Play · SymbiQ

Play

Games where the mathematics holds the whistle.

The main questThe Solver's PathStory, map and missions, saved in your browser.

Play now

The Solver's PathThe main quest: story, map, missions The ArcadeEvery game, free play, no story Today's challengeOne seeded puzzle a day, one shareable grid The Question archiveEvery question we've ever asked

Head to head

Grover's EscapeFind the exit, and race a classical searcher Max-CutSplit the city; race the computer The Decoder DuelYou are the AI, against the textbook decoder Quantum Tic-Tac-ToeTwo players, every move in two squares Surface Code SurvivalHold one logical qubit while the code grows Q-Day CommandOrder the migration before the machine arrives Heuristic ArenaSeven search methods, one budget, a proven best answer Classical Strikes BackSimulate the circuit on an ordinary computer, inside a budget Agent LabSpend a budget on checking each step of an AI agent Magic State FactoryDistil noisy states into clean ones for the least volume Lattice HeistFind the shortest vector behind a skewed basis Shor's ClockworkBuild the shortest chain of multiplications that splits N

Build and keep

The WorkshopBuild a hole; the search sets its par Your medalsEvery level you cleared, and how well Circuit GolfReach the target with the fewest gates The Annealing VolcanoYou are the temperature

Also in Play

The Table: games for several playersA sealed-bid auction and the Beer Game, for two to four people at one screen.

The Question

Plain Question #9

Google once made headlines for a quantum chip producing… random numbers. Why would random numbers be worth bragging about?

Missed one? Every previous question, with its answer

The part you play

Twenty games where you cannot fake a score

Most explainers ask you to take their word for it. Here the mathematics holds the whistle: where a game has a par it is a proven minimum (or is labelled "best known"), and every probability on screen is computed rather than chosen by a designer. Two of the machines now have a Versus the Machine mode, against a computer that solved the board before you sat down.

Versus the Machine: the KnockerYour quantum register against a classical crew, one query each per turn. Measure too soon and you waste the vault; wait too long and they knock on the right door first.

Versus the Machine: Border WarTake turns painting a city map with a computer that scores every road you fail to cut. Nine boards, each solved outright, and on the boss exactly one opening move wins.

The Decoder DuelTen rounds against the textbook decoder, on a chip carrying a defect nobody told it about. You sit in the AI's seat.

The Annealing VolcanoYou play the weather, not the hiker: set the temperature and let the landscape settle. Your schedule is replayed 500 times, so one lucky run earns nothing.

Two ways in. The Solver's Path is the campaign: five fractures, six characters, a map and a save file. The Arcade is the same machines with the story switched off, so you can walk straight to the one you want.

Play The Solver's Path the story Enter The Arcade

No account needed and nothing to install. Progress lives in this browser, a short code carries it to another device, and an optional account does it for you.