5 Ways to Improve Your Score at Artificially Incorrect

I play Artificially Incorrect every morning. I still miss rounds — everyone does — but my score settled into a pattern once I stopped treating each round like a trivia quiz and started paying attention to how the lies are built.

When I know the topic vs when I don't

On topics I know well, I usually spot the lie within a few seconds. One of the specific details doesn't match what I already know — a count that's slightly off, a date I remember differently, a name attached to the wrong event.

On topics I know nothing about, I have no memory to check against. I rely entirely on which statement feels over-specified — a number or date that seems oddly precise compared to the other two. The lie often sounds more authoritative than the truths, because specificity reads as confidence.

Switching between those two modes took me a while. I kept trying to "know" my way through rounds on subjects I'd never read about. That doesn't work.

Stick with your first answer

My most frustrating misses aren't the ones where I had no idea. They're the ones where I picked right on the first read, then talked myself out of it.

I'll re-read all three statements, start doubting my initial choice, and switch to the lie — which was written to sound more reasonable the longer I stare at it. I've done this enough times to trust the pattern: if something nagged me on the first pass, switching away is usually the mistake.

Now I read all three once without tapping, note which one my brain flagged, and commit. I still second-guess sometimes. I just don't act on it as often.

Cross off the one you're sure about

Most rounds have one statement I can verify pretty confidently — not always, but often enough to make this my default move. I find that line and remove it from consideration first.

That turns a one-in-three guess into a fifty-fifty. I'm not hunting the lie directly anymore — I'm choosing between two remaining options using whatever I have: a half-memory, a gut feeling, the over-specificity read from the first tip.

It feels less clever than solving the lie cold. It's faster, and fast matters when you've got five rounds and a streak on the line.

Slow down when the topic isn't yours

Science and history rounds I can usually process quickly. Sport, pop culture, anything outside what I read — I take an extra beat.

When I don't have domain knowledge, the lie borrows confident tone cheaply. The polished-sounding statement is more suspicious, not less, because I can't verify the details underneath it.

I don't skip those rounds. I just don't rush them the way I do on topics where I have hooks in my memory.

Don't skip the explanation screen

Every round shows you what was swapped and why. I read it even on rounds I got right — especially those, because I want to know if I got lucky or got it for the right reason.

After a few weeks, the explanations started to repeat shapes. Same kinds of detail changed, same balance between truths and lie. That's when my score stopped bouncing around as much.

Your streak only survives a perfect 5/5, so a careless miss on round four costs you the whole run. That's why I play carefully now, not rushed. When you're ready, today's five rounds are free.