Number Hop: a multiplication game

How to play

Press Start and Dot, our round chalk runner, sets off across the chalkboard. A sign at the top shows a times tables fact, such as 7 × 8 = ?. Three wooden ledges float in from the right, each with a number on it. Pick the ledge with the answer and Dot jumps onto it.

1. Choose your tables (or Mixed 2–12) and ×, ÷ or Mixed questions.
2. Read the sign, then tap a ledge before it reaches Dot. One tap is all it takes: Dot jumps by itself.
3. The right ledge gives you stars and grows your streak. A wrong ledge crumbles into chalk dust, Dot tumbles back to the ground and you lose one of three hearts. The sign shows the correct fact so you can learn it.
4. Every sixth section is a count-up bridge: stepping stones like 7, 14, 21, ?, 35. Jump onto the missing stone.
5. A run lasts 30 sections or until your hearts run out. Your score is the distance you covered, plus a bonus for streaks.

Reduced motion: if your device is set to reduce motion, or you tick Reduce motion, Dot waits for you. There is no time limit, the world doesn't scroll, and nothing shakes or sparkles. The game also pauses by itself if you switch tabs.

What it teaches

Number Hop turns fact recall into movement. The ledge you choose is where Dot goes next, so the answer is the jump. That makes each fact feel like it matters, without a quiz sheet in sight.

• Fast recall: the ledges arrive in a few seconds, so children practise pulling a fact from memory instead of counting up every time. The game speeds up a little every 8 right answers.
• Skip counting: count-up bridges practise the sequence of multiples (7, 14, 21, 28…), the same pattern the table pages teach. From level 4 two stones are missing.
• Division as the inverse: in ÷ mode the sign shows 56 ÷ 7 and the ledges show the missing factor, which links each division fact to its multiplication fact.
• Mistakes that teach: every wrong pick shows the correct fact, and that fact comes back after three or four other questions, then again a little after that. Two misses in a row slow the game down. Count-up bridges start somewhere different each time.
• Easy facts first, then quickly on: each run warms up with ×1, ×2, ×5 and ×10, moves on to ×3 and ×4 after a couple of right answers, then ×6 to ×9 and ×11 and ×12. With one table picked, every fact comes up once before any of them repeats (missed facts still come back for practice).