game 11 of 16 · measures decision-making

Tower of Hanoi / Tower of London

Inside TELLS it's “The Tower” — move the whole stack to the right peg — never a bigger disc on a smaller one. Fewest moves wins.

Play it free — no sign-up

part of the full 16-game test · about 12 minutes

What the Tower of Hanoi / Tower of London is

Move the whole stack to the right peg, never placing a bigger disc on a smaller one, in as few moves as you can. The Tower of Hanoi and its clinical cousin the Tower of London have measured planning ability since the 1980s: the puzzle is trivial to understand and impossible to brute-force efficiently.

What it measures

A three-disc tower has a provably perfect solution in seven moves. Hitting it means you ran the whole sequence in your head before touching a disc — pure deliberation. A 15-move meander means you solved it with your hands. Both finish; TELLS scores the difference into decision-making.

Impulsive

You go on gut and sort it out on the way down.

Balanced

You'll plan the big stuff and wing the rest.

Deliberate

You see the whole board before you touch a piece.

Why hiring assessments use it

Towers-style games feed the planning component of decision factors in hiring tests. The measured thing isn't success — nearly everyone finishes — it's whether you plan before you act or act as a way of planning.

TELLS is an independent project — not affiliated with pymetrics, Harver, or any employer's assessment. This is the fun version.