These games may seem simple. And well... they are. Just like math is simple too. But don't be fooled. Underneath it all, 1234MATH is complex and sophisticated. As math is too.
These games teach math through experience and intuition rather than trial and error. Through flow and joy rather than force and frustration.
Each game has its own philosophy and approach, but they share one goal: To give students a deep, intuitive feeling for mathematics.
The app has four games total. Three focus on basic operations (plus and minus combined into one), and the fourth game, "1234", develops hand-eye coordination, overview skills, and average calculations.
1234math offers adaptive learning that's sometimes visible and controllable, sometimes working invisibly behind the scenes in ways not seen before.
Let's explore each game: their settings, gameplay, and the philosophy behind them.
Controls: Arrow keys (↑↓←→) to move player
Before starting, you'll see a few options to customize your experience:
Your options:
When ready, press the little flashing button. The game begins, and you'll notice the start button has become the player. This is a signature feature across all the basic operation games.
How it works: The player grows or shrinks as they collect dots. Some positive, some negative. A quick visual of each calculation appears on the player.
Yes, there's a little Pac-Man DNA here. But these monsters can't be eaten. However, they change behavior when the player enters "black hole state" (when your value drops below zero). Now you attract enemies, and their straight-line movement slowly bends toward you.
Seven levels await, with more collectible dots per level as you advance. New levels begin immediately when the last dot is collected. You'll flash briefly at each new level. That's invincibility mode, also triggered when enemies cost you a life.
Keep your eyes open for extra lives in two of the levels. And watch out: sometimes dots hide behind on-screen text.
Final challenge: For the top score of 500, stay alert. Late in the game, you'll grow so large that corner dots become unreachable. Grab them early!
Pro-Tip: Can the student reach a specific number the teacher suggests?
Controls: Left/Right arrows (←→) to choose lane
Pure multiplication tables. Four toggle options let you adapt difficulty, plus a slider to choose which number ranges to work with. Each playthrough covers 10 different problems.
Your options:
Choose higher numbers when 1-10 feels easy. Higher tables challenge most students with unfamiliar territory.
Quick decisions required: You start center-road and must choose left or right before the first number arrives. Choose wrong or hesitate too long? Game over. Complete all 10 without error? Thumbs up victory!
Pro-tip: Have students say the correct table answers out loud during play for maximum learning.
Controls: Spacebar to jump
This is where it all began. As a teacher, I saw firsthand how fractions challenged both students AND teachers. This topic is genuinely hard to teach, so this game helps everyone.
I wanted adaptive, inspiring gameplay where challenge and learning become their own reward. The philosophy draws from flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi) and Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky).
Simple challenge: Choose the larger of two fractions. Values never exceed 1. After your choice, see the values as circle diagrams and percentages.
Endless runner format: You run continuously left to right. Only control? Spacebar to jump. Bigger fraction on top? Jump. Bigger fraction on bottom? Don't jump.
Simple surface, complex depths.
What you see: Two circles in the corners change colors showing game state. Top-left shows flow (purple for frustration, yellow for neutral, green for flow). Top-right shows difficulty level across six stages (violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red). Most never reach the hardest level.
What you don't see: A sophisticated system monitoring over thirty factors. Response patterns, streaks, micro-hesitations, recovery speeds. It doesn't just track right and wrong answers.
When frustration threatens, invisible safety nets appear. When flow emerges, the system fiercely protects that precious state. What feels effortless and natural runs on years of research translated into code.
The goal: Students don't just master fractions. They discover mathematics can bring genuine joy rather than defeat.
That transformation changes everything.
Pro-Tip: After some play, ask if the student can explain how it feels when a fraction is bigger.
Controls: Keys 1-4 to select pathway, then Left/Right arrows (←→) to steer
The final game differs from the rest. It doesn't represent a mathematical operation but engages with math in other ways.
The challenge: Steer four objects through obstacles across four pathways. Objects move automatically bottom-to-top in their lanes. You choose pathways (keys 1-4) then control objects left-right with arrow keys.
Each pathway has 1-4 obstacles. Four levels with increasing speed and challenge. Setup stays consistent: four pathways, different obstacle counts, four moving objects.
Scoring complexity: 100% requires all four objects reaching the top safely. But scoring depends on which pathways you completed. Pass only the 1-obstacle pathway? 10%. Add the 3-obstacle pathway? 30% more. And so on.
Complete all four levels? Your overall score adds the four levels together and divides by four.
Think fast. Or maybe better, don't think at all. The game reaches nearly impossible speeds toward the end, making perfection incredibly challenging.
Pro-Tip: I believe 100% total score is humanly impossible, but I hope to be proven wrong someday.
I hope many students and teachers find value in 1234MATH. It's a labour of love based on my teaching experience and master's degree in philosophy of education.
Math shouldn't connect with feelings of inferiority and frustration. My ambition: 1234MATH gives students confidence in their mathematical abilities and maybe even sparks joy for the wonderful world of mathematics.