{
  "title": "Eight bots played all 500 levels. They were measuring the wrong game.",
  "url": "https://cybiqon.in/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels",
  "author": "Prajjwal Pathak",
  "published": "2026-08-29",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  },
  "citation": "Prajjwal Pathak, “Eight bots played all 500 levels. They were measuring the wrong game.”, Cybiqon Lab, 2026-08-29. https://cybiqon.in/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels",
  "tables": [
    {
      "id": "verbs-are-code-shapes-are-data",
      "section": "Verbs are code; shapes are data",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/verbs-are-code-shapes-are-data.csv",
      "columns": [
        "",
        "cost",
        "what it buys"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "verb",
          "about a week",
          "a new question, and the levels above its unlock"
        ],
        [
          "shape",
          "an afternoon",
          "variety inside a range already unlocked"
        ],
        [
          "modifier",
          "an evening",
          "every shape at once, from its unlock upward"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "what-the-bot-actually-measures",
      "section": "What the bot actually measures",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/what-the-bot-actually-measures.csv",
      "columns": [
        "",
        ""
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "correlation, bot clear rate vs human clear rate",
          "+0.14"
        ],
        [
          "correlation, bot median seconds vs human mean seconds",
          "+0.56"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "what-the-bot-actually-measures-2",
      "section": "What the bot actually measures",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/what-the-bot-actually-measures-2.csv",
      "columns": [
        "slice",
        "levels",
        "attempts",
        "human clears",
        "bot"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "Ascent, levels 100–219",
          "39",
          "115",
          "80%",
          "52%"
        ],
        [
          "Orbit, levels 100–219",
          "81",
          "399",
          "45%",
          "51%"
        ],
        [
          "carrying a pulser",
          "4",
          "63",
          "8%",
          "45%"
        ],
        [
          "the levels a person never beat",
          "7",
          "80",
          "15%",
          "53%"
        ],
        [
          "levels the verifier calls too easy",
          "19",
          "61",
          "43%",
          ">62% by definition"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "what-the-bot-actually-measures-3",
      "section": "What the bot actually measures",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/what-the-bot-actually-measures-3.csv",
      "columns": [
        "hypothesis",
        "result"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "heading-extrapolation error over 0.35 s",
          "ranks polygon smoother than a circle — its corners are sampled at the default resolution and come out rounded. Swept as a bot parameter: 4.5 points of spiky-versus-smooth discrimination where 23 were needed, and it made every shape uniformly harder. Reverted"
        ],
        [
          "valley depth",
          "38.2% either side of the median. Exactly nothing"
        ],
        [
          "perimeter and wiggle",
          "the wave shape has the second-highest wiggle and a 65% clear rate"
        ],
        [
          "orbiter speed",
          "reverses sign under a crosser control"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "the-bot-is-a-different-player-on-every-verb",
      "section": "The bot is a different player on every verb",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/the-bot-is-a-different-player-on-every-verb.csv",
      "columns": [
        "verb",
        "levels",
        "attempts",
        "human clears",
        "bot clears",
        "z",
        "the bot is"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "Ascent",
          "7",
          "8",
          "75%",
          "26%",
          "-3.2",
          "2.9× pessimistic"
        ],
        [
          "Orbit",
          "36",
          "125",
          "27%",
          "40%",
          "+2.0",
          "1.5× optimistic"
        ],
        [
          "Corridor",
          "3",
          "4",
          "75%",
          "49%",
          "-1.5",
          "—"
        ],
        [
          "Lattice",
          "4",
          "7",
          "57%",
          "50%",
          "-1.1",
          "—"
        ],
        [
          "Lane",
          "3",
          "8",
          "25%",
          "46%",
          "-0.4",
          "—"
        ],
        [
          "Radial",
          "7",
          "23",
          "30%",
          "71%",
          "+4.2",
          "2.3× optimistic"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "the-instrument-was-noisier-than-the-thing-it-measured",
      "section": "The instrument was noisier than the thing it measured",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/the-instrument-was-noisier-than-the-thing-it-measured.csv",
      "columns": [
        "level",
        "band",
        "seed 1",
        "seed n",
        "seed 7",
        "seed 99"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "302",
          "36–58%",
          "38%",
          "36%",
          "54%",
          "42%"
        ],
        [
          "307",
          "36–58%",
          "38%",
          "33%",
          "50%",
          "45%"
        ],
        [
          "286",
          "36–58%",
          "38%",
          "34%",
          "33%",
          "22%"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "the-level-was-a-function-of-the-glass",
      "section": "The level was a function of the glass",
      "csv": "https://cybiqon.in/data/lab/eight-bots-played-all-500-levels/the-level-was-a-function-of-the-glass.csv",
      "columns": [
        "",
        "authored",
        "at width 720",
        "at width 412"
      ],
      "rows": [
        [
          "player dot",
          "13 px",
          "7.4 px",
          "13 px"
        ],
        [
          "target ring",
          "18 px",
          "10.3 px",
          "18 px"
        ],
        [
          "track stroke",
          "2 px",
          "1.1 px",
          "2 px"
        ],
        [
          "one lap",
          "2.1 s",
          "3.6 s",
          "2.1 s"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ]
}