Note: As of August 2024, the LSAT will no longer have a Logic Games Section. The June 2024 exam will be the final LSAT with Logic Games. Learn more about the change here.

Valentine’s Day is today. Maybe you heard? We almost missed it — the only flowers we received were from game three of the September 2019 LSAT. Anyway, while our instructors are more likely to canoodle with an armful of LSAT practice tests than with another human being, we still like to think we can set the right mood for the most romantic of holidays. So enjoy this bouquet of Valentine’s Day posts this week from your friends at Most Strongly Supported. We hope that you can choo-choo-choose the right answers on all your practice questions this week.

It’s February 14th, and love is in the air. But if you’re studying for an upcoming LSAT, the love you bare is surprising, unexpected. You don’t want to admit it to yourself, but the feeling is undeniable — you’re falling in love with logic games.

Admit it: You totally are, you amorous, analytical, thing, you.

Like any great love story, your love affair with logic games started with a meet cute. You, a determined, career-first, but adorably clumsy person, stumbled into those logic games on your first practice exam. If you were weren’t fretting about the coffee you spilled all over that game, you might have noticed that the logic games cut a handsome figure. You thought this unfortunate encounter was just a one-off, a quick aside in your life of singledom. But then, serendipity struck: you ran into logic games later, while doing your homework. This time, you noticed the logic games’ rakish good looks and off-kilter charm. After saying something like, “Well I didn’t expect to see you again,” you and logic games spent a steamy weekend together, falling ever deeply into love.

In honor of your burgeoning love affair with logic games, the LSAT-obsessed cherubs at Blueprint cooked up some Valentine’s Day logic games, using real logic games as their inspiration. So this Valentine’s Day, dim the lights, throw on some Sade, pour a glass of wine, and curl up on a bear-skin rug with your new logic games lover.

But remember — whenever love is in the air like this, you need to be safe. You don’t want to have any scary, unexpected developments in this newfound love affair … like you getting any question wrong. So if you get stumped on any of the questions, we’ve provided some tips below each game.

Galentine’s Day

This might be commonly referred to as a basic ordering game, but when Leslie is in charge of her annual Galentine’s Day brunch, the party favors are anything but basic. Among her many outstanding traits, Leslie is an organizational maven. Can you follow the complex rules she created to help her create over-the-top, homemade gift baskets for all the gal pals who will gather at her Galentine’s Day brunch?

In preparation for her annual February 13th Galentine’s Day brunch, Leslie is creating homemade gift baskets for her gal pals. She must set the order in which she will make each of the five gift basket items — 500-word essays on why each gal pal is the best, personalized Galentine’s Day cards featuring a feminist icon, gift certificates for facials, hand-crocheted flower pens, and mosaic portraits of each gal pal made from crushed up bottles of that gal’s favorite diet soda. Leslie must completely finish each item before moving on to the next item. The following conditions restrict the order in which Leslie can create the items:
Leslie must make the feminist-icon cards before buying the gift certificates.
If Leslie writes the essays before making the mosaic portraits, then she must
also buy the gift certificates and hand crochet the flower pens before
making the mosaic portraits.
Leslie must make the feminist-icon cards before both hand crocheting the
flower pens and making the mosaic portraits, or else after both hand
crocheting the flower pens and making the mosaic portraits.

1. If Leslie writes the essays first, then which one of the following could be true?
a. Leslie makes the feminist-icon cards third.
b. Leslie buys the gift certificates second.
c. Leslie buys the gift certificates fifth.
d. Leslie hand crochets the flower pens third.
e. Leslie makes the mosaic portraits fourth.

2. Which one of the following pairs could be the first and second items made, respectively?
a. Essays and mosaic portraits.
b. Feminist-icon cards and essays.
c. Gift certificates and mosaic portraits.
d. Hand-crocheted flower pens and gift certificates.
e. Mosaic portraits and feminist-icon cards.

3. Which one of the following pairs CANNOT be the fourth and fifth items made, respectively?
a. Essays and mosaic portraits.
b. Feminist-icon cards and gift certificates.
c. Gift certificates and mosaic portraits.
d. Hand-crocheted flower pens and essays.
e. Mosaic portraits and gift certificates.

4. Which one of the following pairs CANNOT be the second and third items made, respectively?
a. Essays and mosaic portraits.
b. Feminist-icon cards and gift certificates.
c. Gift certificates and mosaic portraits.
d. Hand-crocheted flower pens and essays.
e. Mosaic portraits and hand-crocheted flower pens.

5. If Leslie hand crochets the flower pens first, which one of the following must be true?
a. She writes the essays third.
b. She writes the essays fourth.
c. She makes the feminist-icon cards third.
d. She buys the gift certificates fifth.
e. She makes the mosaic portraits second.

6. If Leslie hand crochets the flower pens fifth, which one of the following must be true?
a. She writes the essays third
b. She makes the feminist-icon cards first.
c. She makes the feminist-icon cards fourth.
d. She buys the gift certificates second.
e. She makes the mosaic portraits second.

Tips: Much like the trying to make elaborate, over-the-top gift baskets for all your girlfriends, this game involves a lot of work. But fortunately, you can cut down on that work by making two scenarios with the third rule. Anytime you get a “this, or else that”-type ordering rule, you should be thinking scenarios, by the way. And don’t forget to take the contrapositive of that second rule — that ends up being really important, both in your scenarios and in many questions. Pro-tip: When you switch and negate the “she must also buy the gift certificates and hand crochet the flower pens before making the mosaic portraits” condition of that second rule, it’ll become “if she makes the mosaic portraits before buying the gift certificates OR if she makes the mosaic portraits before hand crocheting the flower pens.”

Romantic Playlist

It seems so obvious to so many of us. Rather than waste your money on a restaurant that is trying to swindle you on Valentine’s Day — for real, the restaurant industry calls Valentine’s Day “Amateur Night” because it uses that night to gouge none-the-wiser rubes with overpriced and uninspired fare — you just stay in with your loved one, have some drinks, enjoy a homecooked meal, and, if all goes well, “dessert.” But not all of us see Valentine’s Day as an opportunity for frugality. So if your loved one is irate at the prospect of spending Valentine’s Day in, only the dulcet tones of the most romantic singers of all time will assuage them.

You, broke, have decided to spend Valentine’s Day in at your place. To keep your boo from becoming angry at your cheapskatedness on this holiday, you have to create and sustain a sweet, sexy mood through a romantic playlist. You have six artists to choose from — Al Green, Brian McKnight, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes, Luther Vandross, and Sade. Each artist must be used during exactly one of the three stages of your evening in — drinks, dinner, and “dessert” — and each stage must feature at least one artist. The assignments are constrained as follows:
Neither Al Green nor Isaac Hayes can be played during “dessert.”
Neither Brian McKnight nor Diana Ross can be played during drinks.
Brian McKnight and Sade must be played during the same stage of the
evening.
Unfortunately for your boo, more artists will be played during dinner than
during “dessert.”

7. Which one of the following could be the assignment of artists to stages of the evening?
a. Drinks: Isaac Hayes
Dinner: Al Green, Brian McKnight, Luther Vandross, Sade
“Dessert”: Diana Ross
b. Drinks: Luther Vandross
Dinner: Al Green, Brian McKnight, Isaac Hayes
“Dessert”: Diana Ross, Sade
c. Drinks: Al Green, Isaac Hayes
Dinner: Brian McKnight, Sade
“Dessert”: Diana Ross, Luther Vandross
d. Drinks: Isaac Hayes, Luther Vandross
Dinner: Brian McKnight, Diana Ross, Sade
“Dessert”: Al Green
e. Drinks: Al Green, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes
Dinner: Brian McKnight, Sade
“Dessert”: Luther Vandross

8. If neither Al Green nor Isaac Hayes are played during the drinks stage, then which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of the stages during which Luther Vandross can be played?
a. Drinks only
b. “Dessert” only
c. Drinks, dinner
d. Dinner, “dessert”
e. Drinks, dinner, “dessert”

9. If more artists are played during the drinks stage than during the dinner stage, then which one of the following artists must be played during the “dessert” stage?
a. Sade
b. Luther Vandross
c. Isaac Hayes
d. Diana Ross
e. Al Green

10. Exactly how many of the artists are there any one of whom could be played during the drinks stage?
a. one
b. two
c. three
d. four
e. five

11. If Diana Ross is played during a stage with exactly one other artist, then which one of the following could be true?
a. Luther Vandross is played during drinks.
b. Al Green is played during dinner.
c. Diana Ross is played during dinner.
d. Luther Vandross is played during dinner.
e. Brian McKnight is played during “dessert.”

12. If neither Diana Ross nor Luther Vandross is played during “dessert,” then which of the following must be true?
a. Al Green and Luther Vandross are played during drinks.
b. Al Green and Luther Vandross are played during dinner.
c. Brian McKnight and Sade are played during dinner.
d. Brian McKnight and Sade are played during “dessert.”
e. Diana Ross and Luther Vandross are played during dinner.

13. Which on of the following CANNOT be the group of artists played during dinner?
a. Al Green, Brian McKnight, Sade
b. Al Green, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes
c. Al Green, Diana Ross, Luther Vandross
d. Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Luther Vandross
e. Brian McKnight, Luther Vandross, Sade

Tips: The last rule wasn’t good news for your boo, but it’s incredibly good news for you. It places major restrictions on the relative sizes of each group in this game. Since we have a couple of principles of distribution — each stage must feature at least one artist, and there must be more artists played during dinner than “dessert” — we have to play the numbers to figure out the relative sizes of each group. You’ll wind up with four potential distributions of artists to groups, which would give you four scenarios. In three of those four scenarios, you’ll be able to figure out when Brian McKnight and Sade are played. In one scenario, they can be played in two different groups. So break that scenario down into two sub-scenarios, one with Brian McKnight and Sade in each of those two groups. Once you have that figured out, you should wind up with five scenarios that will answer every question for you. Although five scenarios might seem like a lot, five wasn’t too much for Brian McKnight to fit into the chorus of “Back at One,” and it shouldn’t be too much for you, either.

Rom Com Marathon

Hey, if you’re single and alone on Valentine’s Day and just want to pile out with some classic rom coms and wine, you do your thing. In fact, LSAT instructors are the last people on the planet who will judge you for that — we can relate to being single and alone on Valentine’s Day a little *too much*. We’re more likely to create a logic game about romantic comedies than actually watch them, though.

Alone on Valentine’s Day, you will watch five classic romantic comedies — Love, Actually; Moonstruck; Notting Hill; When Harry Met Sally; and You’ve Got Mail — in succession, one at a time. While watching these romantic comedies, you will be drinking wine. Like, a lot of wine. During three of the rom coms, you’ll be drinking rosé; during two of the rom coms, you’ll be drinking chardonnay. The order you will be watching the rom coms and drinking the wine is subject to following constraints:
You will be drinking rosé as you watch the first romantic comedy.
You will watch You’ve Got Mail immediately before watching Love, Actually.
You cannot drink the same type of wine during You’ve Got Mail and Love,
Actually.
You will watch Moonstruck third.
You will drink chardonnay as you watch When Harry Met Sally.

14. Which one of the following is an acceptable schedule of romantic comedies, from the first rom-com viewed to the fifth?
a. Love, Actually; When Harry Met Sally; Moonstruck; You’ve Got Mail; Notting
Hill
b. Moonstruck; You’ve Got Mail; Love, Actually; When Harry Met Sally; Notting
Hill
c. Notting Hill; You’ve Got Mail; Moonstruck; Love, Actually; When Harry Met
Sally
d. When Harry Met Sally; Notting Hill; Moonstruck; You’ve Got Mail</em; Love,
Actually
e. You’ve Got Mail; Love, Actually; Moonstruck; When Harry Met Sally; Notting
Hill

15. Which one of the following could be true?
a. Love, Actually is viewed immediately before When Harry Met Sally.
b. Moonstruck is viewed immediately before Notting Hill.
c. Notting Hill is viewed immediately before You’ve Got Mail.
d. When Harry Met Sally is viewed immediately before You’ve Got Mail.
e. You’ve Got Mail is viewed immediately before Moonstruck.

16. If you drink chardonnay during the fourth romantic comedy viewed, then any of the following could be true EXCEPT:
a. Love, Actually is viewed second.
b. Love, Actually is viewed fifth.
c. Notting Hill is viewed fourth.
d. Notting Hill is viewed fifth. .
e. When Harry Met Sally is viewed fourth.

17. Which one of the following must be true?
a. You drink chardonnay during the third romantic comedy viewed.
b. You drink rosé during the fifth romantic comedy viewed.
c. You drink chardonnay during Love, Actually.
d. You drink rosé during Moonstruck.
e. You drink rosé during You’ve Got Mail.

18. Any of the following could occur during the fourth romantic comedy viewing EXECPT:
a. You watch Love, Actually while drinking rosé.
b. You watch Notting Hill while drinking rosé.
c. You watch You’ve Got Mail while drinking rosé.
d. You watch When Harry Met Sally while drinking chardonnay.
e. You watch You’ve Got Mail while drinking chardonnay.

19. Which one of the following, if substituted for the constraint that you cannot drink the same type of wine during You’ve Got Mail and Love, Actually, would have the same effect in determining the order in which you be watch the rom-coms and drink the wine?
a. Notting Hill must be viewed while drinking rosé.
b. Moonstruck and Notting Hill must both be viewed while drinking rosé.
c. You cannot drink the same type of wine during Love, Actually and When
Harry Met Sally.
d. You watch When Harry Met Sally immediately after a romantic comedy you
viewed while drinking rosé.
e. The wine you drink while watching You’ve Got Mail must drink the same
type of wine you drink while viewing Moonstruck or Notting Hill, but not
both.

Tips: Whenever a tiered ordering game gives you a definite number of characteristics — as this game did, with the three rosés and two chardonnays — you want to try to assign those characteristics to given players. For this game, that would be figuring out what kind of wine you’ll be drinking during each rom com. You can represent the assignment of wine to rom com as a vertical block that you can place right into your set up. We sometimes call this type of deduction, cheerfully, a “build a block” deduction. There are some big time deductions you can make of this sort — there are certain movies that you can deduce must be viewed with a glass of rosé. These deductions are a major boon to nearly all of the questions, but especially to that annoying “substitute a rule” question at the end.

Valentine’s Day Cards

Who can forget Valentine’s Day in elementary school? We all would adorn with hearts and glitter a little basket in which we would receive a bounty of inappropriately romantic cards, purchased from the local drugstore by our classmates’ parents. But because receiving zero Valentine’s Day cards would seriously damage a kid’s self esteem, the teacher would demand that we all indiscriminately give one card to each classmate. And despite this demand, we would all read a little too much into the card given to us by the classmate we harbored a deep and abiding crush on … or maybe that was just me. Anyway, sometimes the rich kids would give out candy too, which was dope. Here’s a game about that Valentine’s Day tradition.

Ralph must give a Valentine’s Day card to each of his five classmates — Janey, Chuck, Lisa, Becky, and Wanda. He has two types of Valentine’s Day cards he could give out. One, a train-themed card, reads “I Choo Choo Choose You.” The other, an airplane-themed card, reads “My love for you is plane to see.” He will give one card to three three of his classmates, and the other to two of his classmates. Exactly classmate who receives the train-themed card will also receive a piece of candy, and exactly one classmate who receives the airplane-themed card will also receive a piece of candy. The assignment must satisfy the following conditions:
Janey and Wanda receive different cards.
Lisa receives the airplane-themed card.
Chuck does not receive a piece of candy.
Wanda receives a piece of candy.

20. Which one of the following could be an accurate listing of the classmates to cards, and classmates to candy?
a. Airplane-themed card: Janey, Lisa, Wanda (candy)
Train-themed card: Chuck, Becky (candy)
b. Airplane-themed card: Chuck, Lisa (candy), Wanda
Train-themed card: Janey, Becky (candy)
c. Airplane-themed card: Chuck, Lisa, Wanda (candy)
Train-themed card: Janey (candy), Becky
d. Airplane-themed card: Chuck, Becky, Wanda (candy)
Train-themed card: Janey (candy), Lisa
e. Airplane-themed card: Lisa, Wanda (candy)
Train-themed card: Janey, Chuck (candy), Becky

21. Which one of the following must be true?
a. Janey is given the train-themed card.
b. Lisa is given a piece of candy.
c. Wanda is given the airplane-themed card.
d. Janey and Olga are not both given a piece of candy.
e. Neither Janey nor Chuck are given a piece of candy.

22. Which one of the following must be false?
a. Lisa is given a piece of candy, and she is given the same card as Chuck.
b. Becky is given a piece of candy, and she is given the same card as Chuck.
c. Wanda is given a piece of candy, and she is given the same card as Becky.
d. Lisa is given a piece of candy, and she is given a different card than Janey.
e. Becky is given a piece of candy, and she is given a different card as Wanda.

23. If Lisa is given a piece of candy, then which one of the following could be true?
a. Janey and Chuck are both given the train-themed card.
b. Janey and Becky are both given the train-themed card.
c. Lisa and Wanda are both given the airplane-themed card.
d. Becky and Wanda are both given the airplane-themed card.
e. Becky and Wanda are both given the train-themed card.

5. If Becky is given the airplane-themed card, then which one of the following must be true?
a. Janey is given the airplane-themed card.
b. Chuck is given the train-themed card.
c. Wanda is given the airplane-themed card.
d. Lisa is given a piece of candy.
e. Becky is given a piece of candy.

Tips: When you have two groups, the most important thing to do is divide up the players who hate each other — those who can’t go in the same group. In this case, that would be Janey and Wanda. Also, remember, if Wanda is always given a piece of candy, that means who ever else is given a piece of candy can’t be given the same card as Wanda.

Answer Key:

Galentine’s Day
1. d
2. b
3. e
4. a
5. e
6. b

Romantic Playlist
7. a
8. a
9. d
10. c
11. b
12. d
13. d

Rom Com Marathon
14. 3
15. b
16. c
17. d
18. a
19. b

Valentine’s Day Cards
20. c
21. d
22. d
23. e
24. b