Google 2026 New Grad OA: Three-Step Token Board and Common-Digit Group

Role: Software Engineer, New Grad
Result: OA completed
Report time: December 2025

Question 1: moving tokens and collecting coins

A one-dimensional board contains empty cells ., tokens T, and coins C.

A token may move any number of times, but every move is exactly three positions to the right. A coin is collected when a token lands on it, each coin can be collected once, and a token cannot land on another token.

Return the maximum coins that can be collected.

Practice: Maximum Coins With Moving Tokens

Question 2: maximum common-digit group

Given a list of two-digit numbers, return the largest number of elements that all contain at least one common digit. For example, 23 and 35 are related through digit 3.

Practice: Maximum Elements With a Common Digit

The candidate said these were the same OA questions already reported by other candidates earlier that month.