Learn to read numbers the way people wrote and worked them: knots on cords, letters on stone, wedges in clay, beads on rods, coins and charts.
About these games
Each game teaches one way of writing or working with numbers, starting easy. Real examples come from public-domain books: years printed on title pages, prices from Samuel Pepys’s diary, lines from Babylonian tables.
New games are drafts: their rules and dates are marked as unchecked until a separate review confirms them against the public-domain books they follow (each game names its own). The sources behind the games are in Hearth Library's Keeping Time collection.
Beginner
No knowledge needed
Easy
Once you know a little
Medium
Reading real texts
Numbers, Daily
Knot Count
Read and tie numbers in knots on khipu cords, the way Andean record keepers did.
Beginnerabout 4 minEarly version
In English
Numbers, Practice
Numbers in Stone
Read and write numbers the way they were carved and pressed: Roman letters on stone, Babylonian wedges in clay, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Greek letters and Maya bars and dots.
Beginnerabout 5 minEarly version
In English
Numbers, Practice
Same Number, Many Scripts
Read the digits people write today, from Arabic and Devanagari to Thai, and build numbers from Chinese characters.
Beginnerabout 4 minEarly version
In English
Numbers, Practice
Bead by Bead
Push the beads of a soroban, the Japanese abacus, to set, read and add numbers. Five ones trade for a five, and ten carries to the next rod.
Easyabout 4 minEarly version
In English
Numbers, Lessons
Read the Chart
Read the first great data charts, Playfair's trade lines, Nightingale's wedges and Snow's cholera map, by touching the chart itself.
Mediumabout 8 minEarly version
In English
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