"Pymetrics Games: All 12 Games Explained (and How to Practice Each)"
The pymetrics battery (now part of Harver) screens candidates at major banks, consultancies and consumer giants. Every game type explained — what it measures, whether it is trainable, and the free equivalent to practice on.
Pymetrics — acquired by Harver, but recruiters and candidates still say "the pymetrics games" — is one of the most widely used game-based screens in corporate hiring. Banks, consultancies and consumer companies use it to profile early-career applicants before any interview. The battery takes 25–35 minutes, contains roughly a dozen short games, and measures traits rather than knowledge: memory, attention, speed, risk appetite, planning, fairness.
Two facts shape any smart preparation:
- Results follow you. A pymetrics profile is typically valid across employers for around a year — your first attempt can be the one every application sees. Practice before the first invite.
- Half the battery is skill, half is style. Cognitive games (memory, attention, speed, math) reward training. Trait games (risk, generosity) reward calm consistency, not strategy — they cross-check each other, and gaming them tends to backfire.
The cognitive games — train these
Keypress / reaction game. Press space as fast as possible on the signal; hold back on decoys. Measures processing speed and impulse control. Free equivalent: the reaction time test. A stable average beats one lucky round.
Digits / memory game. Recall ever-longer digit strings — a textbook span task. Free equivalents: digit span, then backward digit span once forward feels comfortable. Realistic targets in what is a good digit span score.
Arrows / attention game. Flanker-style: identify the middle arrow's direction while its neighbours mislead you. Measures selective attention. Free equivalent: the flanker arrows test.
Math / money exchange tasks. Fast arithmetic judgements. Free equivalent: mental math — ten minutes daily makes the calculations automatic.
Sequence / pattern tasks. Spot the rule, predict the next element, or track positions. Free equivalents: n-back for updating memory, Corsi block for spatial sequences.
The trait games — play these straight
Balloon (risk) game. Pump for money, cash out before it pops. Measures risk calibration. There is no "correct" aggression level — different roles want different profiles, and erratic play reads worse than either cautious or bold play.
Money exchange (trust/fairness) games. Split or return money with a virtual partner. Measures fairness and trust dispositions. Answer as yourself on a professional day.
Tower / planning game. Rearrange discs in minimum moves — planning efficiency. Slightly trainable: the look-first habit from the pathfinder puzzle transfers directly.
Effort / slider tasks. Choose between easy low-reward and hard high-reward work. Measures effort allocation. Just be consistent.
How scoring works
No pass/fail screen. Your trait profile is matched against a model for the specific role; matching candidates advance, others quietly do not (full mechanics in can you fail a game assessment). Recruiters see fit summaries, not your clicks.
Preparation that actually moves the needle
- Remove unfamiliarity — one cold run of each practice game kills the biggest score leak for free.
- Train the trainable four (speed, span, attention, math) in short daily sessions for 3–7 days.
- Simulate once — all games back-to-back, laptop, quiet room, instructions read twice.
- Sleep before the real thing. Span and reaction scores drop measurably on bad sleep — it is the cheapest performance boost available.
GamePrep is an independent practice platform, not affiliated with pymetrics or Harver. Game sets evolve — treat your invitation and its official practice materials as the source of truth.