LSAT 28, Game 1 Setup, Racehorses, LSATHacks

LG Game 1 Setup, by LSATHacks

Game Setup

This is a linear game. We have to place six racehorses. The main diagram looks like this:

I put the last rule directly on the diagram: P has to be in spot 3.

The other rules are: K and L are exactly one away from each other, K is not beside N, and M goes before N. O is a random variable. It’s always important to note that.

At this point many people would just go on and try the questions. That’s a mistake. You should always see if you can combine rules in order to make new deductions. If you’re stuck on how to do this, start with the most restricted variables.

In this case, ask yourself where K and L can be placed. You can’t put them in 1 and 3 because P is already in 3. You can’t put them in 3 and 5 for the same reason. You can only put them in 2 and 4 or 4 and 6. It looks like this:

Not much happens when you put them in 2 and 4. We can still put M, N and O pretty much anywhere as long as M goes before N and don’t put K beside N.

But when we put K and L in 4 and 6, we can’t put N in 5 (N can’t go beside K).

Since N has to go after M that means we have to put M and N in 1 and 2. O is left to go in 5.

This is a very restricted game. There is only two ways L and K can go. In the second scenario there is only one way to place everything else.