Originally published 2016-04-14.
The desert cube game is a short imagination exercise: you picture a desert containing a cube, then add a ladder, a horse, some flowers and a storm, describing each in as much detail as you like. Afterwards the "key" is revealed. In the popular version, the cube stands for you, the ladder for your friends, the horse for your partner, the flowers for children and the storm for the troubles in your life. It is not a psychological test and cannot reveal hidden truths, but it is one of the best icebreakers around, because it gets people talking about themselves in a playful, low-pressure way.
The game reached a wide audience through a 2014 essay by Oliver Emberton, the British founder of the software company Silktide, who said it had sparked many friendships. He credited the book The Cube by Annie Gottlieb and Slobodan D. Pesic. Below you can play it yourself, see the traditional interpretations, and find out what psychology says about why it feels so uncannily accurate.
How to play: the five questions
Play this before reading the meanings, ideally out loud with someone else. Take your time; the details are what make it fun.
- The cube. Picture a desert reaching to the horizon. Somewhere in it is a cube. How big is it? What is it made of? Is it resting on the sand, buried, or floating? What colour is it?
- The ladder. Now there is also a ladder. What is it made of, how tall is it, and where is it in relation to the cube?
- The horse. A horse appears. What does it look like, where is it, and what is it doing? Is it heading somewhere?
- The flowers. There are flowers in the scene. How many? What do they look like, and where are they compared with the cube, the ladder and the horse?
- The storm. Finally, a storm. What kind of storm is it, how far away is it, which way is it moving, and does it touch anything else in the scene?
If you are playing with a friend, write down or remember their answers before you explain anything. Once the meanings are known, the game cannot really be played again by the same person.
What each object is said to represent
The cube: how you see yourself
A large cube is read as self-assurance, a small one as modesty or self-doubt. A cube sitting on the sand suggests someone grounded; one hovering in the air hints at a dreamer. The material is treated as a clue to openness: glass for a transparent, open person, stone or metal for someone guarded and resilient, a glowing cube for someone who likes to lift other people's mood.
The ladder: your friends
A sturdy ladder leaning against the cube is read as close, dependable friendships. A flimsy, distant or fallen ladder may reflect loneliness or a feeling that friends are not quite there. Some players put the ladder inside the cube, which people usually interpret as letting friends very close.
The horse: your partner, real or ideal
The type of horse is said to show what you want in a partner: a loyal working horse, a wild stallion, a winged Pegasus. Its position and behaviour supposedly reflect the relationship itself, whether the horse stands calmly beside the cube, wanders off or nibbles at it. This is usually where the most laughter happens.
The flowers: children
The number of flowers is linked to how many children you imagine having, and their health and colour to how you picture them thriving. A single small bloom and a desert carpeted with flowers lead to very different conversations.
The storm: threats and worries
A distant storm that is moving away is read as a calm period in life; a storm overhead, battering the cube, as current stress or difficulty. This one deserves care: if a friend describes something frightening, it may be a cue to listen rather than joke.
Why it feels so accurate
Emberton himself was candid that the symbolism is not science, noting that no peer-reviewed journals examine what horses and ladders reveal. Yet players often feel the game "knows" them. Several well-studied effects help explain why.
Projection onto ambiguous images. When we describe something vague, we tend to fill the gaps with our own preoccupations. Psychologists built a whole family of "projective tests" on that idea, the best known being the Rorschach inkblots and the Thematic Apperception Test. These tools are still used in some clinics, but their reliability and validity remain heavily debated, which is a useful reminder of how much interpretation, rather than measurement, goes into reading imagined scenes.
The Barnum (Forer) effect. In 1948 the psychologist Bertram Forer gave 39 students what he said were individual personality descriptions. Every student actually got the same text, largely taken from an astrology book, and they rated its accuracy at about 4.3 out of 5 on average. Vague, mostly flattering statements feel personal because we supply the meaning ourselves. The cube game's interpretations are flexible in exactly this way.
Natural associations. The pairings are not random. We nurture flowers as we nurture children, we lean on ladders as we lean on friends, animals invite affection, and storms signal danger. Because the symbols match common metaphors, your answers often do map loosely onto what is on your mind.
The conversation does the work. The real insight usually comes after the reveal, when someone explains why their horse was walking away or why their flowers were scattered. The game simply gives permission to talk about friends, love, family and fear with someone you may have just met.
Using the game well with friends, dates and groups
- Frame it as play. Say upfront that it is a game, not a personality test. That keeps people relaxed and stops anyone taking an interpretation as a judgement.
- Ask, do not diagnose. Instead of announcing "you have no friends," ask: "Your ladder was lying on the sand. Does that feel true for you at the moment?" People can agree, laugh it off or tell a story.
- Share your own answers. Openness is reciprocal. If you reveal your rickety ladder or runaway horse, others feel safer doing the same.
- Be careful with the flowers and storm. Children and life troubles can be sensitive subjects, especially for someone dealing with infertility, grief or illness. Let people skip a question.
- Do not use it to make decisions. It is a fine way to start a conversation on a date, but a poor way to judge whether someone will be a good partner.
Where the game comes from
Imagination games of this kind have a long history, from parlour games to modern pop-psychology quizzes. The Japanese "kokology" books of the 1990s, for example, turned similar scenarios into bestselling entertainment. The cube version was popularised in English by Gottlieb and Pesic's book, which describes it as a game passed from person to person, and then spread online after Emberton's essay was widely shared.
If you want to read more, the book is still available: The Cube by Annie Gottlieb and Slobodan D. Pesic.
So does the cube reveal your soul in five minutes? No. But it does reliably produce something rarer than a personality score: an honest, funny and sometimes surprisingly moving conversation.
Sources: Oliver Emberton, "The Cube: how to connect deeply with anyone in 5 minutes" (first shared via Expanded Consciousness); Wikipedia on the Barnum effect and projective tests.
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