Cause for Concern

Each case shows two correlated variables plotted over time with a short scenario. Read the chart and the context, then classify the relationship: A causes B, B causes A, a hidden third variable drives both, or it's just coincidence. Correct calls bank points and the truth is explained afterward.

• Choose from True Cause, Reverse, Confounder or Coincidence.
• Many cases hide a lurking variable that explains the link.
• Round length depends on difficulty; a final score sums your reads.

• Desktop: click the relationship card you believe is correct.
• Phone & tablet: tap your choice, fully touch-friendly.

• Daily and Practice modes, each in Casual, Standard or Marathon length.

• Ask which variable could plausibly come first in time.
• When a third factor (weather, wealth, season) could move both lines, suspect a confounder.

Cause for Concern is built around the maxim that correlation is not causation, training you to spot confounders.

• Skills: correlation vs causation, confounders, statistical reasoning
• Best for: roughly grades 8–12 (ages 13+)
• For parents & teachers: why correlation isn't causation.

Classifying two correlated series as cause, reverse cause, common cause or coincidence is the discipline behind correlation does not imply causation.

Offering the categories explicitly is the original design.

The slogan is repeated far more often than it is used, because knowing that correlation is not causation does not tell you what it is instead. Naming the alternatives — including confounding, where a third variable drives both — turns a caution into an analysis.

Cause for Concern is a deduction game built around the maxim that correlation is not causation. It's an original free browser game made for PlayPendium.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.