Show HN: I made a web game that makes practicing basic arithmetic fun(worchle.com)
worchle.com
Show HN: I made a web game that makes practicing basic arithmetic fun
https://www.worchle.com/mathic/
82 comments
I want to share this with my daughter who needs some practice with these, but the timer just causes anxiety. Could you add a mode with unlimited time but three "lives"?
Hey, thanks for checking it out! I had the idea for a "zen" mode where you could play forever with no timer. Didn't think of adding lives though. Cool idea.
Would you want separate statistics for these "lives mode" games?
Would you want separate statistics for these "lives mode" games?
Count the streaks until you click "pass" and then display the highest number of streaks.
Appreciate the update. We will try this after school today!! Kids are pumped! Appreciative of the quick integration of the features.
Quick test this am - looks like a small bug with the M.N. Counter for arithmetic in lives mode is getting to numbers that arent possible based on the combos available. First one works, second gets into 20s. I thought it might have just been a presentation issue but when i subtract the new MN from the previous one and input that it gives me a lost life!
Quick test this am - looks like a small bug with the M.N. Counter for arithmetic in lives mode is getting to numbers that arent possible based on the combos available. First one works, second gets into 20s. I thought it might have just been a presentation issue but when i subtract the new MN from the previous one and input that it gives me a lost life!
Bug looks resolved - or I can't replicate it.
Thanks for checking out the update and getting back to me. That's very odd — the only way the Magic Number should get into the 20s (on addition mode at least) is if you have longer equations enabled in the settings.
Glad it's not happening anymore, but I'll look into it, thanks for reporting.
Glad it's not happening anymore, but I'll look into it, thanks for reporting.
[deleted]
Open your browser's JS console and run:
gameTracker.timeLeft = 9999999999
it is not enough
Hey, just wanted to let you know I just launched an update that includes a lives game mode, as well as some other game modes and features. Thanks for your suggestion again!
That timer is brutal. Do you even „get“ any time for solving anything? Or is this just meant to run for a minute and then u lose?
Haha ya that's how it works atm.
My idea was that you could run a few rounds to practice certain operators and watch how your average scores improve over time. And since the rounds are only a minute, it's low commitment.
Going to add other modes though based on feedback
My idea was that you could run a few rounds to practice certain operators and watch how your average scores improve over time. And since the rounds are only a minute, it's low commitment.
Going to add other modes though based on feedback
Exactly what I came to the comments to request.
Thanks for feedback! Same question for you as well: would you want separate statistics for this type of mode?
I can’t think of any use case for statistics, personally or for my kids.
I'd want separate.
Check out monkeytype (free typing practice thing) that has a nice stats-over-time/personal-best scores.
Check out monkeytype (free typing practice thing) that has a nice stats-over-time/personal-best scores.
Thanks will check that out!
Hey, thanks again for your feedback. Just wanted to let you know "lives" mode is now live, along with some other modes.
This is cool. When it's in 'all operators' mode it's challenging!
One thing that I noticed is that there's a timer. Depending on your target audience, you might want to make that optional.
My son is 7 and finds the timer on Zetamac creates unnecessary stress. So I made something simpler for him that just shows a fixed number of problems (with no time limit), and uses a cookie to track the streak length: https://math.twilam.com/
One thing that I noticed is that there's a timer. Depending on your target audience, you might want to make that optional.
My son is 7 and finds the timer on Zetamac creates unnecessary stress. So I made something simpler for him that just shows a fixed number of problems (with no time limit), and uses a cookie to track the streak length: https://math.twilam.com/
If you want another tough challenge, try division operators with longer equations and advanced division enabled. Quite evil at times.
Thanks for feedback on the timer, that seems to be common so I'm going to work on getting an alternative option out soon.
Thanks for feedback on the timer, that seems to be common so I'm going to work on getting an alternative option out soon.
Love this!
I also made a math game 3 years ago.
https://github.com/zineanteoh/clean-the-river
I called it “Clean the river”. It is a web-based game that lets children practice forming and solving basic mathematical expressions by "cleaning the river".
I also made a math game 3 years ago.
https://github.com/zineanteoh/clean-the-river
I called it “Clean the river”. It is a web-based game that lets children practice forming and solving basic mathematical expressions by "cleaning the river".
Thanks for checking it out! Clean the River looks great
Reminds me of Number Munchers: https://classicreload.com/number-munchers.html#
You could add in some elements that game uses to make it more appealing to kids.
You could add in some elements that game uses to make it more appealing to kids.
Number Munchers is neat. Thanks for sharing!
Neat! I played for a while with my 10yo son. The timer is a bit of a drag. My suggestion is to either implement a lives mechanism like the other poster suggested, or to make the timer reset after each success.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback! Definitely going to work on getting out an calmer alternative mode.
Amazing little game, thank you!
Being able to swipe over the equation instead of tapping would improve playability a lot! Also I sometimes feel like the first tap is not registered right after the new MN appears.
Being able to swipe over the equation instead of tapping would improve playability a lot! Also I sometimes feel like the first tap is not registered right after the new MN appears.
Thanks :D
Will add swipe controls to my todos, I decided against adding it because the other word search games on the site will occasionally overflow off-screen (so swiping is required to move around the grid) but might add it as a toggle for this game.
Will look into the tap problem, thanks for reporting!
Will add swipe controls to my todos, I decided against adding it because the other word search games on the site will occasionally overflow off-screen (so swiping is required to move around the grid) but might add it as a toggle for this game.
Will look into the tap problem, thanks for reporting!
Follow-up on this feedback - it would be nice if the UI supported tapping individual blocks sequentially like the game strands does. Currently (on safari on iOS at least) if you go to highlight e.g. 6+4 one at a time the UI reports “invalid equation” if you highlight 6 and + instead of highlighting the start and end of the range in one go
Otherwise, cool game!
Otherwise, cool game!
Ya thinking of adding this. For the moment I just made it so operators can't be highlighted at all, making it more clear that it's the numbers that need to be tapped (since equations can't start or end with an operator)
This looks cool. The UI animation is good.
Looking forward for more such games. A few minor feedbacks.
1. Even on phones, it leaves a lot of margin/padding, and the boxes are a bit too small. Can you make it a bit more responsive and use up the whole width of the screen (up to a max width of course) 2. Only the first and the last needs to be selected, and so slide doesn't work. 3. A minor confusion in the UI, that I'm not sure if the equation can span across multiple lines?
1. Even on phones, it leaves a lot of margin/padding, and the boxes are a bit too small. Can you make it a bit more responsive and use up the whole width of the screen (up to a max width of course) 2. Only the first and the last needs to be selected, and so slide doesn't work. 3. A minor confusion in the UI, that I'm not sure if the equation can span across multiple lines?
Hey, thanks for the feedback!
For the sizing, try the grid size and counter text size options in the game settings. You can also change the grid dimensions to better fit your screen (or add some difficulty)!
Adding slide gestures is on the todos.
Also just shipped a fix to make multi-row selections impossible to make that more clear.
Thanks again
For the sizing, try the grid size and counter text size options in the game settings. You can also change the grid dimensions to better fit your screen (or add some difficulty)!
Adding slide gestures is on the todos.
Also just shipped a fix to make multi-row selections impossible to make that more clear.
Thanks again
Very nice, love it. I play the chess version of this pretty often. You might like to take a look at Lichess’ Puzzle Storm (and Puzzle Streak/Puzzle Race) for some inspiration on other game modes.
https://lichess.org/storm
https://lichess.org/storm
Thanks for playing and sharing! Will check those out
Feature request; my third grader needed to work on certain numbers like 3’s and 9’s, also the random number generation seemed limited when I played. Also agree zen mode is needed. Also how about adding n seconds when a correct answer is entered?
Adding options for practicing specific numbers is a neat idea, will brainstorm some ideas for this.
Sorry the random generation seemed limited, I'll see what I can do. Right now it generates the grid numbers randomly just picking from 1-9, and the magic number is selected based on what's available on the grid.
Zen mode + lives mode are on the todos!
Adding some seconds to the clock for a correct answer is a cool idea. Will experiment with this one.
Thanks for your feedback!
Sorry the random generation seemed limited, I'll see what I can do. Right now it generates the grid numbers randomly just picking from 1-9, and the magic number is selected based on what's available on the grid.
Zen mode + lives mode are on the todos!
Adding some seconds to the clock for a correct answer is a cool idea. Will experiment with this one.
Thanks for your feedback!
Hey, just wanted to let you know I took your suggestion and added a "focus number" setting. Feel free to check it out and let me know if that's the kind of thing you were looking for.
Multiple game modes have been added as well.
If you notice any problems, please let me know!
Multiple game modes have been added as well.
If you notice any problems, please let me know!
Very nice! Thank you! Kids like it in zen mode, it holds their interest for a while at least (seems like a good sign).
That is fantastic to hear :)
I have a premonition that within three months, someone (a newspaper) will purchase this beautiful game to add ads or offer subscriptions. Then, thousands of copycats will appear, and finally, there will be an open-source version.
What a beautiful game, congrats!
What a beautiful game, congrats!
That would be absolutely wild, really appreciate the words!
You have to account for fat fingers on mobile. Twice have I pressed the 4th square instead of the 3rd, and I don't even have "fat" fingers. Just remove the ending squares if they are operators.
Hey so the ending squares can still be used vertically which is why they're there.
Example:
1 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 9
Here you could use the left side to do 1 + 3 vertically.
For a larger grid to prevent misclicks, try going to settings and changing the "grid size" setting to a larger option.
Hope this helps! Thanks for playing.
Example:
1 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 9
Here you could use the left side to do 1 + 3 vertically.
For a larger grid to prevent misclicks, try going to settings and changing the "grid size" setting to a larger option.
Hope this helps! Thanks for playing.
I don't think you understood the issue I'm pointing. I'm saying I pressed "3 + 1 +" due to fat finger. When the input has starting and/or ending operators, remove them before evaluating.
Ah my bad, I see what you're saying now. Adding this to my todos
Only potential problem I can see is if the grid line is for example:
3 + 4 + 3
And they accidentally press "3 + 4 +"
Hard to tell if they meant to press 3+4 or 3+4+3
If they meant to press 3+4+3 and the program auto removes the ending operator and submits it as 3+4, and it's incorrect, that might be more upsetting than having to quickly re-tap the equation they meant to submit
Only potential problem I can see is if the grid line is for example:
3 + 4 + 3
And they accidentally press "3 + 4 +"
Hard to tell if they meant to press 3+4 or 3+4+3
If they meant to press 3+4+3 and the program auto removes the ending operator and submits it as 3+4, and it's incorrect, that might be more upsetting than having to quickly re-tap the equation they meant to submit
Great app! We were playing with the two little ones though we needed more time. I saw a comment in the thread with a combo of zen mode, lives (eg mistakes) and maybe a level up mechanism?
Rainbow at the end is great!
Rainbow at the end is great!
Hey, thank you! Just added lives and zen game mode, as well as a timer+ game mode that's a bit more forgiving. Let me know if you notice any issues.
What did you have in mind for a leveling up mechanic? Might be a cool idea.
What did you have in mind for a leveling up mechanic? Might be a cool idea.
Reminds me of the venerable https://arithmetic.zetamac.com/ (disclosure: I know the author)
Saw this game when looking at other fast math games. Definitely a good one for more precise intentional practice!
Cool game. “7 +” is the start of a valid equation so making it error out can be confusing for 7 year olds that you need to “jump” over the operator. Great otherwise!
Going to try making this more clear in the instructions, thanks!
7 year olds are fast learners ;)
Nice.
I encountered a couple of screens where there was no correct answer available; MN=2, and there were no 1s on the grid. I suspect my 6-year-old granddaughter would protest.
I encountered a couple of screens where there was no correct answer available; MN=2, and there were no 1s on the grid. I suspect my 6-year-old granddaughter would protest.
Hmm that is odd, shouldn't be possible. Just to be sure, you were playing with just addition operators right?
OK, so:
1. I think I only got one grid that was unsolveable.
2. That was my first grid.
3. I was only playing with addition.
4. I completed exactly one round.
Because the "unsolveable" grid was my very first, I may well have pressed on without investigating too much, because perhaps things would become clearer; and indeed, all subsequent grids were easy to solve.
So please don't treat my comment as a bug report! If you've taken trouble to avoid that outcome, then almost certainly the error is me.
1. I think I only got one grid that was unsolveable.
2. That was my first grid.
3. I was only playing with addition.
4. I completed exactly one round.
Because the "unsolveable" grid was my very first, I may well have pressed on without investigating too much, because perhaps things would become clearer; and indeed, all subsequent grids were easy to solve.
So please don't treat my comment as a bug report! If you've taken trouble to avoid that outcome, then almost certainly the error is me.
Thanks for the additional info! Glad to hear you at least didn't run into it again. I'll definitely do some more testing just incase
Oh, interesting. I just assumed a MN was selected by randomly selecting a path on the board and presenting the answer; that removes the possibility of being impossible. I wonder how it does work.
That's exactly how it works so this is quite interesting...looking into it
On iOS the “Add to Home Screen” strips the /mathic/ so the link ends up opening the word game instead.
Would you consider hosting this as mathic.worchle.com?
Would you consider hosting this as mathic.worchle.com?
Hey, thanks for reporting. I could fix this by giving Mathic its own manifest.json file, but I'm a bit hesitant.
I'm hoping to build Worchle into a home for a variety of search-style games, so having the PWA open to the home page (which displays navigation links for all the puzzles currently on the site) has the benefit of helping those other puzzles (and the overall brand) get discovered.
It's a hard decision though as I do see the benefit of players being able to add specific games to their homescreen.
Another problem with separate manifests for games: since I'm using local storage for stats, multiple installs of different games on the site would also split up those stats. One install ensures all stats are kept together in a single homescreen bookmark.
Honestly though, I've been thinking about your comment for the past couple of days and I still don't know what the best decision is. It's a tough one.
I'm hoping to build Worchle into a home for a variety of search-style games, so having the PWA open to the home page (which displays navigation links for all the puzzles currently on the site) has the benefit of helping those other puzzles (and the overall brand) get discovered.
It's a hard decision though as I do see the benefit of players being able to add specific games to their homescreen.
Another problem with separate manifests for games: since I'm using local storage for stats, multiple installs of different games on the site would also split up those stats. One install ensures all stats are kept together in a single homescreen bookmark.
Honestly though, I've been thinking about your comment for the past couple of days and I still don't know what the best decision is. It's a tough one.
Slightly confusing rounding to 2dp. E.g. 1/8 displays as 0.13. Maybe show another decimal or display target as fraction.
Good point thank you! I'll add another decimal point
This is pretty cool. My 6 year old is into word searches and math, so this seems like it will be a fun game for him.
Awesome, if he tries it out, let me know his thoughts! Hoping to make this fun for all ages.
You can choose a diagonal segment but it doesn't count even if the concatenated digits give the M.N.
Ya so as others have mentioned the M.N. needs to be made with a full expression (at the least, a starting number, operator, ending number). Going to try making this more clear on the instructions.
Thanks for your feedback!
Thanks for your feedback!
You need to have an operator in the middle, that is, 12 would be satisfied by a string of "5+7", not just by adjacent 5 and 7.
What about if there is a `1` next to a `2`, shouldn't you be able to click `1` and then `2` and it concatenates to `12`?
I think that's what parent meant.
I think that's what parent meant.
I didn't think of that, but wouldn't that be more about string operations than math?
That's a fantastic concept. I did pretty badly so it looks like I need to practice more.
Thanks for trying it out!
Fun, great concept.
Getting an error for pressing the addition button "2+" is a bit confusing.
Getting an error for pressing the addition button "2+" is a bit confusing.
Yeah it was confusing. Idea is to press first and the last number of the equation as far as I have understood. UX is wonky but I love such math challenges so it’s all cool.
Hey yeah so you need a full expression (at the least, a start number, operator, and end number) for it to be a valid highlight. Will try to make the instructions more clear for this
Could you change it so pressing the operator is a no op then? That way, press it or not, the result is the same.
Even knowing the instructions, I'm finding it very difficult not to press the operator tiles, as it just feels like a natural thing to do.
Love the game BTW, I'm getting my son on this tomorrow too, he'll love it :)
Even knowing the instructions, I'm finding it very difficult not to press the operator tiles, as it just feels like a natural thing to do.
Love the game BTW, I'm getting my son on this tomorrow too, he'll love it :)
Yup added this to the todos. Thanks for playing and appreciate the feedback!
I tapped a number, then an operator and was told it wasn't valid. Wordle and other games let you tap each tile to build up your answer.
The walkthrough tells you to only tap the start and the end of the equation.
Shouldn't it just ignore clicks on the "plus" squares then? I found it quite annoying.
Good point. Added to my todos. Thanks for your feedback!
Going to work on implementing this, thanks for playing and commenting!
After launching a daily word search game, I randomly thought of this math game while driving. Finally got around to making it and I think it turned out pretty cool.
It’s a math search game that’s meant to help you practice your quick addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills.
I’m hoping it’ll help people (even those like me who aren’t big on math) learn and increase their speeds.
(There are also some settings you can enable to make the game harder)
If you try it out, please let me know if you found it fun, if you have anything you’d like me to add, or if you have any other feedback.
And if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer. Much appreciated.