How to play SYNTHESIS
The daily tap-to-build logic-grid game
SYNTHESIS is a daily logic puzzle built on a small grid: nine items, each of which belongs at one exact row × column intersection. You drop them into place, evaluate the matrix, and use what locks in to reason out the rest. If you like Wordle's once-a-day ritual and the tidy satisfaction of a logic table, SYNTHESIS lands neatly between them.
Play SYNTHESIS →The goal
Every day there is one 3×3 matrix, the same for everyone in the world. The grid has three row categories down the side and three column categories across the top, and there are nine items waiting in a bank below. Each item belongs at the single cell where its true row and its true column meet. Your job is to place all nine items in their correct cells — and to do it within a limited number of submissions.
How to play
Placement is pure tapping, no dragging required. Tap an item in the bank to pick it up, then tap a grid cell to drop it at that row × column intersection. Tap a placed item again to send it back to the bank if you change your mind. Work through the nine items until every cell is filled.
When the whole grid is populated, press Evaluate Matrix. The board reacts honestly: every item sitting in its correct cell locks in green and stays put, while every wrongly placed item flies back to the bank for you to try again. Crucially, that means each evaluation tells you exactly which placements were right — not just a count — so a single submission can confirm several cells at once.
The catch is the budget: you only get three submissions to finish the matrix. Each Evaluate that doesn't complete the grid spends one. Solve it on your first try and you've nailed a clean 1/3; run out and the full solution is revealed on the board. That tight limit is what turns SYNTHESIS from busywork into genuine deduction.
A worked example
Imagine the rows are Mammal · Bird · Fish and the columns are Lives in water · Can fly · Has fur. One of your items is a Bat. A bat is a mammal that flies, so its only valid home is the Mammal × Can fly cell — no other intersection fits both facts. The Penguin, meanwhile, is a bird that lives in water, pinning it to Bird × Lives in water. By cross-referencing each item against both its row trait and its column trait, you can often place several items with certainty before you ever evaluate. Drop in your confident answers, fill the gaps with best guesses, and let the green locks tell you which gaps you guessed right.
Strategy tips
- Lock the certainties first. Place only the items whose row and column you are sure about, and resist filling the rest randomly until you've reasoned through them.
- Use the count to test a hypothesis. Because each Evaluate shows exactly which cells were correct, treat a submission as an experiment — arrange the doubtful items to confirm or kill one theory at a time.
- Eliminate by row and column. Each row category and each column category holds three items; once a cell is locked, the other two items in that row and that column must go elsewhere, narrowing the field fast.
- Spend submission one on information. If you're unsure, place your solid answers plus a deliberate test arrangement, then read the green locks before committing your remaining two tries.
- Never waste the last submission on a coin flip. With two cells still in doubt, work out the logic fully before your final Evaluate — guessing blind throws away a solve you could have earned.
Daily puzzle, streaks & sharing
The daily matrix is generated from the date, so the whole world plays the identical board and can compare results fairly. Solving keeps your streak alive, earns Prisms (the in-game currency for themes and extras), and produces a spoiler-free grid of colored squares — green for correct cells — that you can post without giving the answer away. There's also a global leaderboard ranking solvers by submissions used and finishing time, plus practice matrices whenever you want more.
Is SYNTHESIS free?
Yes — every daily matrix is free, with no account required. Optional themes and a Remove-Ads upgrade are the only paid extras, and they never change the puzzle.
How many submissions do I get?
Three. Each time you press Evaluate Matrix without completing the grid, you spend one — so plan each attempt around what the previous one revealed.
Does the evaluate tell me which cells are right?
Yes. Correctly placed items lock in green and stay; wrong ones fly back to the bank. You always know precisely which placements were correct, not just how many.
Is the daily puzzle the same for everyone?
Yes. It's seeded from the date, so everyone gets the identical 3×3 matrix each day — that's what makes comparing scores and streaks fair.