HireVue games are short interactive assessments that can appear in a hiring process instead of, or alongside, a recorded video interview. Depending on the assessment, they can measure cognitive skills, behavioral or work-style traits, or other job-relevant competencies.
Which games you receive, how long they run, and how they are configured can vary by employer and role. This page explains what candidates typically encounter: the games themselves, their timing, scoring, and how to prepare. It then links to a detailed guide for each game.
| What are they? | Short interactive tasks used in hiring or internal mobility. HireVue groups the assessed competencies into areas such as working with information and personality & work style. |
|---|---|
| What do they measure? | It depends on the game: attention, memory, problem solving, numerical reasoning, emotional recognition, or behavioral/work-style dimensions. No single game measures everything. |
| How many games will you get? | It varies. Employers choose the mix, and past configurations have included different numbers of games. The instructions in your own invitation are the reliable source. |
| How long do they take? | Individual games are often about three minutes in documented versions, while a complete game section can run longer. Reserve roughly 30 uninterrupted minutes and follow the estimate in your invitation. |
| Is there a universal passing score? | No. HireVue does not publish a universal pass mark, and results are interpreted in the context of each role and assessment setup. |
| Can you practice them? | HireVue does not provide a standalone public practice copy of every proprietary game. You can still learn the documented mechanics and practice similar task formats independently; the instructions and introductory levels in your actual assessment remain authoritative. |
Want to try the game formats?
Realistic simulations with score tracking for the documented game types.
Explore timed HireVue game practiceHireVue describes game-based assessments as psychometric tasks used in hiring and internal mobility. Instead of asking you to self-report skills, the games observe how you actually behave under mild time pressure, and the resulting data is meant to give employers evidence beyond a resume or questionnaire.
Why do employers use them? Because the tasks map onto job-relevant competencies: HireVue's current product material groups assessed skills into areas such as Working with Information and Personality & Work Style, and states that its industrial-organizational psychology team helps employers align the assessment with the competencies of a specific role. The games are also short: HireVue's candidate guide describes many as approximately three minutes each.
What can they measure? Depending on the game, they are designed to capture signals such as attention, working memory, numerical reasoning, visual matching, spatial planning, emotion recognition, or behavioral and work-style preferences. A personality-style game like Portrait is not measuring the same thing as an arithmetic game like Numerosity, which is why each format has its own guide.
Why does the experience vary between employers? HireVue does not ship one fixed package: employers select the games and configuration used for their process. An independent audit of the product described several different cognitive batteries and personality formats, and current setups can differ from that snapshot. That is why your invitation and the instructions shown after sign-in are the authoritative sources for what you will actually receive.
The formats below are the ones documented in HireVue's own materials and in published research on its games. You will not receive all of them: employers pick the combination used for their process, and HireVue can change its catalog.
| Game | What you do | Main focus | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Numerosity | Select numbers that produce a target value using the displayed arithmetic operation. | Mental arithmetic | Numerosity guide |
| ShapeDance | Find matching visual patterns while the shapes are rotated or moving. | Mental rotation and visual matching | ShapeDance guide |
| Flashback | Decide whether the current visual item matches the one shown a stated number of steps earlier. | Working memory (n-back) | Flashback guide |
| PathFinder | Move route pieces until they form a continuous path between two endpoints. | Spatial planning | PathFinder guide |
| DigitSpan | Reproduce strings of letters or numbers, including forward and backward recall. | Working memory (sequence recall) | DigitSpan guide |
| Portrait | Choose which of two visual descriptions is more like you. | Personality (forced choice) | Portrait guide |
| PortraitXT | Rate first-person work-style statements on an agreement scale. | Work style | PortraitXT guide |
| PuzzlePicture | Study a complete image, then reconstruct it after it has been scrambled into pieces. | Visual memory | PuzzlePicture guide |
| E-Motions | Identify the emotion expressed in pictures or short videos. | Emotion recognition | E-Motions guide |
| Singularity | Find the one shape that differs from a field of increasingly similar distractors. | Visual attention | Singularity guide |
| TeamChat | Choose replies inside a simulated workplace message exchange. | Situational judgement | TeamChat guide |
Here is what a few of the better-documented games actually look like in play. Each example describes the task and the decision you are making; the linked guide covers strategy in depth.
For a focused sequence-recall routine, read our HireVue DigitSpan preparation and practice guide, covering documented tasks, mistake review, and the limits of independent simulations.
Task: A screen shows a set of numbers, a target value, and one arithmetic operation.
What you actually do: Say the target is 17 with addition: you scan for a pair like 9 and 8 instead of testing combinations at random. Levels get faster or use harder operations as you progress.
Task: A short string of letters or numbers appears briefly and then disappears.
What you actually do: You type the sequence back exactly as shown, or in reverse order when the instructions ask for backward recall (4-7-2 must be entered as 2-7-4).
Task: Two or more visual patterns appear, with some rotated or in motion.
What you actually do: You decide which patterns match. A useful habit is counting the components and checking the clockwise order of features around an anchor, because a rotation preserves that order while a mirror image reverses it.
Task: Visual items appear one at a time in a continuous stream.
What you actually do: On every item you answer one question: does this match what appeared a stated number of steps ago? For 2-back you compare with the item before the previous one, so the comparison moves forward as the stream continues.
Task: A board of route pieces sits between two endpoints that must be connected.
What you actually do: You move the pieces until they form one continuous route. Planning from the two endpoints first (where a path can enter and leave) prevents dead ends better than shifting pieces at random.
There is no single duration, because two different things are being timed: the individual game and the complete game section.
Per game: HireVue's candidate guide describes many games as approximately three minutes. Published research on HireVue's cognitive games matches that ballpark: a peer-reviewed study by HireVue-affiliated researchers documented a three-minute Numerosity version, a roughly 3.3-minute ShapeDance, a three-minute Singularity, and a five-minute PathFinder. Treat these as evidence for the versions that were studied, not as a fixed timer for every employer configuration.
The whole assessment: a complete game section can run longer than any single game, and HireVue's product material says individual games run under 20 minutes. Some formats, such as work-style questionnaires, depend on how many items the employer has configured.
Extra time to budget: leave room for reading instructions, completing any on-screen examples, setup, and a short reset between games. A practical rule is to reserve around 30 uninterrupted minutes even when the games themselves are much shorter.
Your invitation and the timer shown in your assessment always outrank any figure quoted online, including on this page. For a longer discussion of per-game timings and their sources, see the evidence-checked HireVue assessment reference.
Public research on HireVue's cognitive games shows that scoring models can combine several gameplay features, not just a final level. In the peer-reviewed study of a Numerosity-and-ShapeDance battery, the analysis included final and maximum level, levels won and lost, total levels played, and win ratio, and both progress features and error-related features contributed to the modeled score.
HireVue does not publish a candidate-facing description of the exact report each employer sees, so precise claims here would be speculation. Public material indicates results are meant to be interpreted in the context of the role and the employer's assessment design, rather than as a raw school-style score. The practical takeaway: play for consistent, accurate performance instead of chasing one visible number.
No. HireVue does not publish a universal passing score, and it does not document a level that guarantees progression. Fixed cutoffs presented as universally applicable should therefore be treated as unverified unless they are supported by a source for a specific employer or assessment process. Employer-specific decision criteria can vary and are generally not publicly documented.
The production scoring formulas, the weighting of individual features, and any percentile tables are not public. Published research describes how gameplay variables could be combined into a model; it does not reveal the exact algorithm running in a live employer assessment in 2026. So-called “good score” tables circulating on forums are not verifiable and should not be used to pace your attempt. For the distinctions between cognitive games, personality assessment and video scoring, read what HireVue documents about game scoring and candidate reports.
Different games target different constructs, and no single game measures every dimension below. The categories are those documented in HireVue's materials and in published research on its games:
This is why results are interpreted as a profile rather than a single number: an arithmetic game and a work-style questionnaire contribute evidence about different things. It also means being weak at one game does not tell you much about how you will do on a format that measures a different construct.
When you are ready to rehearse the formats themselves, you can practice HireVue games with timed simulations and see the supported game types, result summaries, and strategy tips. Playing a simulation requires HireVue Games access.
This reflects HireVue's published candidate guidance rather than a technical guarantee: behavior can depend on the specific assessment configuration, so what you see on screen and what support tells you take precedence.
A source-checked guide to HireVue games, including documented timings, scoring limits, device guidance, and 11 formats candidates may encounter.
Use chunking and ordered recall for the documented DigitSpan task, without relying on unsupported maximum lengths or pass levels.
A careful guide to HireVue E-Motions, grounded in the published audit instead of unsupported emotion lists or scoring formulas.
Learn a reliable way to track visual items in Flashback while separating audited facts from candidate-reported level and timing details.
Learn the HireVue Numerosity rules, practice mental-arithmetic methods, understand what scoring evidence shows, and what a good score or level can mean.
Learn the documented endpoint-to-endpoint puzzle and a constraint-first planning method that reduces speculative moves.
Understand Portrait’s documented forced-choice Big Five format and use a consistent, evidence-based approach to its image pairs.
Prepare for PortraitXT as a work-style questionnaire, with clear limits on what public sources reveal about item counts, consistency checks, and scoring.
Prepare for the remembered-image reconstruction task with landmark encoding and board-state planning, while avoiding unsupported timer claims.
See the research-backed ShapeDance rules, historical timing, scoring evidence, and a feature-first method for comparing rotated patterns.
Learn the documented Singularity task, what public research says about timing, and how to build a repeatable odd-one-out search routine.
The Switch Challenge is Aon’s switchChallenge, a deductive reasoning test, not a HireVue game. How the code puzzles work, how long it runs, and where to find official practice.
Understand TeamChat as a workplace situational-judgement format and prepare without memorizing a fake “perfect employee” response pattern.
HireVue games are short interactive assessments used in hiring and internal mobility. Instead of self-reported skills, they observe how you perform on tasks such as matching rotated patterns, reproducing sequences, or choosing responses to workplace scenarios. Employers can use them instead of, or alongside, a recorded video interview.
There is no fixed number. Employers choose the mix of games for their process, and past configurations have included different combinations of cognitive, work-style, and social-judgement formats. The instructions in your invitation and after sign-in are the reliable source for your specific assessment.
Individual games are often about three minutes in documented versions, though studied versions of some formats ran longer, and a complete game section can take more time than any single game. A practical rule is to reserve around 30 uninterrupted minutes and follow the estimate shown in your invitation.
Public research shows scoring models can combine several gameplay features, including progress (final and maximum level, total levels) and error-related features (levels lost, win ratio). The exact production formulas and weightings are not public, and results are interpreted in the context of the role and the employer's assessment design.
HireVue does not publish a universal passing score, and no fixed cutoff that guarantees progression is publicly documented. Fixed cutoffs presented as universally applicable should be treated as unverified unless they are supported by a source for a specific employer or assessment process. Employer-specific decision criteria can vary and are generally not publicly documented, so the practical target is consistent, accurate performance rather than one visible number.
HireVue does not provide a standalone public practice copy of every proprietary game. You can still learn the documented mechanics and practice similar task formats independently; each game starts with introductory levels and instructions that familiarize you with the format. The instructions and introductory levels in your actual assessment remain authoritative, and timed simulations of the documented game types can make the interface and rhythm feel more familiar on assessment day.
Do not assume a retake is available. The employer controls the hiring process, and no public HireVue source promises a retry. If a technical problem affects your attempt, contact the employer or HireVue candidate support with the assessment details instead of restarting on your own.
HireVue's published candidate guidance states that game progress is saved if the internet connection is interrupted, and you can continue once the connection is stable. Follow any on-screen recovery instructions. If the assessment does not resume, or a persistent error appears, record the error and time if useful and contact the employer or HireVue Candidate Help. Do not assume either that the attempt is lost or that a retake is automatically available; the employer controls the process.
