Strategy Duels
Sim Arena
Spin strands between the dots — but join THREE DOTS all in your own color (a triangle whose corners are dots) and your web catches YOU. The classic game of Sim, where a tie is mathematically impossible (that impossibility is a famous theorem, and your class can discover it). Crack the 4-bot ladder solo on 6- or 7-dot webs, hunt the perfect tie in the Dojo, then duel your class in a live arena.
For Educators
Built for the classroom
Ramsey theory by hand: students try to fill a 5-dot web with no one-color triangle (possible — they build it!), then fail on 6 dots and discover WHY via the pigeonhole principle (R(3,3)=6, never named until they've done the work). Gameplay trains threat scanning, counting safe moves, and forcing — and the boss bot quietly embodies a second theorem: moving second on 6 dots is a guaranteed win with perfect play. Avoidance games flip every instinct: the skill is making your opponent run out of safe moves first.
Grades 5+ · Classic 6 dots or the Big Web (7 dots) in the arena — no ties on either, ever; 5-dot Tie Hunt in solo, where a draw is a trophy.
Three ways to play
-
Learn solo first
Four bots, all open from the start: Buzzy, Moth, Wasp, Spider Queen. Each plays by a different idea — Buzzy tangles itself, Moth never does and still loses. Figuring out WHY is the lesson. The Queen has never lost when she moves second; let students discover what that means.
-
Host an Arena
Open a room on the projector; a 4-letter code + QR + join link appear. Watch live mini-webs and the climbing ladder.
-
Join on any device
Students enter the code on a laptop, tablet, or phone and duel classmates. Matches rotate so everyone plays everyone — no waiting, no elimination.
Run a live class in 5 steps
- Open the Arena — set the session length and the move timer (25s default).
- Share the 4-letter code / QR / link; students join on any device.
- Hit “Open the Arena”: best-of-2 duels with swapped first player (moving second matters in Sim — more than your students suspect).
- Watch the webs fill on the big screen; an odd student out plays Moth, a beatable bot.
- Tangles flash in the tangler's own color with the fatal triangle highlighted — the whole class sees whose web closed. Podium crowns the ladder at time.
Tip: host on a laptop or projector (the big screen shows the code, QR and leaderboard); students join on their phones or laptops.
