Speed · Pro

Spatial Processing Speed

Turn the pipes before the flow arrives

Free to start. Plays in your browser, no download.

The in-app how-to demo for the Spatial Processing Speed

What is the Spatial Processing Speed?

Spatial Processing Speed is about how quickly you can see how shapes fit together and act on it. Pipe puzzles are a classic way to test this: each tile carries a piece of pipe, and turning the tiles so the pieces line up joins a source to an outlet. Every decision is small and visual (which way must this bend face?), but there are many of them, and they have to be made in order.

Research on the puzzle game Tetris by David Kirsh and Paul Maglio found that players often rotate a piece on screen to see where it fits rather than imagining the turn, because a physical turn is faster than a mental one. Processing-speed research adds that slow thinking hurts most when time is short. The Neuroptimize game combines both ideas: you turn tiles to test each joint while liquid flows towards you, so speed and accuracy both count.

How to play the Spatial Processing Speed

Each session has 8 boards. A board is a grid of pipe tiles with a source on the left edge and an outlet on the right edge, plus spare tiles that are not part of the answer.
Tap a tile to turn it a quarter turn clockwise. Keep turning until its pipe lines up with its neighbours, then move on to the next one.
After a short countdown, liquid leaves the source and fills one tile at a time. A tile the liquid has reached is locked, but you can keep turning every tile it has not reached yet.
If the liquid reaches an open end, such as a pipe pointing at a wall or at a tile that does not connect back, it leaks and the board counts as a miss. The next board then starts.
As soon as every pipe joined to the source is closed and reaches every outlet, the board is connected. The liquid rushes through, and the sooner you finished, the more points you earn. Connected boards in a row build a combo.
Higher levels bring bigger grids (up to 7 by 7), a faster flow and a shorter countdown. Bolted tiles, shown with four bolts, cannot be turned; from level 9 the pipe can cross itself through a crossing tile, and from level 20 a fixed tank holds the flow for a few extra ticks.
From level 14 there are two outlets, and from level 27 three. A T-junction splits the flow, and every branch must reach its outlet without leaking.

Strategies and tips

Trace the route before you tap

Spend the first second of the countdown following a possible route from the source to the outlet with your eyes. Knowing where the pipe has to go makes each tile a quick decision instead of a guess.

Work outwards from the source

The liquid starts at the source, so the tiles nearest to it are needed first. Fix them in the order the liquid will reach them, and you will always stay ahead of the flow even if the board is not finished when it starts.

Count the turns

Every tap turns a tile clockwise by a quarter. If a bend faces up and right and you need it facing right and down, that is one tap; facing the opposite way is two. Counting saves the extra taps that cost time.

Use the fixed pieces as signposts

Bolted tiles and tanks never move, so they tell you part of the route for free. Plan the pipe so it passes through them neatly rather than fighting around them.

Close every branch

A T-junction sends liquid down all three of its arms, so every arm has to lead somewhere. With two or three outlets, check that each branch ends at its own outlet, since one forgotten open end will leak.

The science behind the Spatial Processing Speed

In a study of Tetris players, David Kirsh and Paul Maglio (1994) found that people often turn a falling piece on screen to see where it fits rather than turning it in their heads, because a physical turn is quicker than a mental one. They called these epistemic actions: moves made to help thinking, not to reach the goal. Timothy Salthouse’s (1996) processing-speed theory holds that slow processing hurts partly because time runs out before the needed steps are done. Here every tap tests a joint, and the flow sets the deadline.

Frequently asked questions

What does a pipe puzzle train?

Pipe puzzles exercise quick spatial judgements: seeing which way each piece must face and how the pieces join into a route. Played against a clock, they also reward processing speed, the pace at which you can make many small decisions accurately.

What happens when the liquid leaks?

A leak ends the board as a miss and breaks your combo, and the next board starts. It happens when the liquid reaches a pipe end that does not join another pipe or an outlet, so close every open end before the flow gets there.

Why can I not turn some tiles?

Tiles with four bolts in their corners are fixed, and so are tanks. Tiles the liquid has already filled are locked as well. Plan your route around the bolted ones; when they sit on the route, they are already facing the right way.

Is Spatial Processing Speed free to play?

Spatial Processing Speed is a Pro game in Neuroptimize, and Pro starts with a 7-day free trial. Free players can also get it as the Pro game of the day in their daily workout.

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