Times Tables

How does Times Tables work?

Choose the kind of sum you want to practise (times, divide, add or subtract), then a mode: Practice, Study, Sprint or Boss. In Practice and Sprint you pick a single table from 2 to 12, or all of them. A question appears, such as 7 × 8, and you type the answer on the number pad or your keyboard. You do not need to press Enter: the answer is checked as soon as you have typed enough digits.

A right answer earns a cheer and a small star burst. A wrong answer shows the correct sum so you can read it, then the game moves on, and that fact comes back a few questions later until you get it right. This repeat-the-misses design is what makes short sessions work: your time goes on the facts you do not know yet, not on the ones you already do.

Every table has a progress bar and up to three stars. Win three stars on a table and you earn its sticker for your album.

How do I practise a single times table (2 to 12)?

On the menu, choose Practice and tap the table you want, for example the 7 times table. You get a round of ten questions drawn only from that table, 7 × 1 up to 7 × 12, in a changing order and sometimes written the other way round (8 × 7 instead of 7 × 8) so that you learn that the order does not matter.

Choose Smart practice for a round across every table at once. It picks the facts you need most: new ones, ones you got wrong and ones you answered slowly. Once a table feels solid, move on to the next one using the Next table button on the result screen.

Not sure where to start? Most teachers go in this order: 2, 5 and 10 first, then 3, 4 and 11, then 6, 8 and 9, and leave 7 and 12 for last. You will find every table has a Study button that shows the whole table and a trick for remembering it.

The 60 second times tables sprint

Sprint is a timed times tables test. You have 60 seconds to answer as many questions as you can from one table or from all of them. A right answer is worth 10 points, and a streak of right answers earns bonus points, so staying calm and accurate beats mashing keys. A wrong answer costs you the streak and a moment to read the right answer.

At the end you get a star rating based on how many you got right: for multiplication it is 12, 22 and 32 right answers for one, two and three stars. Your best score is saved for each table. Sprint trains the speed that school fact tests ask for, such as the timed multiplication check used in England, though it is not the official test.

The boss round: all the tables mixed together

The boss round is the big challenge. A friendly monster with 20 health faces you. Every right answer hurts it. A wrong answer, or running out of the ten seconds you have for each question, costs one of your three hearts. Beat the boss with hearts to spare and you earn more stars.

There are four bosses. Blobby asks tables 2 to 5. Captain Crunch covers 2 to 9. Dragon Dozen uses all of 2 to 12. The Mega King mixes multiplication and division from 2 to 12, which makes children think about how multiplication and division are two sides of the same fact.

Adaptive practice: why wrong answers come back

Behind the scenes each fact has a strength from 0 to 5. A quick right answer raises it, a slow right answer lifts it only a little, and a wrong answer lowers it by two. Weak and unseen facts are asked more often, strong facts are asked rarely, and the same fact never appears twice in a row.

When you miss a fact it is also put in a short queue and returns two to four questions later. Researchers who study memory describe this as spaced practice with retrieval, and it is one of the best ways to move a fact into long-term memory. You do not have to manage any of it: just keep answering.

Mastery stars and the sticker album

Each table shows one to three stars. One star means you have made a good start, two means most facts are answered quickly and correctly, and three means every fact in the table is solid and the table is at least 85% mastered. Stars are always based on what you actually answered, never on how many times you played.

Three stars on a table wins a sticker for the sticker album on the menu: a different animal for every table. Collecting all eleven is a fun long-term goal for a class or a family, and the album is kept separately for times, divide, add and subtract.

Division, addition and subtraction practice

Use the buttons at the top of the menu to switch operation. Divide turns each table into division facts such as 56 ÷ 7, which always come out to whole numbers. Add practises adding each number from 2 to 12 to the numbers 1 to 12. Subtract practises taking those numbers away, such as 15 − 8.

Practising division next to multiplication is the quickest way to see that 7 × 8 = 56 and 56 ÷ 7 = 8 belong to the same family of facts. Each operation keeps its own progress, stars and stickers.

Tricks that help you remember the tables

Press Study on any table to see the full list of facts, the skip counting pattern (7, 14, 21 and so on) and one memory trick. Some of the best ones are:

• 2s: double the number.
• 5s: answers end in 5 or 0, and 5 × n is half of 10 × n.
• 9s: the digits of every answer add up to 9, and the finger trick shows the answer.
• 10s: add a zero. 11s: repeat the digit up to 11 × 9.
• 4s and 8s: double once for 2s, twice for 4s, three times for 8s.
• 12s: do the 10s and add the 2s. 12 × 7 is 70 + 14 = 84.
• 6s: even numbers give an answer that ends in the same digit (6 × 4 = 24).
• 7s: learn 5, 6, 7, 8 (56 = 7 × 8), and the other 7s come from tables you already know.

For parents and teachers: the progress report

Open the chart icon at the top for a plain progress report. It shows how many questions were answered, overall accuracy, the average answer time, practice days and the current streak. The fact map is a grid with one row per table and one box per fact: grey for not tried, red for shaky, amber for learning and green for solid, with each table's stars at the end of the row.

Below the map is a Needs practice next list with the facts a child gets wrong most often and how often. A short daily session targeted at those facts is more effective than repeating tables the child already knows. The report can be copied as plain text to paste into an email or a message to a teacher.

Everything is stored in the browser on that device only. There are no accounts, nothing is sent anywhere, and a child cannot lose anything but their own progress. Erase all progress to start again, for example when a tablet is shared between children.

Number pad, phones and tablets

The number pad has large keys with a clear gap between them for small fingers, plus a delete key and a check key. The page fits phones from the smallest sizes up to desktop and nothing needs scrolling during a question. On a computer you can type the digits, press Backspace to delete and Enter to check; Escape pauses.

Sound can be switched off from the speaker button at the top, and the game respects the setting on your device to reduce motion by turning off celebratory animations.

How long should my child practise each day?

Five to ten minutes a day, most days, works far better than a long weekly session. A good routine is one Practice round on the current table, one Smart practice round, and an occasional Sprint to measure progress. Most children need a few weeks of short daily practice per table before it feels automatic.

Praise effort and accuracy, not speed. Speed comes with confidence, and a child who is afraid of the clock will make more errors, not fewer. Keep Sprint and Boss for when the practice rounds feel easy.