Free online mental arithmetic games, timed
Mental arithmetic · 13 games
Mental arithmetic draws on memorised number facts (times tables, number bonds), strategies (splitting, rounding) and working memory to hold intermediate results. Speed comes with practice.
How these games use it
These games chain short calculations against the clock: judge whether a sum is right, find two numbers that add up to a target, sort results or fractions. A mistake costs time: accuracy matters as much as speed.
Play nowThe games
- Math Rush
- Each tile hides a sum. Tap them from the smallest to the largest result.
- True or False
- Sums scroll by: say as fast as you can whether they are right. A mistake costs time.
- Put in Order
- Integers, decimals, fractions, negatives: tap them from smallest to largest.
- Target Sum
- Out of 6 numbers, tap the two that add up to the target, round after round.
- Target Number
- Tap a number, an operation, then another number: they are replaced by the result. Additions, subtractions (positive result), multiplications and exact divisions; you do not have to use every tile. Hit the target as fast as you can; undo and restart are available.
- Pyramid
- A card is playable once nothing covers it. Kings count 13 and go alone, queens (12) pair with aces, jacks (11) with twos. The top waste card plays too; draw when stuck.
- Math Racer
- Read the sum, then line the car up with the gate showing the right answer before it arrives. Each right gate scores a point; a wrong one costs a life. The gates come faster and faster.
- Number Series
- 3, 7, 11, 15… ? Pick the next number out of 4 choices, series after series.
- Kakuro
- Each run of white cells adds up to the number in the black cell next to it, using different digits from 1 to 9.
- Calcudoku
- Each digit once per row and column. The digits in a cage give its result with its operation: sum, product, difference or quotient (two cells).
- Killer Sudoku
- Each digit from 1 to 9 once per row, column and box. The cells of a dotted cage add up to its number, with no digit repeated inside the cage.
- Matchsticks
- Tap a match to pick it up, then an empty spot (dotted) to put it down: a digit or the sign changes. When the sum is right, the next puzzle comes. At expert and hardcore levels you move two. Fastest wins.
- Yatzy
- Tap the dice to keep, then “Roll” (two rerolls a turn). Then pick the box of the score sheet to fill: each box is used once. 63 points or more in the upper section give a 35-point bonus. Your friend gets the same dice: choose better.
Getting the most out of it
Play a few minutes regularly rather than one long session; start on easy, then move up a level once your time settles; compare yourself with yourself from one day to the next. These games are first and foremost entertainment: they draw on these abilities, but they are not a medical device, and progress in a game does not guarantee progress elsewhere. What they offer: a few minutes of active focus, measured, that you can compare from one day to the next and with your friends.