About Matchsticks Puzzle

Matchsticks Puzzle is a free, browser-based home for classic matchstick brain teasers. Move, add, or remove a limited number of sticks to fix broken arithmetic equations. Every puzzle is hand-crafted, every solve is tracked, and a new daily challenge drops every day at midnight UTC.

What are matchstick puzzles?

Matchstick puzzles are lateral-thinking problems that date back more than a century. Each puzzle on this site presents an incorrect arithmetic equation built from seven-segment digits — something like 5 + 3 = 7 — along with a simple instruction: move, add, or remove a small number of sticks to make this equation true. The fun is in the constraint: the answer is almost always simple once you see it, but getting there requires looking at the arrangement in a way you haven't yet.

How to play

Puzzles are interactive. You don't need to guess in your head — you manipulate the matchsticks directly:

• Tap an active matchstick to remove it.
• Tap a faint dashed slot to place a new matchstick there.
• Grey sticks are locked and cannot be changed — they're part of the puzzle frame.
• Each puzzle has its own rules: the number of sticks you may add, remove, or move, and whether additions and removals must balance.
• Watch the move counter. When you think the arrangement is correct, hit Submit.
• Undo reverses your last change. Reset restores the original arrangement. Hint reveals a clue at a small score cost.

Puzzle format

Every puzzle is an equation: a numerical expression like 5 + 3 = 7 that's wrong as shown. You move, add, or remove sticks within the rules of that specific puzzle to make it true.

Difficulty

Every puzzle is tagged Easy, Medium, or Hard. Easy puzzles usually have a single obvious move once you spot it; medium puzzles require you to consider two or three candidate moves before committing; hard puzzles often involve a move you wouldn't normally consider (changing an operator into a digit, for example, or noticing that a stick in the equals sign can be relocated).

Scoring

Each solve is worth up to 1,000 points. Two things reduce your score:

• Hints cost 50 points each. Use them when you're genuinely stuck; skip them if you want a clean solve.
• Time costs 1 point for every 10 seconds spent on the puzzle.

The minimum score for a solved puzzle is 100, so even a long, hint-heavy solve is worth something on the leaderboard.

Daily puzzle and streaks

A new daily puzzle is chosen automatically every day. Solve the daily puzzle and your streak counter increases by one. Miss a day and the streak resets. The daily puzzle has its own dedicated leaderboard, so you're competing against everyone else who tried the same puzzle the same day.

Leaderboards

The leaderboard shows two rankings:

• All-time. Total puzzles solved across your account's history.
• Daily. Top scores on today's daily puzzle.

You can play anonymously, but only logged-in users appear on the leaderboard.

Saving your progress

You can play every puzzle without an account — your solves are held in your browser session. Creating a free account gives you three things the anonymous experience can't:

• Your solves persist across devices and after you clear your browser.
• Your scores and streaks count on the leaderboard.
• Your profile page shows your history and personal stats.

The catalog

Today there are 525 equation puzzles available, and more are added regularly. Browse the full catalog on the puzzles page, where you can filter by difficulty and solve status, or search by title.

Costs and ads

Matchsticks Puzzle is free to play. There are no subscriptions, no paywalls, no premium tier, and the site runs ad-free. Accounts are optional.

Feedback and contact

Found a puzzle that seems unsolvable? Have an idea for a new category or feature? Want to report a bug? Drop a note via the contact page — every message is read.