Arctic Shores Order Game

The Arctic Shores order game is the "Order" task: you see three frames of shapes that change by rules, and you build the fourth frame yourself with buttons, setting each shape's colour, size, direction and position. Arctic Shores calls it its "abstract inductive reasoning task" and says it is a "construction task" rather than multiple choice (Arctic Shores podcast). Prep providers report about a minute a question and around fifteen minutes in all, with more shapes and more rules as you go (JobTestPrep, Graduates First). Unlike most Arctic Shores tasks, it has right answers, so a method and some practice help. Play the free order game.

What is the Arctic Shores order game?

It is one of the tasks an employer can put in the Arctic Shores assessment. Arctic Shores' own 2026 candidate guide does not name its tasks, but one of the task types it lists is to "identify and respond to abstract patterns in shapes" (2026 candidate guide). Order is the task that matches that description.

You will see it called the order game, the Order task or simply Order.

Has Order replaced the Patterns game?

Nobody outside Arctic Shores can say for certain. Patterns is the multiple-choice version of the same idea: you pick the square that comes next in a sequence. Here is what is known, and from whom (checked 8 November 2026):

• Arctic Shores doesn't name its tasks, and its 2026 candidate guide has a single line that fits both: "Identify and respond to abstract patterns in shapes" (2026 candidate guide). In October 2024 its senior psychometrician said "about a year ago now, we revamped our cognitive ability solutions", and gave Order, "our abstract inductive reasoning task", as the example: a construction task instead of the usual multiple choice (Arctic Shores podcast, 3 October 2024). He did not mention Patterns or say that any task had been withdrawn.
• One prep author thinks Patterns is gone. Aptitude-Test-Prep's July 2026 overview video puts Pattern and Analysis in a chapter titled "Likely Canceled" (YouTube, 4 July 2026). Its written guide explains why: "I believe that they are likely discontinued, as Arctic Shores generally favours game-based tasks over these traditional multiple-choice formats" (Aptitude-Test-Prep, updated 16 July 2026). That is the author's inference, not something Arctic Shores has announced, and it does not say Order took Patterns' place.
• Other prep sites still list Patterns. JobTestPrep describes it as 20 rounds in 17 minutes and adds "this game will not always appear as part of the Arctic Shores assessments" (JobTestPrep, updated 27 August 2026). GameAssessmentPrep gives the same 20 items and 17 minutes (GameAssessmentPrep, updated 2 September 2026), and GameTestPrep and Graduates First list it beside Order. None of them points to a recent candidate who sat Patterns.
• Candidates rarely say which one they had. A Jet2 FlightPath applicant wrote in March 2026 that "That pattern one was hard" and that its practice stage "was pretty useless" (Student Room), which could describe either task.

Our reading: Order is the inductive reasoning task Arctic Shores itself talks about, and Patterns may survive in some employers' set-ups. You'll know within seconds: if you pick the next square from options, it is Patterns, and the inductive reasoning test is the closer practice; if you build the fourth frame, it is Order.

An honesty note: we found no public candidate recording of the current Order task. What follows comes from Arctic Shores' own description and from prep providers who have reconstructed it. Your invitation and the task's own tutorial are the source of truth.

What the screen shows and how a question works

From the prep providers' descriptions (JobTestPrep, Graduates First, Aptitude-Test-Prep):

• Three frames in a row. Each holds a collection of shapes, and something about them changes from one frame to the next: colour, size, direction (rotation) or position in the frame.
• An empty fourth frame that you build. You don't pick from options. JobTestPrep says that in the real task "you will need to construct the final frame using buttons", and Aptitude-Test-Prep describes an interface that "requires you to manually place each shape and determine its size, rotation, and color".
• The task tells you what can change. Aptitude-Test-Prep's view is that this makes Order easier than a classic inductive reasoning test, because "the test literally tells you what factors and patterns you're looking for". The hard part is pulling each shape's changes out of the bigger picture, and working the controls.
• More going on as you progress. JobTestPrep says the frames become "increasingly complex as you progress through the questions, with additional shapes added at each step".

Arctic Shores explains why it built the task this way. Its senior psychometrician says multiple-choice puzzles let people work backwards from the options, while a construction task makes everyone "look at the puzzle and figure out what rules are determining the answer". He adds that it is less of a memory load, because you build the answer "rule by rule, element by element" and "you don't have to hold it all in your head at once" (Arctic Shores podcast).

How long is the order game?

Two prep providers give the same figures: about one minute per question and 15 minutes for the task (Graduates First; JobTestPrep). Arctic Shores' own guide says each task takes between 5 and 15 minutes (2026 candidate guide). Arctic Shores doesn't publish the number of questions or the exact time limit, and employers configure their own task set.

What does the order game measure?

In Arctic Shores' words: inductive reasoning. Its psychometrician calls Order "our abstract inductive reasoning task" (podcast). Inductive reasoning means working out a rule from examples and applying it to a new case.

How it is scored, as far as Arctic Shores has said: not simply right or wrong. The same psychometrician says that instead of "a binary zero, one", the construction format gives "a distribution of responses": if an item has ten possible correct responses, "some people will get 10, lots of people get five, but you won't get zeros". Arctic Shores doesn't publish more detail than that.

In prep providers' words: attention to detail, logical reasoning and problem-solving (JobTestPrep; Graduates First).

A worked example

This is our own illustration, not a real Arctic Shores item. One shape, an arrow:

Take one attribute at a time across all three frames:

1. Colour: red, blue, red. It alternates, so the next is blue.
2. Size: small every time. It stays small.
3. Direction: up, right, down. That is a quarter-turn clockwise each frame, so the next is left.
4. Position: one square right each frame, so the arrow moves one more square right.

Say the answer to yourself in a few words ("blue, small, left, one more right"), then set the controls in that order. With two or three shapes, finish one shape completely before you start the next. That is the "rule by rule, element by element" approach Arctic Shores describes.

The patterns worth knowing by sight:

• Stays the same: the easiest rule to miss, because nothing moves.
• Alternates: A, B, A, so the next is B.
• Cycles through three: red, blue, yellow, so the next is red again, not a new colour.
• Steady step: the same turn or the same move every frame. Count the step between frames 1 and 2 and check it against frames 2 and 3.

Common mistakes

• Leaving one attribute as it was in frame 3. With several shapes on screen, it is easy to set three attributes and forget the fourth. Check every attribute of every shape before you confirm.
• Turning the wrong way. Decide clockwise or anticlockwise from frames 1 to 2, then confirm it with frames 2 to 3.
• Mistaking a cycle for an alternation. If three different colours appear, the fourth frame usually returns to the first, not the second.
• Counting the move from the wrong frame. The step you apply starts from frame 3, not frame 1.
• Spending the whole minute on one shape. Arctic Shores says the format gives a range of scores, not just right or wrong. Our reading is that setting every element you are sure of beats leaving a shape untouched while you puzzle over another.

How to practise for the order game

• Play the order game. Twelve adaptive questions at a minute each, from one shape with one changing attribute up to three shapes with rules of their own. You build the fourth frame with buttons, as in the real task, and the result shows which attribute you miss most. It is stricter than Arctic Shores' scoring as described: a question only counts as solved when every attribute is right.
• Train rule-spotting with the inductive reasoning test, which asks the same question (what is the rule?) in a pick-the-answer format.
• Train attention to detail with the odd one out game, where one small difference decides the answer.
• Try the official demo. Arctic Shores' demo task is a different, reaction-based task, but it shows you the platform and the controls before the real thing.
• Set up cleanly: a quiet room, no notifications and a mouse or trackpad you are comfortable with, because you will be clicking a lot of small controls against the clock.

Who uses the order game?

Any employer using Arctic Shores can include it. One prep site says candidates report Order in assessments for Jet2 and Maven Securities (GameAssessmentPrep). For employers whose own careers pages name Arctic Shores, see the list in our Arctic Shores practice test and assessment guide, with guides for Airbus, EDF, Williams F1 and Jet2 FlightPath. Jet2 itself doesn't name its tasks.

What else is in the Arctic Shores assessment?

Order is usually one task among several. The Arctic Shores practice test and assessment guide covers the full set and how the scoring benchmark works. The other task guides cover the balance (scales) game, the other puzzle task with right answers, the day and night (predict) game, the lock (safe) game, the direction (arrows) game and the ticket (tickets) game.

FAQ

What is the Arctic Shores order game? Three frames of shapes that change by rules (colour, size, direction, position) and a fourth frame you build yourself with buttons. Arctic Shores calls it its abstract inductive reasoning task. Prep providers report about a minute a question and around 15 minutes in all.

Do you choose the answer or build it? You build it. Arctic Shores describes Order as a "construction task" rather than multiple choice, and prep providers say you set each shape's attributes with buttons.

How long is the order game? About a minute per question and around 15 minutes in all, according to Graduates First and JobTestPrep. Arctic Shores says each of its tasks takes between 5 and 15 minutes.

Has the order game replaced Patterns? Not confirmed. Arctic Shores calls Order its inductive reasoning task and said in October 2024 that it had revamped its cognitive tasks about a year earlier, but it has not said Patterns was withdrawn. One prep author believes Patterns is "likely discontinued"; JobTestPrep, GameAssessmentPrep, GameTestPrep and Graduates First still list it.

Is the order game a memory test? No. The three frames stay on screen while you build. Arctic Shores says the construction format is less dependent on working memory, because you build the answer rule by rule.

Is it all or nothing? Not as Arctic Shores describes it. Its psychometrician says the format produces a range of scores per item rather than a zero or one, so getting most of a frame right still counts for something.

Can you practise the order game? Yes. It has right answers, so a fixed attribute-by-attribute routine and faster rule-spotting both help. Arctic Shores' general advice is that no practice is needed; for a task with a clock and right answers, knowing the format still removes surprises.

What is the most common mistake? Leaving one attribute unchanged from the third frame, often the position or direction of the second or third shape. Check every attribute before you confirm.

GamePrep is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with Arctic Shores. Arctic Shores does not publish its task rules; the mechanics above come from Arctic Shores' public statements and from prep providers, and assessments change, so verify everything against your invitation. We provide practice only: no leaked questions or answers.