Each Trial is a strategy a real species uses, turned into something you can run yourself in about ten minutes. Each card says what to do and why it helps.
What each Trial asks you to do, and what it does for you. Reading a Trial needs no account. 3,017 Trials across 2,325 species. Showing 1,801–1,860.
The Trial
Fill three glasses to different heights and tap each with a spoon, adding or pouring off water until they give three clear, different notes. Play one short phrase on them and repeat it three times so it sounds the same each time.
Why it helps
A small musical instrument made from the kitchen cupboard.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Do the apparently unproductive maintenance on one long-term relationship today, and treat it as the work rather than as time off.
Why it helps
Cutting the apparently unproductive time with people means the relationship quietly stops working when you need it. Treating it as the work keeps it.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Introduce one new practice today to your peers and close contacts first rather than to anyone senior, and let it travel from there.
Why it helps
Taking a new practice to someone senior first means it is judged before anyone uses it, and you carry that. Starting with peers means it arrives already working.
2 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
In a map or route app that shows elevation, pick two public places with a hill between them, such as a station and a park, and compare the direct route with alternatives. Choose one that adds distance but has clearly less total climb, adjusting the endpoints until such a pair exists.
Why it helps
A route you can actually use that leaves your legs fresher than the obvious one.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Roll two sheets of paper into stiff tubes and tape them together at one end to make a pair of long, light tweezers. Hang a bunch of grapes from a hook, cupboard or door handle, or a string just beyond arm's reach, then pluck five grapes one at a time with the bill tip only and flick each back into a bowl in front of you.
Why it helps
A clever little build and a bowl of grapes at the end.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Tie a thread round the stem of each of five strawberries and hang them at different mouth heights from a doorframe or a broom laid across two chairs. With hands clasped behind your back, move between them and pluck each off its thread with your mouth.
Why it helps
A silly, satisfying game that turns a snack into a challenge.
8 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Stand a dozen plastic cups close together on a tray and drop five nuts in the gaps between them. Using kitchen tongs, pick each nut out cleanly, then crack them open to eat.
Why it helps
A steady-hands challenge that sharpens control and ends with a snack.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Make five paper flowers and tie them among the twigs of a branch or clothes rack, then hang at least six small bells among the same twigs. With the lights dimmed, reach in slowly and pick all five flowers one at a time.
Why it helps
A quiet test of hand control that is much harder than it looks.
15 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Send today's request through the exact channel and format the recipient already uses and trusts, rather than your preferred one. Match their pattern, not yours.
Why it helps
Sending things in your preferred format means the recipient has to translate before they can act, so they defer it. Matching theirs gets it actioned the same day.
1 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Bring one thing to you today by presenting it as what the other party already wants, and keep your reach long enough that you are not exposed.
Why it helps
Approaching something larger and better armed than you means fighting at their distance. Letting them come to you means it happens entirely at yours.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Cut a small doorway hole in a cardboard box as a nest entrance. On a sudden cue from a timer, use packing tape or sticky putty within sixty seconds to plug that gap fully, then open a narrower alternate slit elsewhere on the box as the new passage.
Why it helps
You practice sealing a problem fast, then giving traffic a controlled new path.
8 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Cut two holes about four centimetres wide at opposite ends of each of two identical shoeboxes, stand a jar holding the same amount of hot tap water in each, close the lids and set the boxes side by side where a fan on low or a breezy window blows along them. Plug both holes of one box snugly with rolled socks, leave the other open, and after fifteen minutes dip one thermometer into each jar in turn.
Why it helps
A clear, hands-on picture of why sealing the openings keeps a home's warmth in.
20 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Change one presentational thing today so it is actually an index of your condition rather than decoration, and say what it measures.
Why it helps
Decoration that does not track anything invites people to look past it. Something that genuinely measures your condition does the work of persuading them.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Drop ten plastic bottle caps into an empty tall bucket or laundry basket and pile balled socks or soft toys on top until it is nearly full, with an empty bowl beside it. On go, plunge one arm to the very bottom, bring up whatever caps you can grab, drop them in the bowl and go straight back down with no pause, until all ten are in the bowl within sixty seconds.
Why it helps
A frantic, funny minute of arm work that feels like a fairground game.
3 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Put twenty dried beans loose in a tray or shallow bowl on a table, never on the floor, five metres across a clear, non-slip floor from a cushion that marks your cover, with the table well away from any wall. On go, dash out, pocket at least twelve beans and get back to the cushion before twenty seconds are up.
Why it helps
A burst of speed and fast hands, with a score to beat next time.
3 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Sit on a chair in the middle of a room or lawn, facing forward, while a consenting helper starts at least five metres away behind you, out of your field of view, at a spot they choose after you sit down, and creeps in as quietly as they can. Keep facing forward and turn only your head, never your body; point at them the moment you detect them.
Why it helps
A quiet, tense game that sharpens how much you notice without moving.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Stay in the exposed position you have been avoiding, the open channel, the visible seat, the public thread, and reduce the exposure by angle rather than by leaving: shorter replies, set hours, one topic only. Set the angle and stay.
Why it helps
Leaving the exposed position is how you lose the ground you built. Changing your angle to it lets you stay visible without the part that was burning you out.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Sit blindfolded with one hand cupped behind one ear only. A consenting helper stands in front of you and, following a die rolled out of your hearing, sounds a small bell at floor, chest or overhead height five times, and you point to each height.
Why it helps
A quiet game that reveals a sense you use every day without noticing.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Sit blindfolded in the middle of a room. Three friends silently take positions around you, then each gives their own short contact call in turn; point to each caller and name them.
Why it helps
A quick game that shows how much a familiar voice tells you.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Next time something goes wrong, say the alert out loud in one sentence that includes where and what, not just that there is a problem. Then show it ending once handled rather than being left running.
Why it helps
Raising alarm without direction spreads stress and nobody moves. One sentence from you with a place and a thing gets help pointed the right way, and standing it down keeps people trusting the next one.
1 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Take a pair of leather or smooth shoes. Brush off dirt, apply polish or a little petroleum jelly to one shoe only and buff it to a shine, leaving its partner as it was.
Why it helps
Better-looking shoes and a clear view of what upkeep buys.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Create one large paper flower and use a soft fabric 'fur' pad to carry visible craft powder from it to a second flower in dim indoor lighting. Photograph the transfer.
Why it helps
Shows how an unusual visitor can fill a pollination niche defined by flower size and timing when the common daytime carriers are absent.
7 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Use one resource today that you know will not last, acting within days rather than waiting for a permanent version.
Why it helps
Waiting for a permanent version of a resource means the temporary one evaporates unused. Acting within days gets you the whole thing.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Stop trying to see the whole picture today and read the shared record instead: the log, the thread, the ledger, what others have already left behind.
Why it helps
Trying to see the whole situation yourself is slow and you get it wrong. The shared record already holds what you need and takes twenty minutes to read.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Take something whose returns are thin and instead of replacing it, extend how long you let it work today: hold the position longer, run the process further, wait past the usual stop.
Why it helps
Replacing every thin-returning thing means you are always starting again. Letting one run longer than feels natural is often where the return actually arrives.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Crouch behind a sofa, bed or table with a red cloth or top and mark three pop-up spots along its edge. On go, rise at one spot, show the red for about one second, drop fully back out of sight and move to a different spot, ten times within thirty seconds.
Why it helps
A silly, energetic burst of squats and timing that gets the heart going.
3 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Cut or tear a strip of exactly ten bubbles, lay it on a hard floor or table and choose how to deliver one single strike, such as a hardback book slammed flat with both palms. You get one attempt.
Why it helps
One loud, deeply satisfying bang, and a lesson in delivering force evenly.
3 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Sit in a laundry basket or a small taped circle on the floor. A helper blows soap bubbles to drift past you; stretch up to pop them, but whenever they raise a red card, sink down low until it drops.
Why it helps
A playful reaction game for two that trains attention and quick switching.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Get into position on one thing today without acting on it, then hold and let its own movement close the remaining distance rather than adding effort.
Why it helps
Pushing on something you are already in position on is how you lose the position. Holding and letting their movement close it costs you nothing.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Pick one message your household or team keeps missing: bin night, the shared plan, the time you leave. Cut it to twelve words or fewer. Put it in the single spot everyone passes every day, such as the fridge door, the front door or beside the kettle.
Why it helps
Saying something louder rarely makes it land; it just wears out your voice and everyone's patience. One short message in the place people actually look gets noticed every time they pass it.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Pick one space that keeps getting interrupted: your desk, your bedroom door, your shelf in the fridge. On a sheet of brightly coloured paper, write one short rule in large letters, such as Knock first or Working until 5. Fix it where anyone approaching sees it before they reach the space, then read it aloud once.
Why it helps
Repeating the same request out loud wears you down and still gets ignored. A clear signal placed early does the asking for you, so you protect your time without a fresh argument each day.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Pick one thing at home that keeps going wrong because people do not know about it, such as a shelf that wobbles, a charger that must stay put, or a door that has to be kept shut for the cat. Make a small, plain sign no bigger than your palm that says only what is true, and fix it right where the problem happens.
Why it helps
Shouting about a problem makes people defensive, and soon the shouting stops working. A small, true notice in the right place gets you the same result calmly, and people learn your quiet warnings are real.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Create one harmless post in a style, format, subject, framing, or visual treatment you have not used recently. Change at least two visible features from your usual approach before posting it.
Why it helps
Tests whether a deliberate signal change can make familiar output feel new.
15 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Choose one optional, nonurgent plan that affects only you or that everyone affected agrees can move. Reschedule it to one specific later time and use the freed block intentionally.
Why it helps
Practises deliberate timing rather than accidental procrastination.
5 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Choose a plant that makes rooted babies, such as a spider plant, a strawberry runner, an aloe or a succulent pup. Separate one baby with its roots, settle it into a small pot of damp compost, and firm the soil gently round it.
Why it helps
A new plant for free, with a better start than a jar of water gives it.
15 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Crouch on a folded blanket on a clear floor while a helper drags a sock on a long string past you at changing speeds. When it comes within reach, pounce forward and pin it with both hands, then hold completely still for three seconds without putting a knee down; you have three tries to make one clean pounce.
Why it helps
A fast, playful reflex burst that tests timing and balance.
4 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Mark a line halfway up a clear plastic tumbler, sink it in a basin of water so it fills, then turn it mouth-down and hold it on the basin floor. Take a small plastic cup to the surface, turn it mouth-down to trap a gulp of air, lower it gently under the tumbler's rim and tip it so the bubble rises inside, and repeat slowly until the trapped air reaches the line.
Why it helps
A calm, hands-on bit of water play that shows how an air store can be built up underwater.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Practise one thing today in the exact place and conditions you will need it, rather than in a simpler version, and repeat it until it is smooth.
Why it helps
Practising somewhere easier means the real conditions surprise you and the practice does not transfer. Doing it in the actual place is the only version that holds up.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Make one core thing of yours genuinely indestructible today, and then deliberately accept much worse odds on everything downstream of it.
Why it helps
Protecting everything moderately means you cannot afford a single bad outcome anywhere. An indestructible core lets you take long odds everywhere else.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Make one commitment today based on a prediction of a short window weeks ahead, rather than waiting until you can see it.
Why it helps
Waiting until you can see a short window means arriving after it has closed. One prediction weeks early is the only way to land inside it.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Take one routine you normally spread over half an hour - a clean, a workout, a tidy-up - and compress it into three minutes flat on a visible timer. Before starting, set the surface up so the sweep works: everything within arm's reach, nothing to move out of the way. Then go, and stop dead at three minutes.
Why it helps
Half your routines take thirty minutes because you spend twenty of them fetching things. Preparing the surface first and compressing the work shows you how much of it was never the work.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Collect five distinct things today from five different places into one container, and present the collection rather than describing where you went. The collection has to speak for the ranging.
Why it helps
Telling people how far you went proves nothing, because anyone can say it. Five things from five places is evidence they can check without asking you.
1 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Spend today preserving capacity rather than generating activity, and commit only if a specific opportunity clearly justifies the cost.
Why it helps
Generating activity to feel productive spends the reserve you will need. Preserving capacity means you still have it when something real appears.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Preferably in your own garden, choose a tree trunk at least as wide as your shoulders and dress in clothes the colour of its bark. Sit on the ground with your back and palms pressed flat against the trunk, keep your arms and legs inside its outline as seen from the camera, and stay motionless for five minutes.
Why it helps
Five calm minutes outdoors with something solid at your back.
8 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Take something you have been trying to do by applying more effort directly and find the indirect lever instead: the person who can approve it, the setting that changes it, the timing that makes it easy. Use the lever rather than the effort today.
Why it helps
Applying more effort to a stuck thing is the most expensive and least reliable route open to you. Finding the lever that moves it indirectly usually takes one conversation and works immediately.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Take one hard task you keep attempting in a single pass. Split it today into detaching and processing, do the detaching part only, and leave the processing for a separate session.
Why it helps
Trying to get a thing and break it down in one pass means you do both badly and stop halfway. Splitting them lets you finish each with the right effort instead of stalling in the middle.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
In your next disagreement, aim only at changing the position rather than at the person: argue the decision, move the deadline, alter the access. Say nothing about them personally, and let them keep the standing they came in with.
Why it helps
Making it about the person wins the moment and costs you the relationship you still need next week. Aiming only at the position gets the same outcome and leaves them able to work with you.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Measure one running process today at intervals and adjust it back inside a band you stated in advance, changing nothing else about it.
Why it helps
Leaving a running process alone until something is obviously wrong means finding out after the damage. Measuring and nudging it inside a stated band costs you minutes.
2 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Send one part of your effort into something unknown today while keeping the rest clear, and commit only after the probe reports.
Why it helps
Committing your whole effort to something unchecked means losing all of it if it is bad. One probe costs you a fraction and tells you.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Have a consenting helper bury five buttons just under the surface of a tray of wet coffee grounds or dark mud out of your sight and smooth it so none show. Probe with one chopstick until you feel a button, then lift it out using two chopsticks only, until all five are out.
Why it helps
A tactile puzzle that shows how much your fingertips can tell you.
12 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
A consenting helper packs a shoebox with scrunched cloths and hides two coins and two keys among them while you are out of the room. Blindfolded, search with both hands at the same time and hand each find to the helper until all four are out.
Why it helps
A surprising test of how much your hands can do without your eyes.
10 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
On a sunny day, find a sunlit clump of grass or moss with damp soil beside it (a large pot of grass or moss works too) and use a garden, aquarium or probe-type thermometer, washing any kitchen probe before food use again. Leave it two minutes on top of the clump, then two minutes pushed five centimetres into the damp soil beside it, then two minutes at ten centimetres, reading it each time.
Why it helps
A simple measurement that changes how you see a patch of ground on a hot day.
12 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Roll six tiny paper grubs; push three deep into the open flutes along the edge of a piece of corrugated cardboard and tape the other three under a strip of paper "bark" on its face. Peel the bark and pick those three out by hand, then snap a strand of dry spaghetti to a length that fits and use it to probe and lever the three flute grubs out.
Why it helps
A fiddly, satisfying puzzle that shows how much reach a two-second tool can add.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Do one close piece of work by feel today and state your boundary clearly at the start and the end of the day rather than in the middle.
Why it helps
Raising your boundary in the middle of the day, when something has already crossed it, reads as a complaint. Stating it at both ends means nobody tests it.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Tear the top layer off a piece of corrugated cardboard to expose its ridged channels, have a helper tuck twenty beads deep into the channels at random, then prop the board upright like bark. Probe each bead out with chopsticks or tweezers and drop it in a bowl.
Why it helps
A focused fine-motor challenge that is oddly calming to finish.
15 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Build or adjust one thing today for where you actually operate rather than where your category is assumed to, and name the difference.
Why it helps
Building for where your category is assumed to work means being badly shaped for where you actually are. Matching your real conditions fixes it.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Coat the outside of one washable non-food object with a thin layer of soapy foam, then demonstrate that a dry paper strip will not stay stuck to it.
Why it helps
You turn reef radiance into one concrete experience with a visible finish.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Choose two similar folders, designs, recipes, or workstreams and define one visible rule that keeps them from blending. Apply the rule to both before the session ends.
Why it helps
Two things that kept getting confused stop getting confused, permanently.
7 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Choose one unfinished small project and clear a dedicated surface for it. Keep unrelated objects off that surface until you finish the project this session.
Why it helps
A protected workspace gives one small project a real chance to survive.
12 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Place five tiny paper scraps behind a marked line and use suction from a clean empty squeeze bottle or vacuum nozzle to pull them across another line quickly.
Why it helps
You turn deep economy into one concrete experience with a visible finish.
5 minDifficulty 3
