Seven cards. One hidden rule.
Catalogues strategies
Find the hidden rule faster: read the title, anchor the extremes, learn from every Check, and decide when the clue is worth it.
Start with the title, then doubt it
The title is the cheapest information you will get, so read it twice. Ask what could be counted, measured, or dated about these seven things, and which of those the title leans toward. A title about travel or reach suggests distance. A title about beginnings suggests dates. A title built on a pun usually hides the rule inside the joke.
Then hold that idea loosely. Many lists could be sorted more than one way. Seven US states might run by date of statehood or by area. Seven planets might run by distance or by size. Before your first Check, name a second rule that would also fit the title. If the first guess scores badly, you already know what to try next. If the basics are new to you, read how to play Catalogues first.
Decide the direction on purpose
Every rule has two directions, and the wrong one turns a perfect list into a terrible score. Look for a direction word in the title. “Outward”, “rising”, and “first” point one way; “countdown”, “back”, and “down” point the other. When the title gives nothing away, try smallest to largest or earliest to latest first.
A reversed list has a telltale result. With seven cards, a list in exactly the opposite order scores one: only the middle card is in place. If your first Check ticks only the fourth card, flip the whole list before you change anything else.
Anchor the ends
The extremes are usually the easiest cards. You may not know whether Brahms was born before Tchaikovsky, but you probably know that Bach is the earliest composer in the list. Place the cards you are sure of at the top and bottom first, then work inward.
Anchors do double duty. If the top and bottom cards are both ticked, your rule and your direction are right, and only the middle is unsettled. If neither is ticked, question the rule itself before you shuffle the middle cards around.
Make every Check answer a question
Five guesses are enough if each one teaches you something. Before you press Check, decide what you want to learn. “Is my rule right?” is a good first question. “Which of these two goes first?” is a good later one.
When two cards are unticked and next to each other, swapping them is a clean test: either both become ticked or you learn that at least one belongs somewhere else. When three unticked cards remain, there are only two orders that move all three, so one more Check will usually settle it. Avoid changing many things at once late in a round. If the count drops, you will not know which change caused it.
Read the count, not just the ticks
The number in place carries information of its own. Six of seven is impossible: if six cards are right, the seventh has nowhere else to go. So a five means exactly two cards are swapped, or the two wrong cards belong in each other's places. A four leaves three cards that rotate among three places.
A score of zero or one after a confident guess rarely means seven separate mistakes. It usually means one mistake that touches everything: the wrong direction, a list shifted by one place, or the wrong rule. Fix the big idea before you fix individual cards.
Use what the ticks rule out
A ticked card is settled. Leave it alone. An unticked card has told you something too: it does not belong where you put it. Keep a mental note of the places each loose card has already failed, and do not send it back to one of them.
Ticks also fence in the cards around them. If the third and sixth cards are ticked, whatever belongs in places four and five must fall between those two values. That often narrows a card you know little about to a single place.
Spend the clue at the right moment
The clue costs no guess, but it is marked on your result. The best moment to open it is when you no longer trust your rule, not when you are down to your last guess. A clue read after one low score leaves you four guesses to use it. A clue read before the fifth guess leaves you one.
If you care about a clean result, try one flip and one alternative rule first. If you care about the win, open the clue as soon as two guesses have scored two or less.
Build up from easy
Easy unlimited puzzles use lists most people half-know, such as number words and polygon names, so they are a good place to practise reading ticks and counts. The daily puzzle draws on every list we have, and the library mixes all three levels. Hard puzzles hide the title, so the first job is to ask what seven unlike-looking cards have in common.
After each puzzle, read the values in the answer. The same lists come back with different cards, and the archive lets you replay earlier daily lists. A date or a size you saw revealed last week is one you can place with confidence next time.