The New York Times announced last week that it would stop publishing Numbers, a math puzzle game launched in beta in April. The last of these daily math puzzles will take place on August 8.
Numbers are a fun game. This has earned me a spot in my daily rotation of little games I play when I need a little break from writing (for the record, you all sleep on it World). You have six numbers that you can add, subtract, multiply and divide to get another specific number. Yes, it helps if you’re good at math and can do some simple calculations to see if your solution to the puzzle will work, but the game does the math for you. It’s just vibrations, baby. Add some numbers, multiply them, subtract other numbers, see how you do.
It’s unclear why The New York Times is ceasing production of Digits, but the company says it was never intended to be a permanent game.
“We have always approached our experience with Digits as a limited-time beta test,” a New York Times spokesperson said. “During this time, we have learned a lot about how players have engaged with the game and we are grateful for their feedback.”
At the risk of sounding like a baby boomer, I think math gets a bad rap these days, and I’m afraid you haven’t given Digits a fair chance. I think people of my generation like to joke that they can’t do math, but I think we’re smarter than that! It’s not our (or teachers’) fault that America’s public education system is underfunded and lacks sufficient resources, and it’s difficult to learn precalculus in a class with 35 hormonal teenagers. Math is cool as hell. Didn’t you grow up watching ViHart on Youtube? Didn’t you meet a guy in college with a Euler’s identity tattoo?
For me and the (probably five) other people who have played this game, the only consolation is that another New York Times beta test game, Connections, kicks ass. You are given 16 names and you must sort them into the correct four groups of four. Sometimes a category is simple, like “modes of transportation.” Sometimes they’re a little trickier, like “band names minus colors.”
Regardless, I will miss my daily little math puzzles. I guess I’ll have to keep trying my hand at crosswords.