The Devil's Calculator

[alias_sqbr]

The Devil's Calculator is a little algebra puzzle game about figuring out what various functions do and then using them to create the number 666. I've been having a lot of fun with it, but if you don't already think algebra is fun this game will probably not convince you otherwise.

The first 20 levels are free, and I feel like the early levels would be pretty doable for anyone with an ok grasp of basic algebra.

I'm at level 39 now and some of the later levels have been moderately challenging(*), and I'm not sure how anyone could have solved some of them without knowing (or knowing to look up) equations like the sum of all integers between 1 and x, the number of combinations of k objects chosen from a set of size n, etc. Which is still highschool level, but the sort of thing most adults will have forgotten unless they studied maths further.

(*)I have a Phd in abstract algebra, but that was a long time ago, and I'm not always great at puzzles, so it's hard to calibrate exactly how hard they are objectively. But definitely not easy for anyone who doesn't have a strong background in algebra.

Comments

[lea_hazel]

I am game to try it and see if anything I learned comes back to me.

[lea_hazel]

I can now report that I played 5 or 6 levels and it wasn't too difficult, and very fun. I'll probably keep playing the demo another time, to see how far I can get.

[alias_sqbr]

I'm glad!