Casual Math Game Platform

zzstation

About this game

25 board, logic and number games in one app. Free, no ads, no account needed.

It started simply: I wanted my kid to practise mental arithmetic and logic without it feeling like homework. Every game meant another app, and the moment an ad popped up he was playing the ad instead. So I built the ones I actually wanted him to play, and put them all in one place.

■ THE 25 GAMES

Board games: Chess, Chinese Chess (Xiangqi), 9x9 Go, Othello, Gomoku, Connect Four, Mancala, Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, Battleship

Puzzles: Sudoku, Minesweeper, Slide Blocks, 2048, Sliding Number Puzzle, Infinite Roll, Circle Pyramid

Numbers and mental math: 24 Point Math, Flash Math, Prime Climb, Ultimate Code (1A2B), Countdown Numbers

Party and multiplayer: Werewolf, Grab the Candy, Memory Match, Morse Code

■ TEN DIFFICULTY LEVELS, FROM "MY KID CAN WIN" TO "I CAN'T"

The bottom rungs are deliberately weakened, so a child playing their very first game can actually win one. The top ones beat me. Win a level and the result screen offers you the next one straight away, with a gold trophy for clearing them all.

The ladder reaches that high because the solo opponent is wired to top open-source engines:

• Chess -> Stockfish 18
• Chinese Chess -> Pikafish
• 9x9 Go -> KataGo and GNU Go
• Othello -> Egaroucid
• Gomoku -> Rapfi

(Chess and xiangqi have four tiers instead of ten, topped by "hell".)

■ 3300+ LEVELS, AND THE DIFFICULTY RATINGS MEAN SOMETHING

• Slide Blocks, 2000 levels: the "minimum moves" number on screen is exact, so you always know whether you took the long way round
• Sudoku, 1250 puzzles: the five tiers are graded by which solving techniques you need, not by how many blanks there are - and every puzzle is solvable by pure logic, so you never have to guess
• Morse Code, 51 levels: one new character per level, taught in the order that actually makes it stick

■ REAL-TIME ONLINE PLAY

21 of the games play online. Random matchmaking, or open a room and send a friend the link or QR code. Lose your connection mid-game and you can rejoin the same match - dropping out does not simply hand your opponent the win.

■ ALSO

• Plays offline: single-player games keep running with no connection at all
• Eight languages: English, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español, Deutsch, Français, Português (Brasil)
• Signing in is entirely optional - only needed for cross-device saves and leaderboards
• Android TV support: phone, tablet, desktop and TV - the whole platform is playable with just a TV remote's D-pad or a gamepad
• Two leaderboard styles, and you can simply leave them off

Bug reports and suggestions very welcome: [e-mail]
Web version, no install: https://math.zzstation.com/

What’s new

Three new games: Sudoku (1,250 puzzles, five tiers by solving technique), Connect Four and Mancala - solo, two-player on one device, or online.

Redesigned end-of-game screen: see how you won or lost. The winning line, checkmate paths in chess and xiangqi, territory in Go, the opponent's fleet in Battleship. Collapse the card to study the board.

Android TV support: playable with just the remote's D-pad.

Easier computer levels recalibrated; reconnection and matchmaking fixes.