Yes, word games are popular, but not all of us are verbal. There are many people who prefer playing games involving numbers. Some of them are more maths-related, and require a bit more knowledge of mathematics, whereas other games are more casual, and numbers are just there as symbols.
Either way, if you like numbers and they, so to say, tickle your mind, you will enjoy some of all of these games.
Sudoku
The most obvious example and a game that’s essentially all about the numbers. Sudoku was originally called Number Place and has been around since the late 1970s, although it’s popularity rose in the 1986, when a Japanese puzzle company published the game under its current name. Versions of the game have been published in French papers towards the end of the 19th century, but we can say that Sudoku is a relatively new invention.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Sudoku started appearing in US and UK papers, and the key effort for its popularisation is attributed to Wayne Gould who worked for The Times and used a computer to produce unique combinations quickly.
The game is played on a 9×9 grid, which is divided into 9 3×3 grids and the goal is to fill each sub-grid with the missing numbers so that all numbers 1-9 are featured only ones. All horizontal and vertical lines on the grid should also feature each number 1-9.
Bingo
The most casual of all games on our list, and one of the most popular casual games in general. Technically, bingo is classified as a form of gambling, although everybody would agree that it is far away from conventional forms of gambling, include table games and especially slots. Plus, bingo can be played among friends or smaller non-formal groups of people, and there are also charity bingo draws.
Recently, a lot of people have shifted away from traditional bingo halls and prefer playing the game online. As a result, there are plenty of new bingo sites that offer different bingo variants such as 90-ball bingo and 75-ball bingo, but also other innovative versions such as 50-ball bingo and 30-ball bingo, as well as branded bingo games.
Number puzzles
These games exist in a number of forms and shapes, but the underlying principle is always the same. You get several sentences regarding a series of numbers and based on those sentences you need to guess the correct number order.
Perhaps the best way to describe and define these games is by an example. Let’s say that you need to correctly guess a sequence of three numbers 1-10. You are given statements like: 532 – one number is correct, but in the wrong place; 673 – one number is correct and in the right place. Considering that 3 is the only number that appears in both statements, you can conclude that the third number of the sequence is 3.
Count the
This is also a broader category and not a specific individual game and it usually involves counting a number of geometrical figures, like triangles and squares. There are usually smaller figures and then these figures make up larger figures and should be counted twice, both as standalone figures and as part of larger ones, which in turn makes the game more exciting and more difficult.
Two or more players are usually given the same image and the first one who can correctly count the number of figures is the winner.
Countdown numbers game
This game is based on the popular British game show – Countdown, i.e. one of its sections – the Numbers game. Here contestants are given to choose six out of 24 number tiles, including large numbers 25, 50, 75 and 100 and small numbers 1 through 10. Players get to pick how many large and how many small numbers they can use and then they are given a random three-digit number.
Using basic mathematical operations addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and their six numbers, players have 30 seconds to get the target number as a result. They don’t have to use all numbers, but the same number can’t be used twice.