Working on fractions? Try a factoring game.
This seemingly simple arcade-style game features hand-drawn animated characters, classical music, a soothing underwater world, and a critically important educational mission. It’s a real game, not a thinly disguised quiz or flash cards. It creates a powerful metaphor between how the bubbles behave, and how numbers work.
Originally intended as a simple, healthy, math game for kids, clever Bubbly Primes players have repurposed it as:
- A classroom activity.
- A family quality-time game.
- A brain training exercise for adults.
Bubbly Primes is a non-violent game, with no ads, and no in-app purchases.
Once installed, it also doesn’t require internet access — it’s an offline game.
- “A really fun game that teaches kids about prime numbers and factoring,” - The Parenting Beyond Discipline podcast.
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How To Play
For a video, search for “How To Play Bubbly Primes”. It really only takes a few seconds to figure out the basic game.
- Tap “Start” to begin.
- Tap bubbles that contain composite numbers (numbers you can factor).
- As bubbles pop apart your score goes up.
- Keep popping them until they’re broken down to prime numbers.
- As prime numbers get to the top, they raise your score.
- Avoid tapping prime number bubbles. If you do, they’ll darken and fall to the bottom, lowering your score.
- As your score rises, playful critters appear.
- You can tap critters to change what they do.
- You can tap the water to make waves that move bubbles or critters.
- When a non-prime “composite” number gets to the top, it turns reddish and it’s too late to factor it.
- You can get rid of escaped bubbles by successfully factoring a rising bubble with the same number.
- Each time you achieve a new level, all escaped bubbles will go away, and you will get points for bubbles in the water.
- When five composites escape to the top, the round ends.
- If your score is one of the five highest, you can enter your name, and choose a critter for its symbol.
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Do you know the factors of 117 yet? The more you play, the more amazing your number skills will become.
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