Summle

Summle is a daily number puzzle that gives you a target and a handful of numbered tiles. Your job is to combine those tiles with the four basic operations until you land exactly on the target, in five steps or fewer. Every puzzle is built to have at least one working solution, so there is always a path if you can find it.

What is Summle?

At its core Summle is about building, not guessing. Each day you get a target number and a set of numbered tiles. You pick a tile, choose an operation (add, subtract, multiply or divide), and pick a second tile to make a small sum. The result of that sum becomes a new yellow subtotal tile, and that subtotal can then be fed into the next sum. You chain these operations together until one of your subtotals equals the target. You can use each number tile once, and you often will not need all of them.

What sets Summle apart from most games in the -dle family is that it is constructive rather than deductive. In Wordle you are hunting for a hidden answer and narrowing it down through feedback. In Summle the target is shown from the start, and the challenge is to assemble a valid chain of arithmetic that reaches it. There is no fixed number of wrong guesses to burn through. Instead there is a step limit: reach the target in five sums or fewer. Because every puzzle is guaranteed to have at least one solution, the satisfaction comes from finding a clean route rather than from lucky elimination.

Summle was made by Nick Nicholaou, who built it for his children after they got into Wordle. It launched publicly in March 2022, and the site has grown into a small family of related modes. Alongside the standard daily puzzle there are difficulty tiers: Junior focuses on times tables up to 12, Normal and Hard sit in the middle, and Extreme is tuned so that only one solution exists. There is also a Kids mode using only addition and subtraction that can be played any time, plus a Make 10 variant where you use all the numbers to total 10.

The game keeps light statistics as you play: games played, win percentage, current streak and max streak. When you finish, your result can be shared so you can see how a puzzle went. A daily reset brings a fresh target each day, with a Next Summle in countdown ticking down to the next one, and you can view yesterday's solution if you want to check the route you missed. The overall feel is calm and quick: a short mental workout that suits both younger learners in the easier modes and people who want a genuinely tricky solve in Hard or Extreme.

How to play Summle

1. Open Summle at summle.net and note the target number shown at the top and the numbered tiles available below it.
2. Click a number tile, then click an operation (add, subtract, multiply or divide), then click a second tile to make a sum.
3. Watch the result appear as a new yellow subtotal tile that you can now use in the next sum.
4. Keep chaining sums, feeding subtotals and unused number tiles together, working toward the target.
5. Reach the target exactly in five steps or fewer to solve the puzzle.
6. Try an easier or harder mode, such as Junior, Kids, Hard or Extreme, if you want a different level of challenge.

Tips and strategy

• Work backward from the target when you are stuck: ask which pair of numbers could produce it in a final step, then figure out how to build those numbers.
• Look for tiles that divide or multiply cleanly into the target before reaching for addition and subtraction.
• Remember each number tile can be used only once, so plan which ones you want to save for later steps.
• You do not have to use every tile, so do not force an awkward number into your chain just because it is there.
• Aim for the fewest steps you can, since a short clean route is easier to check and leaves less room for error within the five-step limit.
• Start with Junior or Kids mode to get comfortable with the build-a-chain loop, then move up to Hard or Extreme once the flow feels natural.

Good to know

Category

Math (daily arithmetic puzzle)

Resets

Daily, with a Next Summle in countdown

Cost

Free

Guesses

Solve in 5 steps or fewer (build a chain, not a fixed guess count)

Modes

Junior, Normal, Hard, Extreme, Kids and Make 10

Past puzzles

View yesterday's solution

Creator

Nick Nicholaou

Launched

March 2022

Feedback

Games played, win percentage, current streak and max streak

Platform

Browser (summle.net)

Summle FAQ

Is Summle free?

Yes. Summle can be played in the browser at summle.net with no paywall observed.

How do you play Summle?

You are given a target number and a set of numbered tiles. You combine tiles using add, subtract, multiply and divide to make sums, each result becomes a subtotal you can reuse, and you aim to reach the target in five steps or fewer.

When does Summle reset, and can I see past puzzles?

A new puzzle appears each day, with a Next Summle in countdown to the next one. You can view yesterday's solution, but there is no full browsable archive of every past puzzle.

Is Summle like Wordle?

It shares Wordle's once-a-day rhythm and streak tracking, but it is a math game rather than a word game. Instead of guessing a hidden answer, you build a chain of arithmetic operations to hit a visible target.

Who made Summle?

Summle was created by Nick Nicholaou, who built it for his children after they became fans of Wordle. It launched publicly in March 2022.