Pocket Gems coding interview
questions, leaked.
15 problems reported across recent Pocket Gems interviews. Top patterns: array, hash table, string. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Pocket Gems asks 15 problems in their OA, and 10 of them are medium or hard. You're looking at a 67% medium-to-hard split, which means the bar is higher than most gaming-company screens. Arrays and hash tables dominate the question pool, followed closely by strings. That trio covers about half the problems you'll see. If you blank on a sliding-window or graph-traversal problem mid-OA, StealthCoder solves it invisibly while you stay calm and move forward. The real edge isn't drilling 100 problems; it's knowing which 5 patterns to own, and what to hedge when nerves kick in.
Top problems at Pocket Gems
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Clone Graph | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 62% | Hash Table · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 02 | Longest Repeating Character Replacement | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 57% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 03 | Word Break | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 48% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 04 | Sort Colors | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 68% | Array · Two Pointers · Sorting |
| 05 | Alien Dictionary | HARD | 100.0 | 37% | Array · String · Depth-First Search |
| 06 | Non-negative Integers without Consecutive Ones | HARD | 100.0 | 40% | Dynamic Programming |
| 07 | Basic Calculator III | HARD | 100.0 | 52% | Math · String · Stack |
| 08 | Top K Frequent Words | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 59% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 09 | Shortest Palindrome | HARD | 100.0 | 41% | String · Rolling Hash · String Matching |
| 10 | Kth Largest Element in an Array | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 68% | Array · Divide and Conquer · Sorting |
| 11 | Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 55% | Array · Hash Table · Math |
| 12 | Find All Duplicates in an Array | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 76% | Array · Hash Table |
| 13 | Top K Frequent Elements | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 65% | Array · Hash Table · Divide and Conquer |
| 14 | Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String | EASY | 100.0 | 45% | Two Pointers · String · String Matching |
| 15 | Inorder Successor in BST | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 51% | Tree · Depth-First Search · Binary Search Tree |
Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.
You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Pocket Gems OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built by an Amazon engineer who realized the OA tests how well you memorized 200 problems, not how well you code.
Get StealthCoder- array8 · 53%
- hash table7 · 47%
- string7 · 47%
- sorting4 · 27%
- depth first search3 · 20%
- heap priority queue3 · 20%
- breadth first search2 · 13%
- graph2 · 13%
- dynamic programming2 · 13%
- trie2 · 13%
The topic distribution is heavily weighted toward data structures over algorithms. Arrays appear in 8 problems, hash tables in 7, strings in 7. Sorting (4), depth-first and breadth-first search (3 each), and heap/priority queue (3) matter, but they're secondary. Graph problems do appear, and you'll see Clone Graph and Alien Dictionary both test your DFS and BFS chops, so graph traversal isn't optional. Dynamic programming shows up twice but isn't the focus. The single easy problem means you can't coast on warm-ups. Drill two-pointer and sliding-window patterns hard, because Longest Repeating Character Replacement and Sort Colors are bread-and-butter mediums. If you haven't seen a rolling-hash solution like Shortest Palindrome, that's where StealthCoder becomes your safety net on test day. You have time to lock array and hash-table patterns; the graph and DP problems are the hedge.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Pocket Gems, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Pocket Gems.
Memorizing every problem above in a week is a fantasy. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay that's invisible during screen share. It reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Built by an Amazon engineer who realized the OA tests how well you memorized 200 problems, not how well you code. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Pocket Gems interview FAQ
Should I study hash tables or arrays first for Pocket Gems?+
Both. They tie at 7-8 problems each and often appear together. Longest Repeating Character Replacement, Top K Frequent Words, and Find All Duplicates all blend both. Array + hash table is a single skillset. Spend 3 days on that pairing before graph or DP.
How many medium problems should I solve before the OA?+
Pocket Gems is 10 medium out of 15. Solving 15-20 medium problems covering arrays, hash tables, strings, and sorting will give you confidence. The hard problems (Clone Graph, Alien Dictionary, Shortest Palindrome) need separate DP or graph study. Aim to own the mediums first.
Is graph knowledge required for Pocket Gems?+
Yes. Clone Graph, Alien Dictionary, and Inorder Successor in BST all test graph or tree traversal. DFS and BFS appear 5 times across the problem set. Spend at least 2 days drilling those patterns. If graphs aren't solid, that's your weak spot.
What's the easiest problem to warm up with?+
Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String is your only easy problem. It's a string-matching warm-up. Solve it first to build momentum, but don't spend time there. The real test starts at medium difficulty.
Do I need to study dynamic programming for this OA?+
DP appears only twice (Word Break, Non-negative Integers without Consecutive Ones), and both are medium-hard. If you're short on time, skip DP drills and focus on arrays, hash tables, and sorting first. DP is the hedge, not the foundation.