Tech Tinker Club · 99 Club Studio

Maths Games & Puzzles help

A complete guide to choosing the maths, selecting and configuring puzzles, building printable packs, using worked examples and understanding every game in the library.

← Back to Games & Puzzles

Quick start: select one or more teaching focuses, pick compatible games, configure their difficulty, then generate and download the pupil sheets and matching answers.

Make a printable puzzle pack in four steps

1

Choose the maths

Select precise teaching focuses such as multiplication & division, factors & multiples, fractions, angles or area & rectangles.

2

Choose the games

Open a game category and tick any compatible puzzle. Selected categories stay highlighted so you can see the pack structure at a glance.

3

Configure each game

Choose Easy, Standard, Challenge or Mixed where available, then adjust specialist settings such as grid size, clue level or number of items.

4

Generate and download

Review the pages, replace anything you do not want, then download pupil sheets, the matching answer key, or one combined PDF.

Choose the maths

The Games section uses a teaching-focus selector rather than broad curriculum buckets or a Year filter. The visible choices are deliberately precise so that a teacher can ask for something meaningful such as Factors, multiples & primes or Area, rectangles & factor pairs.

There is no Year selector. Choose the mathematics you want to practise and Studio handles a sensible internal number scale for automatic puzzle settings. Each game’s Easy / Standard / Challenge control remains the main way to tune reasoning difficulty.

Teaching-focus groups

Number

Place value & number order; factors, multiples & primes; square numbers.

Calculation

Addition & subtraction; multiplication & division; inverse and missing-number relationships; mixed mental calculation.

Fractions, decimals & ratio

Fractions; decimals & percentages; ratio & scale.

Measurement

Measures & unit conversions.

Geometry & spatial reasoning

Angles & turns; area, rectangles & factor pairs; shape, space & grid reasoning.

Statistics, patterns & algebra

Statistics & averages; sequences & patterns; algebra & equations.

You can select several focuses at once. A game is offered when it genuinely fits at least one of the selected focuses. This is why, for example, Shikaku appears for Area, rectangles & factor pairs, while Property Maze is especially useful for Factors, multiples & primes.

Teaching focus filters suitable games; it does not silently rewrite a game’s own rules. If a puzzle supports an exact operation choice, use its Configure panel to choose it. Games designed around mixed arithmetic may still use their normal operation mix.

Choose games without losing track of the library

The library is organised into accordion categories: Vocabulary & language, Number patterns & structures, Arithmetic & calculation, Algebra & relationships, and Number logic & grids.

Open a category to see its compatible games. Tick games one by one, use Select compatible when you want the whole category, or use Clear / Clear all games to start again. Categories containing selected games remain highlighted and show their selected count.

The Selected games tray is the quickest way to review the final pack. It shows each included puzzle and a short summary of the saved configuration.

Difficulty and game-specific options

Difficulty is saved per game. Choosing Challenge for Kakuro does not make the Word Search Challenge as well.

Easy

Usually smaller grids, more givens, shorter routes, simpler operations or fewer competing possibilities.

Standard

The normal classroom balance: enough clues to get started, but enough uncertainty to require reasoning.

Challenge

Larger or denser puzzles, fewer givens, richer operations and more competing possibilities before a deduction becomes forced.

Mixed

Where offered, a pack can deliberately mix Easy, Standard and Challenge versions of the same game using the chosen proportions.

Many games add specialist controls: grid size, number of clues, allowed operations, number of rectangles, route length, word directions and similar settings. Auto is normally the safest starting point because Studio combines the selected teaching focus with the game difficulty to choose sensible defaults.

Build the pack

Choose how many sheets to make and how many activities should appear on each sheet. When several games are selected, Studio rotates through them rather than filling the whole pack with one game.

Generate new version keeps the teaching settings but changes the seed, giving a fresh set of puzzles. The matching answer sheets are generated from the same seed and solution data.

Everything is generated locally in the browser. School names, logos, custom vocabulary and puzzle choices are not uploaded as part of generating a pack.

Worked examples at the front of the pack

Set Worked examples → At front to add one simpler practice example for every selected game before the pupil sheets.

Each example has the same structure: Goal, a visual or mini-example, Rules, numbered Worked steps, a Tip and a Watch out. The example uses separate practice data, so it never gives away the generated puzzle that follows.

These pages are useful when a puzzle type is new to the class, for independent work, intervention groups or a printed reference kept next to the activity.

Review and replace before printing

Use the Pupil / Answers toggle above the preview to inspect both sides of the pack. The preview is primarily a review tool; the downloaded PDF is the print target.

The circular ↻ control beside an activity replaces only that puzzle using the same game and difficulty. Word Search also has a smaller replacement control beside an individual term, allowing one word + definition pair to be swapped without rebuilding the rest of the pack by hand.

Replacing an activity does not change the teaching focus or the game configuration. It simply asks the same engine for another valid puzzle.

Personalise the pack

The optional personalisation section can add an editable pack title, school name, class/year label, date and school logo. Leave any field blank if it is not needed.

These details are remembered in the current browser. The logo is resized locally before being placed into the generated PDF.

PDFs and answer sheets

There are three download choices:

1

Pupil sheets PDF

Printable activities, plus worked examples first if they were enabled.

2

Answer key PDF

The same generated puzzles completed or marked with their unique solutions.

3

Pupil sheets + answers

One combined file containing the pupil pack followed by the teacher answers.

The PDF is generated directly by Studio rather than by the browser’s normal page-print layout. This keeps worksheet dimensions, puzzle grids, headers and answer overlays predictable.

How to play every game

This searchable library covers all 33 current one-player games. Open any game for a pupil-friendly guide with the goal, rules, a concrete example, solving strategy, tip and common mistake. Each guide can also be printed as a clean A4 reference sheet.

33

The guides are static reference material. Opening or printing one cannot change the puzzle currently selected on the Games page.

Troubleshooting

A game is greyed out

It does not currently fit the selected teaching focus. Broaden the teaching focus or choose another related area of maths.

No games are selected

Open a category and tick at least one compatible game. You can also use Select compatible inside a category.

The preview looks cramped

The browser preview is a working preview. Check the PDF before judging print layout; the PDF exporter uses its own fixed A4 geometry.

A puzzle is not suitable

Use ↻ to replace only that activity, or change that game’s difficulty/options and generate a new version.

I want the full game rules

Use the searchable How to play library above. Each guide can be printed separately for pupils.

Something looks genuinely broken

Keep the game name, difficulty and selected options if possible. Those details make a generator problem much easier to reproduce.