How to play Tipscale: rules and substitution strategy
Everything you need to play Tipscale, plus tips to get a better score.
How to play
- Every shape has a secret whole-number weight from 1 to 9. Work them all out in as few tries as you can.
- Balanced scales (=) weigh the same on both pans. Tipped scales (> or <) show which pan is heavier. Two shapes can weigh the same.
- Shapes on one pan add up: ●●▲ weighs two circles plus a triangle. A pan holds up to 4 shapes.
- On a tipped scale the heavier pan hangs lower. The sign on the pillar (=, > or <) always shows the real relation, even while the beam follows your numbers.
- Today's weights are the only ones that fit every scale, so you can deduce them all.
- Monday has 3 shapes and 2 scales; Tuesday to Friday, 4 shapes and 3 or 4 scales; the weekend, 5 shapes and 4 or 5 scales. No weight is ever given. Tipped scales appear from Wednesday, and from Friday to Sunday no scale gives a weight on its own: you have to combine them.
- Tap a shape, type its weight on the keypad and press Weigh. The scales tip with your numbers as you type, so you see straight away which ones don't add up.
- When every shape on a scale has a number, the totals appear under the pans and the scale turns green if your numbers fit its sign, red if they don't.
- ⌫ deletes the last number and Clear empties the row. With a keyboard: digits to type, Backspace to delete, Enter to weigh and the arrows to move between shapes. A try you have sent can't be undone.
- After each try, every shape shows ✓ right, ↑ heavier or ↓ lighter than your number.
- Weights you got right stay filled in for the next try, and under each shape you see the range its weight can still have (you can hide it in Settings).
- You have 6 tries and your score is how many you needed. Get it in one for the 🧠 badge.
- If the 6 tries run out, the day's weights are revealed.
- Sharing shows one row of 🟩 ⬆️ ⬇️ per try, never the weights.
- In Settings you can turn the ranges, the brass sounds (a ting when a scale tips, a click when it levels) and the vibration on or off.
Strategy: substitute, then use the limits
Each scale is an equation. The trick is to swap shapes for things they weigh the same as, until only one kind of shape is left.
Substitution. Say you see: ▲ = ●●● ■ = ▲▲ Swap each ▲ on the second scale for ●●●: ■ = ●●●●●● Six circles weigh as much as one square. A square is at most 9, so a circle can only be 1. That gives ▲ = 3 and ■ = 6.
Use the limits. Weights go from 1 to 9, and that is often the final clue. ●●●● = ▲ means the circle is 1 or 2, because 4 × 3 = 12 is already too heavy.
Let tipped scales cut the options. ▲▲ = ●●● allows ▲ 3 and ● 2, ▲ 6 and ● 4, or ▲ 9 and ● 6. Now add ● > ■■■■: even four of the lightest possible squares weigh 4, so ● is at least 5. Only ● = 6 and ▲ = 9 are left, and then 6 > ■■■■ forces ■ = 1.
Or lean on the answers. Not in the mood for pure logic? Make a sensible try: the ↑ and ↓ hints narrow every shape down, and the scales tip with your numbers, so you can spot the ones that don't balance before you press Weigh.
Sharing shows one row per try, without giving away any weight: ⬆️🟩⬇️🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩