Digits by The New York Times might become my new math puzzle obsession

I could not believe what was happening in the latest episode of HBO’s Succession. It was a total shock to see that specific turn of events unfold so rapidly in front of my eyes that I wondered what the catch was the whole time. Where does The New York Times’s Digits math game come into all this? Well, it made me forget about the Roys and the newest problem they had to deal with. Because I was busy figuring out my own set of problems. The math variety.

I won’t spoil anything from the third Succession episode that aired on Sunday on HBO. It’s available on HBO Max for streaming, and we’ve already discussed the shocking episode separately.

What I was getting at was that I had to pause the episode to run some quick evening errands. I finished those in no time to catch up with the Roys. But before I could resume playback, I found myself figuring out basic math operations in The Times’ Digits.

I must have spent several minutes figuring out the solutions, completely forgetting that I simply wanted to enjoy the second half of the Succession episode I had just started.

I realized Digits might become my next obsession, just as Wordle was for a while. Before The Times purchased it.

As you can see in these screenshots, Digits has a simple interface without ads or other content. But don’t be surprised if you encounter any performance issues. This is still a beta test, after all.

How to play Digits

In Digits, you get six numbers and four basic math operations. You can add, subtract, multiply, or divide any pair of the six numbers. The goal is to reach the target number.

Each math operation gets you a new number. You can then combine the remaining ones to reach the final figure. The point of the game is to reach your goal perfectly to get three stars. You’ll then move to the next level.

The first level will take no time to complete, and there might be different ways to reach your goal number. But as you level up, you get bigger numbers, so guessing the correct order of operations will take time to figure out. You can undo the operations and restart them. Unlike Wordle, you have an infinite number of chances in the beta.

You can still win if you get very close to the target number. But you won’t get three stars. And that’s why I found myself immersed in the game, trying to figure out the correct solution for each level.

You can play the NYT Digits math game in any browser, whether on a computer or a mobile device. Every day will get you a new challenge to complete. That’s figuring out five solutions for the five levels displayed.

But there’s no telling whether the new game will move forward from the beta.

While I might be the kind of player who finds Digits addictive, others might not. And The Times will use the limited beta to determine whether enough people played the game for its development team to continue to refine it and improve the experience.

Therefore, there’s always a risk that Digits will be discontinued. You can read the NYT article explaining the development behind the game at this link. Digits, meanwhile, is available to play for free at this link.

As for the Succession shocker, I eventually watched the entire episode. You can check out our coverage of Succession’s Connor’s Wedding episode over here.