Honest Little AppsPuzzle game

Launch a number. Make ten.

Every beast wants to reach exactly 10. Pick a number from your hand, tap a beast, and watch what happens. Under 10 and it grows. Over 10 and it pops, and the extra flies on.

Stage 1 路 par 1

Bond total 10 and it popsFeed under 10 and it growsBridge over 10 and the extra flies on
Number Beasts: Bond Lab app icon

This is six small stages. The app has 45.

This page is from the team behind Number Beasts: Bond Lab for iPhone and iPad. The page uses a simplified row version of the game. According to its App Store listing, the real Bond Lab adds:

  • 45 handcrafted stages across three worlds, each checked by a solver so every one is winnable, with a par to beat
  • Boards with mirrors, arrow pads, splitters and beasts that need 15 or 20
  • A Daily Lab, freshly made and checked as solvable, playable offline
  • A Beast Workshop to build your own puzzle, prove it, and share it as a short code
  • No ads, no accounts, no tracking
Download on the App StoreFree to download 路 iPhone and iPad

The stages here are a simplified version of the rules, made for the web. Nothing you do on this page is saved or sent anywhere.

How the rules work

Every beast holds a number and wants to reach exactly 10. The number you launch is added to the beast it hits.

Exactly 10: the beast pops. Under 10: the beast grows and now needs a smaller number. Over 10: the beast pops and whatever is left over keeps flying to the next beast on the right. If there is no beast left to catch it, it lands as a new one, so waste has a cost.

Par is the fewest launches the solver can find. Match it for three stars.

Why make ten matters

Pairs that add to ten, like 3 and 7 or 4 and 6, are called number bonds. Knowing them without counting is one of the building blocks of mental addition. It is why 8 + 5 becomes "8 and 2 make 10, and 3 more is 13".

The bridge move in this game is exactly that trick: fill the ten first, then carry the rest.

Questions

What are number bonds to 10?

They are pairs of numbers that add up to 10: 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, and 5 and 5. Children who know them by heart add and subtract faster.

Is this game for kids or adults?

Both. The early stages are easy enough for a child learning to add. The later ones need planning, because the order you launch in changes what is left for the next beast.

Can every stage be solved?

Yes. Each stage was checked with a solver before it was added, and the par shown is the fewest launches it found.

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