The cube test: imagine a desert, and see what it says about you
Short answer
The cube test is a visualisation game: you imagine a desert and five things in it. In the usual reading, the cube is you, the ladder your friends, the horse your idea of a partner, the flowers what you nurture, and the storm your troubles. It is a game, not a psychological test — but people are often surprised by it.
Picture a desert: sand to the horizon, a clear sky, no wind. Do not think about what things mean — choose the first picture that comes.
5 scenes · about two minutes · nothing is saved or sent
Where the cube test comes from
Nobody can point to a single author. The game has passed from person to person for decades in many versions, and it belongs to the same family as kokology: questions about an imagined scene, read for what your answer shows rather than what you claim. Read more in what the cube test means.
What each symbol stands for
- The cube — how you see yourself: size, material, and whether it rests, sinks or floats.
- The ladder — friends and support: how close, and how much you lean on them.
- The horse — your idea of a partner: what you want, and how much freedom you give.
- The flowers — the people and projects you nurture (in many versions, children).
- The storm — your troubles: how near they feel and how hard they blow.
Questions people also ask
- What does the cube represent in the cube test?
- You — or rather, how you see yourself. A large cube suggests you take up room comfortably; glass suggests openness; a half-buried cube suggests feeling weighed down.
- Is the cube test accurate?
- It is a folk game, not a validated test, so 'accurate' is the wrong measure. It works as a prompt: people recognise something in the reading more often than they expect, because the picture came from them.
- Is the cube test the same as kokology?
- It belongs to the same family — imagined scenes read for meaning — but it is not from the original kokology books. See what kokology is.
The longer version
Twenty-one scenes, read properly — then a book written to the answer.
Our reading uses the same idea as this game — a picture instead of a self-description — across twenty-one scenes and eight axes. Free to take, about eight minutes. If you like what it sees, a book is written for you: £9.99, PDF.