How it works
the rules
- Right and inside par: +1 ✱. Twice as fast as par: +2 ✱. Right but slow: XP only. Bigger problems pay more.
- Wrong: nothing, and no penalty. Every miss shows the method.
- Finish a round inside its par, most right: bonus ✱. All right: +10 more.
- XP raises your level. Levels open courses. Harder courses pay more XP.
- Win 3 of your last 4 rounds and the course rests. It comes back as a review; pass it and it rests longer. A resting course pays no ✱.
- Every 7 days in a row: a bonus that makes that week count 1.2×, then 1.3×, 1.4×, 1.5× for the weeks after. Claim it when it's ready; it waits for you. Miss a day and the bonus you were building is gone, and your bonus drops a step.
- Today's box: 10 problems that start easy and step up as you solve. Solve or toss. Solve one from a locked course and you get a trial key. Your first 3 boxes are free; then a box costs up to ✱ 10 plus 1¼ per level, and less while you're earning less.
- ✱ buys looks and the daily box. Every ✱ has a receipt.
✱ and the shop
You earn ✱ for mastery: a right answer inside par, a round finished inside its par, passed reviews, the daily box, achievements and the weekly streak bonus. It buys the daily box (after your first 3) and looks in the shop, never progress. Every ✱ that comes in or goes out has a receipt in your wallet.
XP and levels
Every right answer earns XP, in every mode: rounds, reviews, trials, the daily box, level checks and Learn (1 XP a try-one, up to 10 a day per course). Slow answers and resting courses earn less, never nothing. XP raises your level, from 1 to 60; each level opens courses, and some open shop items, titles and features. XP is never spent, so your level never goes down.
Par
Par is the target time on each problem. Right and inside par pays ✱, and within half of par pays twice as much. Right but over par pays XP only. Reviews and trials give 1.5× the par, because their problems are harder. Typing time is on us: the clock gives back about 0.15 s for each character of the answer.
Misses and skips
A wrong answer costs nothing: no ✱ or XP is taken away, and every miss shows the method. A skip counts as a miss when the round is scored.
Rounds
A round is up to 12 problems from one course. It's a win at 90% right within 2 times the round's par. Finish inside its par with 70% right for a bonus, and with every answer right for ✱ 10 more. Problems get harder as you get them right, and harder ones pay more XP.
Resting
Win 3 of your last 4 rounds of a course (a win is at least 90% right, within 2 times the round's par) and it rests. Practice stays open but pays no ✱. The first rest is 1 day; when it ends, the course comes back as a review.
Reviews
A review is a round of harder problems at 1.5× par. Pass it with 80% right within 3 times the round's par and the next rest is longer: 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days, then mastered (back every 90 days). Miss it and the course is active again until you win it back.
Trials
Already know a course? Take its trial: 12 problems, 11 right within 3 times its par. Every right answer earns XP. Pass and a locked course opens; either way it goes straight to a 3-day rest, and its first review pays a bonus. You can take the trial for a course that opens within 10 levels of yours, or for any course you hold a trial key for. If you miss, try again the next day.
Trial keys
A trial key belongs to one course you haven't opened yet: with it you can take that course's trial before you reach its level. You earn one by solving a box card from that course, or by showing you know it in Find my level. It's good until the same day next week. Pass the trial and the course opens for good; trying doesn't use the key up. Keys aren't spent, stored or sold. A course you hold a key for shows the key icon right after its name: hover over it, or tap it, to see until when.
Streaks and the weekly bonus
A day counts once you get 5 answers right in the warm-up, rounds or the daily box (days turn over at 3 a.m.). Two days in a row start a streak. The streak bonus pays every 7 days: count 7 days in a row and a bonus is ready to claim on day 8, and everything you earned that week counts 1.2× (+20%). Every week in a row pays its own bonus, and each one counts more: 1.3×, 1.4× and 1.5×. A finished bonus waits until you claim it: claim it with the "Claim your weekly bonus" button on the home page, or "Claim bonus" at the top of any page. Miss a day and the streak starts over, the week you were building pays nothing, and your bonus drops a step (never below 1.2×).
The daily box
A new box every day: 10 problems that start well inside what you've shown you can do and climb as you solve them (down when you miss or toss), from courses across every subject. Solve each one or toss it (Esc twice). Harder cards pay more XP and ✱, and finishing with at least 2 right earns a bonus you claim on the box summary ("Claim box bonus"); it waits until you do. Your first 3 boxes are free; after that a box costs ✱, shown before you buy: at most 10 plus 1¼ per level, and less while you're earning less. As you level up, keeping the box paying for itself means handling harder cards. Nothing bad happens on a day without a box.
The shop
✱ buys looks: themes, titles, frames, and what flies into your wallet. Some open at higher levels. A look is bought once and kept, and nothing in the shop changes your pay, your level or your box.
Achievements
Achievements pay a one-time ✱ bonus for milestones: your first round, a 7-day streak, level 10 and more. Your page lists them all, including three secret ones.
Learn
Every course has a Learn page: the idea in plain words, quick techniques with worked examples, the usual mistakes, and untimed practice. Each right try-one earns 1 XP, up to 10 XP a day per course; an answer typed after you ask for the method earns none. Learn pays no ✱ and doesn't count toward your streak. Two right answers there mark the lesson practiced.
Find my level
An untimed check per subject: up to 12 problems, one course at a time, starting where you are. A right answer moves you up; two wrong answers end it. Each right answer earns half XP, because there's no clock, and no ✱. For each locked course you show you know, you get a trial key for 7 days. One check per subject per day.
levels and what they open
Every level opens new courses. Along the way, levels open the rest of the app:
| level | opens |
|---|---|
| 2 | The daily box (your first one opens on your second day, free) |
| 3 | The shop, Friends & people, Your public page |
| 5 | The leaderboard |
In your head, or on paper
Every problem shows how to work it. Doing math in your head is the point of this app, so mental courses say so, and the multi-step ones say pen and paper is fine. Most problems work out by hand: they are built with numbers chosen for that, and par is set for working that way, so a calculator would only skip the arithmetic the course is practicing. A few ask for a rounded square root, trig ratio or long power, and those say when a calculator helps.
- Best in your head: This course trains mental math: work each problem in your head, without pen, paper or a calculator. That is the skill it builds. For example mental arithmetic, fraction and percent basics, estimation and quick techniques.
- In your head, jot if needed: Work it in your head; writing down a number or two to hold it is fine. Skip the calculator: the numbers are chosen to work out by hand (the few problems that need one say so). For example most business, accounting, bookkeeping and pre-algebra courses.
- Pen and paper is fine: These problems take a few steps, so write them down. Most won't need a calculator: the numbers are chosen to work out by hand (the few that do say so). For example multi-step finance, algebra, statistics, calculus, linear algebra and beyond.