity per place in sequence (i.e. ties)
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
____
note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt.
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order.
note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - Same Place SQ-SP
Simply draw placeholders to represent sequence, allow for placing more than one entity per place. Try to deduce non-generic numeric distribs, draw rules to look like placeholders.
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note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Make nulls into entities to fill up spots
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities. Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.) Forces you to separate the entities into groups, and then create a sequence for each group. *always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game) ____ note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats) note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order. note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - Within a Group SQ-WG ___ note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities. Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.) Allows more than one entity per pace (like a Sequencing - Same Place game…but ADDITIONALLY forces you to order the entities that appear within any given place) *always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game) ____ note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats) . note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order. note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - Within a Sequence SQ-SQ ___ note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities. Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.) Allows some entities to remain UNUSED in your sequence. *always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)e ____ note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats) note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order. note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - With Selection SQ-SL ___ note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES Try to incorporate rules directly into diagram, i.e. if the prompt says “if the P is included, P is yellow” do not write the rules as if-then w/ subscripts. P–>Pg. Instead just write ~P on diagram for the other colors.
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities. Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.) Forces you to place the SAME set of entities into 2 to 4 distinct sequences *always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game) _____ note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats) note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order. note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - Same Set SQ-SS ___ note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order does not matter.
Exactly 2 sets of entities. Do entities repeat?(i.e. Are Set 1 entities each restricted to exactly one of Set 2 entities? Are Set 2 each restricted to exactly one of Set 1 entities?)
One set is RESTRICTED to 1.
The others are NOT RESTRICTED to 1, and you will deduce contents of 2 GROUPS into which the restricted entities are placed.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game) ____ note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
When we how many times a set of entities can “repeat” wrt to another set of entities, we don’t mean each time it matches with the other set of entities, we don’t mean per match, we mean total. E.g. if we have exactly six loaves of bread, 3 flavors, and sliced/vs unsliced for each loaf, the loaves are the Group. The flavors are one set of entities, the sliced/unsliced are the other set of entities. Flavors can repeat on sliced/unsliced because obviously we will have some repeated flavors (to reach 6 total and we only have 3 to select from) and obviously the sliced/unsliced can repeat. See attached.
Association - Grouping - 2 Group Game 2 GP NOT A GRID ___ note these Association Game categories ARE mutually exclusive
**If you have a set of entities limited to 1, it is not a Grid Game, it is a grouping game. Make columns with underscores for placeholders**
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order matters (space, time, rank, etc.)
Forces you to sequence 2 or 3 sets of entities in distinct sequences
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
_____
note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce.
The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities.
Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
note a “sequence” is simply a diagram of blank spaces to be filled by entities in order
note a “place” is simply a spot within a sequence to be filled by one entity or more.
Sequencing - Multiple Sets SQ-MS
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note these categories can be overlapping and a game can have more than one category note all sequencing games can be complicated by allowing REPEATING ENTITIES
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order does not matter. Exactly 2 sets of entities.
Do entities repeat? (i.e. Are Set 1 entities each restricted to exactly one of Set 2 entities? Are Set 2 each restricted to exactly one of Set 1 entities?)
One set is RESTRICTED to 1.
The others are NOT RESTRICTED to 1, and you will deduce contents of 3-5 GROUPS into which the restricted entities are placed.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
____
note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt.
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
Association - Grouping - GP (note different from 2 Group Game) (not a grid, aka Standard Association game) ___ note these Association Game categories ARE mutually exclusive
**If you have a set of entities limited to 1, it is not a Grid Game, it is a grouping game. Make columns with underscores for placeholders**
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order does not matter. Exactly 2 sets of entities.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
Do entities repeat? (i.e. Are Set 1 entities each restricted to exactly one of Set 2 entities? Are Set 2 each restricted to exactly one of Set 1 entities?)
One set is RESTRICTED to 0 - 1 (meaning there are fewer “in” places available than total entities, like 5 ambassadors for 3 countries, 1 amb per country, means you wil have 3 amb “in” and 2 amb “out”.
The others are NOT RESTRICTED, or restricted to 1, and you will deduce contents of GROUPS into which the entities are placed. Allows at least one entity to remain UNUSED.
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note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt.
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
When we how many times a set of entities can “repeat” wrt to another set of entities, we don’t mean each time it matches with the other set of entities, we don’t mean per match, we mean total. E.g. if we have exactly six loaves of bread, 3 flavors, and sliced/vs unsliced for each loaf, the loaves are the Group. The flavors are one set of entities, the sliced/unsliced are the other set of entities. Flavors can repeat on sliced/unsliced because obviously we will have some repeated flavors (to reach 6 total and we only have 3 to select from) and obviously the sliced/unsliced can repeat. See attached.
Association Grouping - Selection GP-SL (not a grid, aka Standard Association game, not a 2-group game) **If you have a set of entities limited to 1, it is not a Grid Game, it is a grouping game. Make columns with underscores for placeholders**
Note these Association Game categories ARE mutually exclusive
GP-SL is like a mashup of a 2 group game and an in-out selection game. Grouping game with some in-n-out stuff going on! But not a grid! Put one set of entities across the line at top (which set? the set that CAN be associated with more than one of the restricted entity set, e.g. Colors in the Dinosaur game, or the smaller set, to make the game smaller), where simple “in” category was for 1 set selection game.
- Put your “not” rules on the diagram!
- Place underscore placeholders __ and nulls to limit quantities on each group or in and out, since you won’t have a cell for total tally
For selection games like GP-SL, try to incorporate rules immediately, directly into diagram, e.g.:
- If the prompt says “if the P is included, P is yellow” do not write that rule as if-then w/ subscripts. P–>Pg. Instead just write ~P on diagram where it cannot go.
- If the prompt says “either K or N is given an ambassadorship, but not both” then for GSL games, don’t write this as K–> ~N, write directly in the diagram!: K/N placeholder in the “in” category, and K/N placeholder in the out!
Simple in-or-out game? No!
Does order matter? Order does not matter (note if one set of entities has 2 entities and that is the ONLY component that has order, then there is sequencing but technically not a seq game).
Exactly 2 sets of entities
Do entities repeat? (i.e. Are Set 1 entities each restricted to exactly one of Set 2 entities? Are Set 2 each restricted to exactly one of Set 1 entities?)
Yes, at least 1 entity set is *allowed* to have 2 occurrences or more. Entities are allowed to be placed in more than 1 category, but NOT for those entities to REPEAT within a category. *always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game) ____ note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt. note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
When we how many times a set of entities can “repeat” wrt to another set of entities, we don’t mean each time it matches with the other set of entities, we don’t mean per match, we mean total. E.g. if we have exactly six loaves of bread, 3 flavors, and sliced/vs unsliced for each loaf, the loaves are the Group. The flavors are one set of entities, the sliced/unsliced are the other set of entities. Flavors can repeat on sliced/unsliced because obviously we will have some repeated flavors (to reach 6 total and we only have 3 to select from) and obviously the sliced/unsliced can repeat. See attached.
Association - Standard Grid GRID (i.e. a V or X in each cell, no numbers in cells) ___ note these Association Game categories ARE mutually exclusive
**If you have a set of entities limited to 1, it is not a Grid Game, it is a grouping game. In that case make columns with underscores for placeholders**
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order does not matter. Exactly 2 sets of entities.
Do entities repeat? (i.e. Are Set 1 entities each restricted to exactly one of Set 2 entities? Are Set 2 each restricted to exactly one of Set 1 entities?)
Yes, at least 1 entity set is *allowed* to have 2 occurrences or more.
Entities are allowed to be placed in more than 1 category, and ALSO those entities CAN REPEAT within a group.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
____
note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt.
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
When we how many times a set of entities can “repeat” wrt to another set of entities, we don’t mean each time it matches with the other set of entities, we don’t mean per match, we mean total. E.g. if we have exactly six loaves of bread, 3 flavors, and sliced/vs unsliced for each loaf, the loaves are the Group. The flavors are one set of entities, the sliced/unsliced are the other set of entities. Flavors can repeat on sliced/unsliced because obviously we will have some repeated flavors (to reach 6 total and we only have 3 to select from) and obviously the sliced/unsliced can repeat. See attached.
Association - Numeric Grid #GRID (i.e. numbers 0, 1, 2 etc in each cell, not simple V or X in each cell) ___ note these Association Game categories ARE mutually exclusive
**If you have a set of entities limited to 1, it is not a Grid Game, it is a grouping game. In that case make columns with underscores for placeholders**
Numeric grids will have ranges in cells very often are all about assuming zero min and max entities max. Also the rules in numeric grids will be express often through your range min and range max! Also going through row header and column header and refining what those maxes and mins can be. Just go Step by Step, cell by cell and look at intersections Then you will be going into the cells and refine what those maxes and mins can be. Even when writing rules, you are using subscripts that notate the max and mins. It’s all about ranges, on the headers and even in the cells. Often you will have incomplete range like U2- and then figure out later it is U2-6. If you have blank cells, you can deduce max for that cell by taking the smaller of the row max and column max, check math etc. The cells will get filled out with RANGES often rather than specific numbers. PT 30 g1 oatmeal rye wheat loaves
For numeric grids and 3-way grid games, you need to get a lot of rules on the game
Not simple in-or-out game w/ only 1 set of entities.
Order does not matter.
Exactly 3 sets of entities (note that if you have one set of entities that is only 2 things in order like time space rank, then that is not a sequencing game and in fact becomes its own of entities)
Forces you to establish association among 3 sets of entities.
*always take a glance at rules to see if there is a rule which reveals info affecting game TYPE (e.g. rules show that order matters, or that it is a simple in-or-out selection game)
____
note a “group” of entities is something you must deduce. The prompt will describe the “empty bucket” or name of each group, and YOU must deduce which entities belong from the larger given collection of entities. Do not confuse with “pre-group” which is a subset of a given set described in the prompt.
note a “set” is a collection of entities given to you which you will be placing into a sequence or matching w/ other sets. e.g. food trucks which you will be associating with office buildings involves 2 sets (food trucks and OBs). Floats which you will be placing into a sequence for a parade involves 1 set (floats)
When we how many times a set of entities can “repeat” wrt to another set of entities, we don’t mean each time it matches with the other set of entities, we don’t mean per match, we mean total. E.g. if we have exactly six loaves of bread, 3 flavors, and sliced/vs unsliced for each loaf, the loaves are the Group. The flavors are one set of entities, the sliced/unsliced are the other set of entities. Flavors can repeat on sliced/unsliced because obviously we will have some repeated flavors (to reach 6 total and we only have 3 to select from) and obviously the sliced/unsliced can repeat. See attached.
Association - 3 - way 3WAY – not that hard! remember VAST MAJORITY of 3 way games play out best with LARGEST GROUP going in the cells, i.e. put the smallest and second smallest group on the column and row headers
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note these Association Game categories ARE mutually exclusive note that for 3-way games,
it is usually easiest to use your LARGEST group of entities as the entities that go in each cell.
The small groups can be the vertical and horizontal edges of the grid.
Attached is example of a 3-way assoc game with 3 sets of entities (bikes, riders, days 1 and 2). Note that order DOES matter but since it’s only 2 items in that order it is NEVERTHELESS still not a sequencing game. Note the attached game was a power-or opportunity that used Power Or with YS in two spots, or the simple T in two spots H1 and H2)
For numeric grids and 3-way grid games, you need to get a lot of rules on the game itself. Note that a numeric distribution in a 3 way grid game would just be like the number of times each entity goes somewhere on the grid
If you have a simple in-out selection game where you know exact qtys in and out, what do you do?
Cut the game! Critical to allow categories to fill up and clarify what your STRONG trigger will be, because strong triggers force half or more of remaining entities, and when you have smaller games resulting from cut, you can consider strong to mean any trigger forcing half or more of entities within a SMALLER game
Best way to create numeric distrib scenarios from pre-groups without losing track?
Start with most restricted pregroup T, grab its min, duplicate it from the min of the S pregroup through the max of the S pregroup….then grab the next highest T, duplicate it from the min of the S pregroup through the max of the S pregrup…
