Sum puzzle online
Target Sums · Logic · 15 levels
A grid of numbers with a target at the end of each row and column. Remove numbers until every line adds up to its target.
Free up to level 5, 15 levels in all.
How to play
- Press Start. The targets are at the end of each row and column.
- Tap a number to remove it. Only one set of numbers works.
- A finished row or column gets a check mark.
- Removing a number that has to stay costs a life, you have three.
A sum puzzle online with one rule
This number puzzle will run in the browser and inside Telegram, with nothing to install, and you play it by tapping or clicking numbers. Every row and every column of the grid has a target, shown at its end. Some numbers in the grid are extra. Remove them until the numbers left in each row and each column add up to the target.
If you have played Sumplete, you know the idea. Here every puzzle has exactly one solution, the game checks each removal as you make it, and a wrong removal is refused and costs a life. There is no undo, because a wrong removal never stays.
From level 1 to 15
The first two levels are 3×3 grids with numbers from 1 to 9, where you remove 3 and then 4 numbers. Levels 3 to 5 are 4×4, levels 6 to 9 are 5×5, and levels 10 to 15 are 6×6. On the largest grids you remove 13 to 18 of the 36 numbers.
A narrow range of numbers makes a grid harder. Levels 5, 8 and 12 use only 1 to 5, and level 13 uses only 1 to 4. With small numbers many different sets add up to the same total, so each deduction needs more of the grid.
Negative numbers make it harder in a different way. They appear on levels 9 and 14, with numbers from −5 to 9, and on level 15. Removing a negative number makes the sum bigger, not smaller, and a row can reach its target while a pair like 3 and −3 still has to go. On level 15 the numbers run from −9 to 9, with no zero.
The game shows how many numbers you have removed out of how many need to go. The numbers and the targets stay hidden until you press Start.
How the points work
Each right removal earns 10 points plus a speed bonus of up to 10. The bonus depends on the time since your previous right removal, or since Start for the first one, and drops about one point per second. A removal in under half a second after the last one earns the full 10, and from 9.5 seconds it earns nothing. The best score for a level is 20 points per number that has to go, so 60 on level 1 and 360 on level 15.
Removing a number that has to stay costs a life. After three the level ends and the points you have are kept.
Points and your best show how you did in this puzzle. We do not claim that it improves anything outside the game.
What is a good result
We have no player norms for this puzzle yet and will not make them up. A useful measure is how many lives you have left. Clearing a 6×6 grid with no mistakes shows that every removal was right. Once you manage that, work on the pace.
Tips
Start with lines where the difference is obvious. Add up a row, subtract its target, and see what has to go. If a row sums to 23, the target is 17 and the row has a single 6, that 6 is a strong candidate. Check the column before you tap.
A row or a column with nothing to remove is marked done from the start, and every number in it stays. On levels without negative numbers, that is every line whose numbers already add up to its target.
When a row or a column is finished, it gets a check mark and the numbers left in it are circled. They are locked, and you cannot remove them by mistake. A finished row narrows the choice in every column that crosses it, and the other way round.
With small numbers, think in terms of which sets are possible. A difference of 4 in a row of 1s to 4s can be one 4, a 3 and a 1, two 2s, and so on. Check the crossing columns to narrow the options.
With negatives, remember that removing −3 adds 3. A row that is below its target may need a negative number to go.
On a keyboard, the arrow keys move between numbers and Enter or Space removes the one in focus.
Similar games
If you want arithmetic with a clock, try Bigger Sum, where you pick the larger of two results. Pipes is another puzzle with exactly one solution, where you turn tiles until the pipes form one network.
Questions
- Is this the same as Sumplete?
- The rule is the same idea, remove numbers to hit the row and column targets. Our puzzles are generated for each attempt, every one has a single solution, and wrong removals cost a life.
- Can a puzzle have two solutions?
- No. Before a puzzle is shown the game checks every possible set of removals and keeps the grid only if exactly one set works.
- Is there an undo button?
- No. A wrong removal is refused, so the grid never keeps a mistake.
- Is it free?
- Levels 1 to 5 will be free in the browser and in Telegram. The full version opens all levels for a one-time payment, with no subscription.
- How long does a level take?
- There is no time limit, and we have no typical times from players yet. Time only changes the speed bonus.