Sum Blocks is a block puzzle for children from kindergarten through grade
six. Drag blocks onto the board and fill a whole row or column to blast it.
Blast four lines and you earn a bonus question — answer it for extra points.
Get in touch
Email us and a person will reply. Please say which device you are using and
what happened, and we will get back to you.
Does my child have to do the math?
No. The block puzzle contains no math at all, and a player who never answers
a single question can play the whole game. The questions are a bonus that
pays extra points, and a wrong answer costs nothing — it just shows the right
one.
How do I change the grade?
Tap the grade on the title screen, or Menu then Change grade. The grade only
sets the bonus questions. The block puzzle plays exactly the same at every
grade, and nothing above the chosen grade can appear.
Does it vibrate?
Yes — a small tap when a block lands, a firmer one when a line blasts.
It follows the sound button in the corner of the game: switch the sound off
and the vibration stops too, so a muted tablet is quiet in every sense. You
can also turn haptics off for the whole device in
Settings › Sounds & Haptics.
Can it remind my child to play?
Yes, and only you can switch it on. Open Adults on the title screen,
answer the four-digit puzzle, and use Daily reminder. It sends one
notification a day at 4:00 pm saying today’s challenge is ready. The
device schedules it itself — nothing is sent anywhere, and we never
learn whether it was tapped. Turn it off on the same screen, or in
Settings › Sum Blocks › Notifications.
What are Skill Missions?
A mission is one kind of math from your child’s grade — times
tables, sharing, taking away. Inside a mission every bonus question is that
one skill, and every right answer earns a tool: a bomb that clears a
3×3 patch, a hammer that knocks out one block, or a shuffle that swaps
your three blocks. Doing the math makes you stronger at the puzzle.
Each mission has four levels. The goals are things like “blast 12
lines” or “score 1,600 using 30 blocks or fewer” — the
block budget is there so a level cannot simply be outlasted, and it means the
blocks are still never timed — only the bonus question has a
countdown, exactly as it does everywhere else in the game.
Every goal is about the blocks, never about the math, so a child who answers
nothing at all can still finish every level — the tools only make it
easier.
What is the daily challenge?
One puzzle a day, the same blocks in the same order for every player, with one
attempt. It comes from the date rather than from us, so it needs no download
and no update — and there is a different one every day, forever. The
bonus questions still match the grade you chose. Ordinary play stays unlimited.
Is there a time limit?
The block puzzle has no clock at all — a child can take as long as they like
over a move, and the game never hurries them. The bonus question is timed, and
how long depends on the difficulty chosen on the grade screen:
45 seconds on Easy, 30 seconds on Normal, 20 seconds on
Hard. Letting it run out costs nothing: it shows the answer, and the next
question is earned the same way as always.
How do I remove the ads?
Tap Adults on the title screen. You will be asked to read four numbers
written as words and type the digits — that is there so a young child cannot
reach the purchase on their own. Remove Ads is one payment and covers this
device, and Family Sharing if you use it.
I paid but the ads came back
Open Adults and tap Restore purchases. That asks the App Store
about your Apple ID and switches the ads off again. If it says nothing was
found, make sure you are signed in with the Apple ID that made the purchase.
Where are the scores kept?
On the device, and nowhere else. There is no account and no sign-in, so
scores do not follow a child to another device, and deleting the app removes
them.
When do ads appear?
One full-page ad can appear after a game ends. Never during play, and never
while your child is working out a bonus question.