Games like Cool Math Games: seven free puzzle picks

If you want games like Cool Math Games, start with the puzzle shelf on Mayavoo: Pipe Patch, Crate Keeper, Fuse Field, Ninebox, Pixel Riddle, Tumbler and Mind Sprout all ask you to think first and act second. They are free, they run in a browser tab, and none of them needs an account.

Below are seven picks, each matched to a type of game Cool Math Games players tend to like, with what you actually do in each one.

1. Pipe Patch, for "figure it out" puzzles

Pipe Patch is a plumbing puzzle. Water flows from a red valve, and you rotate pipe pieces until every drain is full with no leaks. Each level has exactly one solution and a par in turns, so a three-star finish takes real planning. Later levels bring bolted pipes that will not turn. It plays with taps, clicks or the keyboard.

2. Crate Keeper, for block and escape puzzles

Crate Keeper is classic Sokoban in a brick warehouse. You push crates onto red markers, one at a time, and you can never pull. Every floor has a par worked out by a solver. Undo has no limit, and you can tap a tile to walk there, which makes it comfortable on a phone held upright.

3. Fuse Field, for quick logic between classes

Fuse Field is minesweeper with a garden theme. Read the numbers, flag the buried fuses and dig everything else. The first dig always opens a safe area, and chording lets you clear around a finished number in one tap.

4. Ninebox, for number puzzles

Ninebox is a quiet sudoku with four difficulty levels, notes that tidy themselves and hints that fill one square at a time. If three mistakes ending a puzzle feels harsh, you can switch that rule off in settings.

5. Pixel Riddle, for picture logic

Pixel Riddle is a nonogram game. Row and column clues tell you which squares to fill, and a finished grid becomes a full-colour pixel picture. Classic mode catches mistakes, while Relaxed mode leaves you alone.

6. Tumbler, for word games

Tumbler hides a five-letter word behind a vault door, and you get six guesses to crack it. There is a daily vault that is the same for everyone, plus an endless heist mode.

7. Mind Sprout, for a math warm-up

Mind Sprout began as a five-minute warm-up before a maths class. It runs short drills on attention, speed, memory, maths and flexibility that adjust to how well you are doing, and you water a potted plant when you finish. Its maker is clear that the drills are games, not tests.

The picks at a glance

A note on where they come from

All seven sit on Mayavoo, a free home for browser games from independent creators. A short Google ad may appear before a game starts and when you leave, but not while you play. If you want games that teach a specific school topic, Cool Math Games itself still has more of those. For pure puzzle fun, this list is a good place to start.