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Board Games
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Board GameBagh-Chal
Four tigers against twenty goats on the old Alquerque grid. The tigers jump to eat; the goats never capture anything at all and win by leaving the tigers nowhere to go.
- Two sides with completely different jobs — play both
- Measured: four against twenty is fair once both sides know what they are doing
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameFour in a Row
Drop a disc into a column and it falls to the lowest free space. Make four of your own in a line — across, up or diagonally — before your opponent does.
- Four ways to play, including Pop Out — pull a disc out from the bottom
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- A computer opponent that understands threat parity, not just depth
Board GameMancala
Sow seeds around the board using Kalah rules, earn extra turns, capture from your opponent's side and fill your store before they fill theirs.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Four difficulty levels and three to six seeds a pit
- Extra turns, captures, undo and sound
Board GameMorabaraba
Place twelve cows, make a row of three on any line — including the diagonals — and shoot one of your opponent's. Reduce them to two cows and you have won.
- Twelve cows a side and four diagonals — twenty mills, not sixteen
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Pick your side: the first move is worth a great deal here
Board GameSea Battle
Hide a fleet on your own ten-by-ten grid, then call squares on theirs. Every miss is a pale dot, every hit a red cross, and the first player to sink the other fleet wins.
- Two rule sets: five ships that may touch, or ten that may not
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- A computer opponent that counts positions instead of guessing
Board GameSenet
Race five pieces along thirty squares, throw the sticks instead of dice, swap places with lone enemy pieces and get everybody past the House of Happiness before your opponent does.
- Throwing sticks, not dice — five throws with very uneven odds
- Swaps, protected pairs and three-piece blockades
- Three difficulty levels, measured against each other
Board GameFox and Geese
One fox against thirteen geese on the old cross board. The fox jumps to eat; the geese cannot capture at all and win by leaving him nowhere to go.
- Thirteen against one, and the one is favourite
- We computed the smallest possible cage — it takes four geese
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameReversi
Flank your opponent's discs to flip them to your colour. Hold the corners, keep your position small early on, and win the last few moves.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Four difficulty levels, from forgiving to no mercy
- Play as Black or White, with undo
Board GameSix Men's Morris
The shortest of the mill games. Place six men on sixteen points, make a row of three and take one of theirs — but there are no diagonals here, and nobody gets to fly.
- Sixteen points and eight mills — the smallest board in the family
- No flying: three men left means you fight your way out along the lines
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameOware
The West African sowing game. Capture on your opponent's side by leaving a pit on two or three seeds, feed them when they run dry, and take 25 of the 48 to win.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Four difficulty levels, from forgiving to no mercy
- Abapa tournament rules, including the grand slam
Board GameRoyal Game of Ur
Seven pieces, four dice and twenty squares — the oldest board game whose rules we can still read, written down on a clay tablet and dug back out in the 1980s.
- The oldest playable rules in the world, from a Babylonian tablet
- We measured where pieces actually get taken — one square holds a quarter of all captures
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameTwelve Men's Morris
The mill board with its corners joined: twenty rows of three instead of sixteen, twelve men a side, and a board that fills completely by the end of placing.
- Four diagonals turn sixteen mills into twenty
- Twelve men each on twenty-four points — the board fills exactly
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameNine Men's Morris
Place and move your nine pieces, form mills of three, capture enemy pieces and grind your opponent down to two.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Three computer difficulty levels
- Placing, moving and flying phases
Board GameThree Men's Morris
Three men each on a noughts-and-crosses grid. Nothing is ever captured — three in a row simply wins, and when the board fills you start sliding.
- No capturing at all: three in a row ends the game
- The centre is closed on move one — we solved the board to find out why
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameYut Nori
Four sticks, four horses and a square board with two diagonals. The long way round is 21 steps and the short way is 12 — and hitting the shortcut is most of the game.
- The game Korean families actually play at Lunar New Year
- We measured the four routes: 21, 17, 17 and 12 steps
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameGomoku
Place stones on the intersections and race to line up five. Block open threes, then win with a double threat your opponent cannot answer.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Three computer difficulty levels
- Ghost-stone move preview
Board GameSnakes and Ladders
A hundred squares, nine ladders, ten snakes. The traditional game has no decisions at all, which is why we could solve it exactly — so the board here gives you three pieces and a choice every turn.
- Three pieces each — you choose which one moves, and it matters (measured)
- 2 to 4 players, or against the computer
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
Board GameLudo
Roll a six to leave the yard, race your four pieces around the board and knock your rivals all the way back to the start.
- One to three computer opponents
- Captures and safe star cells
- Exact-roll finish
Board GamePachisi
Toss six cowrie shells and race four pieces out of the centre, once around the cross and back — but capture a rival first, or none of them may come home.
- Six cowrie shells instead of dice
- Play with up to 3 friends — send a link, chat at the table
- Twelve safe castle squares and blockades
Board GameAlquerque
Play the medieval ancestor of checkers. Move across the lined board, make compulsory captures and chain jumps together to clear the board.
- Easy, medium and hard difficulty
- Compulsory captures and chain jumps
- Play as White or Black
Board GameSurakarta
Race your pieces around the curved corner loops to strike enemies from directions they never see coming — a capture rule found in no other game.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Three computer difficulty levels
- Animated loop capture paths
Board GameShisima
Slide three water insects around a Kenyan pond and line them up through the centre. A game takes a minute; winning takes longer.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Three computer difficulty levels
- Fast one-minute games
Board GameCheckers
Three levels of computer opponent, or pass and play with a friend on one device.
- Three difficulty levels of computer opponent
- Pass and play with a friend on one device
- Mandatory captures and multiple jumps
Board GameChess
Learn chess one move at a time with legal-move highlights, helpful hints, opening names and a built-in coach that explains your options.
- Built-in coach and move suggestions
- Three computer difficulty levels
- Local two-player mode
Board GameHnefatafl
The full-size Viking hunt game. Twenty-four attackers seal the board while a king and twelve guards try to break out to a corner. An hour, not ten minutes.
- The full 11×11 Viking board
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Both sides playable, three computer levels
Board GameBrandubh
Eight hunters surround a king in the centre. He needs one corner; they need him. The only classic board game where the two sides play by different rules.
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- The rare board game where both sides want different things
- Three computer levels, play either side
Board GameTablut
Sixteen hunters against eight guards and a king, on the board Linnaeus sketched in Lapland in 1732. Every other tafl game is reconstructed from this one.
- The one tafl game with an eyewitness account
- Play a friend online — share a code and chat
- Middle size: bigger than Brandubh, quicker than Hnefatafl
Board GameHalma
Nineteen pieces each, opposite corners of a sixteen-by-sixteen board. Step one square, or chain jumps clear across it — nothing is ever captured, and the first camp to swap places wins.
- Step one square, or chain jumps most of the way across the board
- We measured it: a jump chain can reach seven squares before the corner, in one turn
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameHex
Red connects top to bottom, Blue connects left to right, one stone a turn, no captures. We solved the tiny boards ourselves to show why the swap rule exists at all.
- The swap rule, explained with our own solve of which openings actually win
- No draws — we exhaustively checked all 33.5 million 5x5 fillings
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameKonane
Every square starts full, black and white alternating. Jump an enemy piece to capture it — that is the only move there is, and whoever runs out of jumps first loses.
- Every move is a forced capture — there is no other kind
- A jump chain can turn corners between turns, never within one
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameXiangqi
Nine files, ten ranks, a river down the middle. The cannon needs a piece to jump before it can capture, the elephant can be blocked by a single stone two points away, and having no legal move at all is a loss here — not a draw.
- Every blocking rule tested against hand-built positions before shipping
- The cannon: harmless without a screen, lethal with exactly one
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameShogi
Nine by nine squares, and the rule that makes Shogi unlike any other chess variant: a captured piece never leaves the game. It joins your hand, and on a later turn it comes back onto the board as your own.
- The drop rule, tested against nifu, forced-square and pawn-drop-mate edge cases
- Pieces rotate to show who owns them — colour and orientation both
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameChinese Checkers
A 121-point star, ten pieces a side, opposite corners. Step or chain-jump across — nothing is ever captured — and be first to fill the point directly opposite your own.
- The real star board — not Halma's square one, on purpose
- A jump chain can turn any direction between hops
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameFanorona
A 5×9 board, 22 pieces a side, all but the centre point full. Capture is compulsory and comes two ways — approach or withdrawal — and a chain can turn corners between captures.
- Two capture directions from a single move — approach or withdrawal, your choice
- Capturing is mandatory whenever it's available, on this board and the real one
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameDominoes
Double-six set, 28 tiles, seven to a hand. Match a tile to either open end of the line, or draw when nothing fits — the first to empty a hand wins.
- Real hidden hands — the computer, and your online opponent, can't see your tiles
- Draw dominoes: no forced passing while the boneyard still has tiles
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameCarrom
Nineteen pieces racked at the centre, four corner pockets, one striker. Drag to aim and set power, and a real physics simulation — collisions, friction, rebounds — decides what happens next.
- A genuine physics engine — collisions, friction and rebounds are computed, never rolled
- The same 'ghost ball' aiming geometry real billiards players use, built into the computer opponent
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameAchi
Four men each on nine points — one more than Three Men's Morris, and just enough that only a single point stays empty once everyone's down.
- Four pieces a side instead of three — only one point stays empty after placing
- A row formed while still placing doesn't win outright — we had to compute why that matters
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GamePicaria
Thirteen points, not the usual nine — four extra points sit halfway between each corner and the centre, splitting every long diagonal into two short lines instead of one.
- A genuine thirteen-point board — not a repaint of the same nine-point grid every other game like it uses
- The centre connects to all eight neighbours — every row, column and short diagonal passes through it
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Board GameKaooa
One vulture against seven crows on a five-pointed star. The vulture jumps to eat; the crows cannot capture at all and win by leaving it nowhere to go.
- Solved here for the first time — and the crows win, which nobody had written down
- Measured: the vulture wins 4 games in 5 at casual strength, and none at all against perfect play
- Play a friend online — share a four-letter code, no sign-up
Board GamePong Hau K'i
Five points, four pieces, and never more than two moves to choose from. Slide into the gap; if you cannot move, you lose. The whole game is one shape you must never enter.
- The entire game solved and shown: all sixty positions, and the four that lose
- Measured: knowing one shape turns a coin toss into a 97.8 % win
- Play a friend online — a four-letter code, no sign-up
Dice Games
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Dice GameYatzy
Five dice, three rolls a turn, fifteen categories to fill. Two extra rows Yahtzee doesn't have, and several categories that score differently even where the names match.
- The real Scandinavian scorecard — fifteen categories, not Yahtzee's thirteen
- One Pair, Two Pairs, and a Full House that scores nothing for five of a kind
- Against the computer, a friend online, or two players on one device
Dice GameShut the Box
Roll two dice, close any open numbers adding up to the total, and keep going until nothing covers your roll. What is left standing is your score, and low wins.
- Nine, ten or twelve numbers — the count changes the game completely
- Every position solved exactly, so the odds on this page are computed, not guessed
- Play a friend over the internet — a four-letter code, no sign-up
Dice GameFarkle
Six dice, and one question asked over and over: bank what you have, or roll the rest and risk the lot. Roll nothing that scores and the whole turn is gone.
- Play a friend over the internet — a four-letter code, no sign-up
- The bank-or-roll decision solved exactly, and the answer is not 300
- Three computer levels; the strongest holds the whole value table
Dice GamePig
Roll one die and keep adding. Roll a 1 and the whole turn is gone. Stop whenever you like — and knowing when is the entire game.
- Every one of the million positions solved — the game can show you the right answer
- Play a friend over the internet, a four-letter code, no sign-up
- Three computer levels; the strongest plays the exact solution
Puzzle Games
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PuzzleTangram
Seven flat pieces cut from one square. They always cover the same area, so every silhouette needs all seven — the only question is which way round they go.
- All thirteen convex shapes, ordered easiest to hardest by solutions we counted
- Pieces snap to corners, so a solution is exact — never almost
- The famous square is last: it has exactly one solution
PuzzleOstomachion
One target shape and 536 different ways to reach it. The game is not solving the square — it is collecting the ways you have solved it.
- Every finished square is identified: which of the 536 you built, and whether it is new
- We ran the count ourselves and got Cutler's 536 — and the 17,152 behind it
- Turning your square round does not make it a second solution, and the check knows that
PuzzleCrates
Push every wooden crate onto its marked target while avoiding corners, blocked paths and moves that cannot be reversed.
- Classic warehouse puzzles
- Keyboard and touch controls
- Undo and quick restart
PuzzleInlay
Drop colourful blocks onto the grid, clear complete rows and columns, build combos and chase your best score. No timer, no pressure.
- No timer or pressure
- Row and column combos
- Saved high score
Math & Logic
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Math & LogicMENACE
A machine built from 304 matchboxes that learns noughts and crosses by throwing away the beads for moves that lost. It starts knowing nothing. Play it and watch it change.
- The 1961 original, rule for rule — beads, matchboxes and all
- Watch the box it opens and the beads it gains and loses
- Train it against a human, a random player or perfect play
Math & LogicTowers of Hanoi
The puzzle where the answer is known before you start: 2ⁿ−1 moves, never fewer. The question is whether you can find them — and the counter says the instant you cannot.
- Three to ten discs, with the target 2ⁿ−1 always in view
- A counter that tells you the moment you leave the shortest path
- Watch it solve itself, slowly, and see the recursion
Math & LogicNim
Take as many marks as you like from one row. Whoever takes the last one wins — or loses, if you agree that first. One line of binary decides every position, and the table on this page shows it live.
- Play a friend online with a table code, or the computer
- The nim-sum table runs live beside the board
- Normal and misère rules, with the ending that catches everyone
Math & LogicKnight's Tour
A knight, every square once, and never the same square twice. The rule that solves it is on the board while you play — and there is a two-player game hiding in the same rules.
- Warnsdorff's number printed on every square you can reach
- A duel for the same knight — online, with a table code
- Boards from 5×5 to 8×8, and the ones that have no tour at all
Math & Logic15 Puzzle
Slide the numbers into order. The catch nobody tells you: half of all possible scrambles cannot be solved at all, and you cannot see which by looking. This one tells you, and shows the arithmetic.
- A live solvability check — with the inversion count that proves it
- A button that deals a deliberately impossible scramble
- 3×3, 4×4 and 5×5, with an optimal solver on the smaller boards
Math & LogicDots and Boxes
Draw a line, close a box, go again. The rules take twenty seconds and the strategy takes years — because the winning move is usually the one that gives boxes away.
- Three grid sizes and three computer levels
- We solved the small boards exactly — the numbers are on this page
- Two players on one device, no account needed
Math & LogicPeg Solitaire
Thirty-three holes, one rule and exactly thirty-one jumps — never more, never fewer. What varies is only whether you strand yourself before the end.
- Undo as far back as you like — this is a puzzle, not a test
- Always exactly 31 jumps, and we show why that is not a coincidence
- A colouring rules out 28 of the 33 possible endings before you move
Math & LogicRiver Crossing
Four puzzles, three of them from the oldest surviving puzzle book. Getting everyone across is easy; doing it in the fewest crossings is the actual question.
- All three of Alcuin's river problems from around 800, plus missionaries and cannibals
- A light says whether you are still on a shortest route — computed, not guessed
- The wolf and goat puzzle has exactly two solutions, and we show the whole state graph
Retro & Arcade
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Retro ArcadeShatterbelt
Space has no brakes. Thrust turns into drift, drift turns into trouble, and the only way out is to point the other way and burn it off.
- A miss resets your multiplier — this is a precision game, not a spray game
- Only four of your shots exist at once, as in the 1979 original
- Small rocks are worth five times a large one, so splitting is the whole score
Retro ArcadeWarp Tunnel
Spin your ship around an endless neon tube and thread the gap in every ring. Hit them dead-centre to chain a perfect combo.
- One-axis controls, learned in seconds
- Perfect-gate combo scoring
- Saved high score
Retro ArcadeSprocket Tower
Climb a dangerous clockwork tower, dodge rolling gears, collect the golden wrench and rescue the songbird from the Foreman.
- Five handcrafted floors
- Power-ups and bonus points
- Endless high-score challenge
Retro ArcadeTouchdown
A free lunar lander game with real descent physics.
- Real descent physics — gravity never stops pulling
- Narrow pads pay more, and the fuel you save pays too
- Seeded terrain — every player flies the same level
Retro ArcadeHigh Noon
Study the wanted poster, pick the outlaw out of a street full of lookalikes and take the shot before he draws on you.
- Fresh wanted poster every contract
- Rifle sway, zoom and headshot bonus
- Five upgrades to earn
Retro ArcadeRetro Athletics
Run, jump and throw your way through six arcade athletics events. Build speed with alternating controls and time every action carefully.
- Six track-and-field events
- Keyboard and mobile controls
- Qualification targets and high scores
Retro ArcadeDark Spire
Defend your tower against waves of monsters, cast spells by hand, buy upgrades mid-wave and stack roguelike blessings into a new build every run.
- Twelve stackable blessings
- Three castable spells
- Boss wave every fifth round
Retro ArcadeGlimmer
Guide Glim through glowing neon mazes, collect every speck of light, avoid the four Shades and turn the chase around with power orbs.
- Four hunting Shades, each with its own targeting rule
- Three hand-built neon mazes, endless stages
- Keyboard, swipe or on-screen pad
Retro ArcadeRiver Hopper
Cross the traffic, then the river, one hop at a time and against the clock. The gaps keep moving, so the trick is not speed — it is knowing when to wait.
- Five hoppers to bring home before the level is done
- Three lives, and thirty seconds for each hopper
- Arrow keys or WASD on a computer, swipes or on-screen buttons on a phone