Mirror Image Game

About Mirror

Mirror shows a pattern of coloured squares on a grid, and below it four options. Exactly one of them is the mirror image of the pattern, as if you held it up to a mirror and flipped it from left to right. The others are tricks: turned copies of the original, which look similar but are not reflections, and a mirror image with one square changed.

On the first levels the mirror image is shown in the same direction as the original, so it is a pure left-to-right flip. From level 5 the mirror image is also turned by a quarter, a half or three quarters of a turn, which means you have to combine a reflection with a rotation. The grid grows from four by four to six by six.

How to play

1. Study the pattern at the top. Note a few features, such as a lone square in a corner or a long row.
2. Imagine holding it in front of a mirror to the right of the pattern, which flips left and right.
3. Compare the options with the mirror image. When the prompt says that it may be turned, turn your mental image as well.
4. Tap the option that matches, or press 1 to 4.

A pattern is shown on top. Pick the option that is its mirror image, like its reflection in a mirror. On harder levels the mirror image is also turned.

How scoring works

A right answer scores 100 and a wrong one 0, and in endless mode a right answer counts as a passed round. You have 16 seconds on level 1 and 12 seconds on level 10. The score does not depend on how fast you are, but the time left is recorded in your statistics.

The grid is 4 by 4 on levels 1 to 3, 5 by 5 on levels 4 to 6 and 6 by 6 above. About 40 percent of the cells are filled. The game checks that the pattern is not a mirror image of itself under any turn, so no pattern is its own reflection. Two of the three wrong options are turned copies of the original and one is a changed mirror image.

What it trains

The game trains mental rotation and reflection, parts of spatial reasoning. We use them when we read a map upside down, put together furniture, imagine a part from a different side, or recognise a left hand from a right one.

It also trains the difference between a rotation and a reflection. A turned shape can always be turned back, but a mirror image never can, and the game shows that difference again and again.

Tips for a higher score

• Look for a feature that makes the pattern unique: a lone square or an end of a line. Find where that feature lands in the mirror image.
• Mirror the whole pattern in your head by swapping the left and the right sides, as you would flip a page.
• Eliminate options that are turned copies of the original: if you can turn an option back into the original, it is not a mirror image.
• Check two or three details instead of all squares. One mismatch is enough to reject an option.
• On the levels with a turn, first rotate the mirrored picture to a position you can compare easily, usually the one nearest to the original.

The idea behind it

The study of mental rotation began with a famous 1971 experiment by Roger Shepard and Jacqueline Metzler, who showed pairs of three-dimensional block figures and asked whether they were the same or mirror images. The time to answer rose in a straight line with the angle between the two figures, as if people were turning a mental picture at a constant speed.

Mirror images are harder than rotations because they cannot be matched by turning, which is what makes this a test of chirality, the property of left and right handedness. Spatial skills like this are linked to performance in some technical subjects, and studies show that they can be improved by practice.

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