''The Moron Test'' is a mobile brain teasing game developed and published by American studio DistinctDev, Inc. for the

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

platforms, and is one of the best selling

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

applications of all-time. ''The Moron Test'' was initially released on April 20, 2009 for iOS and was released for Android on May 13, 2010. Its format is inspired by

IQ test An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...

s that pose seemingly simple questions in order to extrapolate broad indices of intelligence. Upon its initial release on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

, ''The Moron Test'' became the #1 top selling app in the U.S. App Store. The app has repeatedly reached a Top 10 Overall ranking and has been in the Top 100 Overall apps for over 450 consecutive days in the US App Store. On September 10, 2010, DistinctDev released ''The Moron Test: Section 1'', a free version of the game on

, offering the "Old School" section. Two months after the Android platform launch, the free version received more than 700,000 downloads, the paid version became the 9th most downloaded paid game with over 65,000 downloads on the Android market. ''The Moron Test'' has seven sections: Old School, Late Registration, Winter Break, Food Fight, Skip Day, Tricky Treat, and Ooga School. The latest iOS version of includes an in-app purchase for the Extra Credit section, Flying Colors.

Gameplay

In The Moron Test, players are given a scripted series of seemingly simple tasks to complete or questions to answer. The tasks increase in difficulty, challenging players to identify the correct responses under abnormal and deceptive circumstances. Depending on how many correct answers they can give without making more than three mistakes, players are awarded one of seven rankings. Failing before the first checkpoint earns a "Moron" title and completing an entire section earns a "Genius" rank.

Rounds and rankings

Players are given a rank after completing each round: *Round 1: You Have a Pulse *Round 2: Total Bonehead *Round 3: Average Mammal *Round 4: Slightly Smart *Round 5: Somewhat Intelligent *Round 6: Genius

Question types

Each Section has 100+ steps and 45+ tasks consisting of the following question types: *Calculations *Matching *Memorizing *Identifying

Psychological principles

The Moron Test exploits the human tendency to rely on

heuristic A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless ...

s when making decisions. "In

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

, heuristics are simple, efficient rules, hard-coded by evolutionary processes or learned, which have been proposed to explain how people make decisions, come to judgments, and solve problems, typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information. These rules work well under most circumstances, but in certain cases lead to

systematic error Observational error (or measurement error) is the difference between a measurement, measured value of a physical quantity, quantity and its unknown true value.Dodge, Y. (2003) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms'', OUP. Such errors are ...

s or

cognitive bias A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm (philosophy), norm or rationality in judgment. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of reality, not the ...

es."

Sections

Each Section of The Moron Test includes over 100 steps.

1: Old School

Old School was the only section of the game included at the launch of the iOS version of the Moron Test. Players must carefully follow the instructions written on digital

index card An index card (or record card in British English and system cards in Australian English) consists of card stock (heavy paper) cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. A collection of such cards ei ...

s to progress. The objects that are used in this section are

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

themed, featuring planets and math symbols. In this section of the Moron Test, the Rubber Duck, the Bee, the Mouse, and the Angry Duck are introduced.

2: Late Registration

Late Registration was added in iOS version 2.0, updating the game with new question types and introducing new characters to the game: the Green Frog, the Giraffe, and the Turtle. This update also introduced the "Grey Card", which contains misleading instructions that are not to be followed.

3: Winter Break

Winter Break was added in iOS Version 3.0, released on December 21, 2009. Players are introduced to the Disassembled Snowman and the Penguins. Many of the tasks in this section are

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

-themed, such as saving characters that are trapped in ice.

4: Food Fight

Food Fight, was added in iOS Version 4.0, introduced several new characters, including the Monkey, the Snake, and the Lady Bug. Set in the midst of a cafeteria

food fight A food fight is a form of chaotic collective behavior, in which foodstuffs are thrown at others in the manner of projectiles. These projectiles are not made nor meant to harm others, but to simply ignite a fight filled with spontaneous food th ...

, Section 4 adds flying food being thrown across the screen as an added distraction. In this section, players can turn on a

black light A blacklight, also called a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or ultraviolet light, is a lamp (fixture), lamp that emits long-wave (UV-A) ultraviolet light and very little visible light. One type of lamp has a violet light filter, filter material, eith ...

, revealing hidden instructions and objects.

5: Skip Day

Skip Day, added on August 24, 2011, introduced the Crab. It was set in the beach. In this section, some questions have flies. You must shake your device to get rid of them or else you will fail.

6: Tricky Treat

Tricky Treat, added on October 26, 2012, introduced the bat. It has

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

-themed questions. In this section, some questions have lanterns. Tap them and remember the place of the item that is telling you to tap.

Ooga School

Ooga School is a Pocket God-themed remake of Old School. It has different music. It is currently unnumbered.

Extra credit: Flying Colors

Flying Colors (Extra Credit Expansion Pack) was added in iOS Version 4.0. It includes three

mini-game A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...

s that test the players’ speed, memory, and reflexes, respectively. It is available as an in-app purchase for $0.99. The Android version of The Moron Test included Old School, Late Registration, and Winter Break when it was launched on May 13, 2010. Food Fight was the first section to launch simultaneously on both platforms.

OpenFeint

With the "Food Fight" update of The Moron Test on July 24, 2010, DistinctDev added the social platform

OpenFeint OpenFeint was a social platform for mobile games for devices running on Android or iOS. It was developed by Aurora Feint, a company named after a video game by the same developers. The platform consisted of an SDK for use by games, allowing i ...

to the

version of the game. OpenFeint allows players to submit their fastest finish times to Global Leaderboards and compare their times with friends. On September 15, 2010, DistinctDev announced OpenFeint integration for ''The Moron Test'' on Android. This introduced the same social features as the iOS version: friends lists,

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

s, leaderboards, and achievements.

Reception

The game has received generally positive reviews. BrightHub.com gave it a 4/5, CNET gave it a 3.5/5 stars, MacWorld gave it a 4.5 out of 5 mice and 148apps.com gave it a 3/5 stars, while calling it "surprisingly entertaining".

Wired.com ''Wired'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. It is published in both print and online editions by Condé Nast. The magazine has been in publication since its l ...

readers voted The Moron Test as their #2 Favorite App of 2009. The title has enjoyed success on both platforms; its Android total making it the 9th most popular paid app on

Android Market Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifi ...

, the iOS release receiving the top spot on the U.S. App Store at launch.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moron Test Android (operating system) games Brain training video games IOS games 2009 video games Video games developed in the United States Windows Phone games Single-player video games