My daughter just finished first grade and is about to turn seven. One day, she noticed me playing a math puzzle on a news site and asked if she could join. I told her that when an easy one came along, I’d be happy to solve it with her.
A few days passed. She asked again.
I didn’t want to say no, so I offered to sketch a similar game on paper. But designing a good puzzle turned out to be more challenging than expected. I scribbled a lightweight version instead—and that sparked an idea. I asked if she’d like to build a game together.
1. Math Grid
This was our first game. It’s a visual puzzle: players are given a grid with some numeric constraints on rows and columns, and the goal is to fill it in correctly. Inspired by logic puzzles like Sudoku and Kakuro, the constraints are simplified for early elementary-level arithmetic, so it stays approachable while still encouraging reasoning.
2. Number Detector
Later, while solving exercises from her school workbook, we came across number riddles. This inspired our second app. In Number Detector, the player is given partial clues (like a number’s sum of digits or a multiple constraint) and has to figure out the correct number from a limited set.
We added randomness and regeneration to keep things fresh, making the practice repeatable and varied.
3. Triangle Tactics
A month later, while playing a pen-and-paper strategy game, she casually said: “Let’s make it into an app—like we did in the old days.” 🙂
Her request blew my mind.
We built Triangle Tactics, a simple turn-based game where players connect dots to form triangles, and the player who forms the most triangles wins. What surprised me most was the technical challenge—not in the game logic, but in rendering the dots and lines correctly. It was solved only after switching to a different LLM model than the default.
Reflections
These experiments turned into more than just games. They became opportunities to:
- Understand the importance of English: We worked in English—despite it not being our native language—and talked about why fluency matters, especially when working with tools, prompts, or documentation.
- Explore computers as collaborators: “What do you mean it misunderstood the prompt?”, “How should we ask to get the result we want?”
- Practice QA thinking: “Why isn’t this button working?”, “Is it behaving the way we expected?”
- Enjoy quality time: A fun excuse to step outside our usual routines and build something together.
Tom Ron 