Math practice · reimagined
Multiplication Game
This multiplication fighting game starts with equal rows such as 7 rows of 5, then climbs past the times tables to Olympic problems like 482 × 37. Your rival faces the same problem, so each fact you know by heart is a punch thrown first.
Ages 4–99+ · no download · plays in your browser · 23 languages
What is multiplication?
Multiplication finds the total of several equal groups in one step. We write it with the sign ×, said “times”. The numbers you multiply are called factors, and the answer is the product. Picture a building with 3 floors and 5 windows on every floor. That is 3 × 5, so the building has 15 windows.
Example: what is 7 × 8?
- Split the 7 into 5 and 2, because fives and twos are easy to work with.
- Five eights make 40, and two eights make 16.
- Put the two parts back together: 40 + 16 = 56.
- So 7 × 8 = 56, and 56 is the product you type.
Learn it step by step
Multiplying is fast adding of the same number over and over.
3 × 4 means "three groups of four" — like 4 + 4 + 4 — which is 12. Picture 3 baskets with 4 apples each: 12 apples in all.
These are the times tables. The more you practice, the more your brain just remembers them — no counting needed. Type the product.
Tips and common mistakes
- Check any answer in the nines: from 9 × 2 to 9 × 10, the digits of the product always add up to 9, as in 27, 54 and 81.
- A common slip is forgetting the carry. In 26 × 3, the ones make 18, so 1 ten carries over and the tens become 7, giving 78, not 68.
- Take the picture cards out of a pack of playing cards, turn over two and race to say their product. Whoever calls it first keeps both cards.
How to play
A problem such as 6 × 7 pops up between the fighters, and your rival gets the same one. Type the product on the keypad: the first correct answer lets Onion strike, and the sooner it comes, the harder the blow. One early level shows equal rows instead, such as 4 rows of 10, and you type the total.
— Quick answers —
Multiplication: the short FAQ
- What are times tables?
- Times tables are lists of multiplication facts, one list for each number. The table of 6 goes 6, 12, 18, 24 and so on, adding another 6 at each step. Knowing them by heart pays off later, because a bigger problem such as 36 × 24 is built from several of these small facts. The times tables level here mixes every fact from 2 × 2 to 9 × 9.
- How do you multiply two-digit numbers?
- To multiply two two-digit numbers, split each one into tens and ones, multiply every part by every part, then add the results. For 36 × 24, that gives 30 × 20 = 600, 30 × 4 = 120, 6 × 20 = 120 and 6 × 4 = 24. The four parts add up to 864. A rectangle cut into four boxes, one for each part, keeps the steps tidy.
- What is the easiest way to learn times tables?
- The easiest way is to learn them in an order where each table leans on one you already know. Start with 2, 5 and 10, which follow simple counting patterns. Then the 4s are double the 2s, the 8s are double the 4s, and 9 × 6 is 10 × 6 minus one 6, so 54. And since 3 × 7 equals 7 × 3, each fact you learn brings its partner along.
- When do children learn their times tables?
- In many school systems, children meet arrays, which are objects set out in equal rows, at about age 6 or 7, and learn most times tables between 7 and 9. Multiplying two-digit numbers usually follows at about 9 or 10. Here the levels run from age 7 to 9, and beyond them an Olympic level asks for three-digit numbers times two-digit ones.
- Can teachers use this times tables game in class, and is it free?
- It is free, and it works in class: every multiplication level plays in the browser, from the first rows to the Olympic products, with no download and no sign-up. A teacher can open a lesson with five minutes of multiplication practice, the class saying one table aloud together, before each pupil fights on a tablet at their own level. With the schools plan, priced per student, the teacher follows every pupil’s progress on one dashboard.
More math to master
