HMH Brain Arcade vs MathTango
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HMH Brain Arcade
Practice math skills through engaging games that reinforce arithmetic reasoning, number fluency, and problem-solving. Unlock new challenges and levels as you progress, building proficiency in fractions, decimals, and more.
- Engaging math games
- Arithmetic reasoning practice
- Number fluency building
- Progress tracking and rewards
- Fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios
- Companion to MATH 180 curriculum
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Come play in the Brain Arcade! A fun and engaging place to build upon and practice what you’ve learned in MATH 180, while playing appropriately challenging games. Brain Arcade games strengthen arithmetic reasoning, build fluency, support standards, and reward progress! Can you master them all? ENGAGING GAMES: • Sushi Monster World Tour: Feed monsters with sushi rolls by making sums and products. Use speed and accuracy to place sushi pieces near the monster to make the target number. Plan the equations to ensure the monster enjoys the meal. • You’re Toast: Butter pieces of toast by ordering many representations of numbers. Quickly compare numbers and build a chain of numbered toast – from smallest to largest – using butters and jams to make Toast happy. • Circles: Connect pairs of numbers that add or multiply to each target. Swap the circles around to connect the addends and multiplicands that make the target number. There are 5 number pairing to find in each round. Try to get them all! • Decked Out: Make your character dance by matching equivalent representation of numbers. Sort different representations of numbers – from equations to number lines – and match three-in-a-row to help your character get ready for the party. • Gnat Zapper: Zap bugs by estimating sums and differences. Bugs are only around briefly, so be quick about zapping the bug that satisfies the target number condition in this fast-paced game. • Fair Share: Cut the shape or whole into parts. Then use the parts to form the target fractions or decimals. Score points for matching the representation of the fraction or decimal. LEARN WHILE YOU PLAY: The Brain Arcade includes extended fact knowledge to support strategic reasoning and computational flexibility in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It builds proficiency in ordering numbers, estimation, and identifying number representations. As players progress in the arcade, new challenges for math facts and arithmetic reasoning are introduced with fractions, decimals, percentages, and ratios. PROGRESS IS REWARDED: Earn stars and personal high scores to challenge yourself and unlock new levels. MATH 180 COMPATIBLE: This app serves as a companion app to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s MATH 180 Intensive Intervention curriculum for Grades 5+. It promotes math fluency in the classroom and in remote-learning environments. MATH 180 content cannot be purchased via this app. This is an application for educational institutions to access the MATH 180 Brain Arcade content that they have purchased and licensed from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. PARENTAL DISCLOSURE: This app does not collect any personally identifiable information. This app contains: • No Links to websites. • No social media sharing. • No location tracking functions
MathTango
This app offers hundreds of engaging math games for children aged 5-10+, covering addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Kids progress through playful challenges, collect rewards, and build confidence in math skills. It features a customized curriculum and adaptive learning.
- Hundreds of math games for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
- Customized, age-appropriate lesson plan wizard
- Adaptive learning based on Common Core curriculum
- Playful worlds and missions for engagement
- Multiple user profiles for family use
- Offline play without WiFi
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MathTango makes learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division engaging and fun for kids aged 5-10+! They’ll progress through hundreds of playful math games for kids – collecting monsters, completing missions, building unique worlds, and discovering lots of fun and surprises along the way. Trusted by parents and teachers, MathTango helps kids learn math skills and build confidence – all while having fun! **MathTango is part of Piknik – one subscription, endless ways to play and learn! Get full access to the world's best preschool apps from Toca Boca, Sago Mini, and Originator with an Unlimited Plan.** PRESS AND AWARDS • kidSAFE Certified • Common Sense Media's Best Math Apps for Kids List • Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice • Mom's Choice Awards Gold Recipient • National Parenting Product Awards Winner • Creative Child Magazine Children's App of the Year Award • Apple App Store App of the Day FEATURES • Over 500 addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division math games for kids covering more than 40 math levels. Review levels help to reinforce what’s been learned, leading to better retention. • The lesson plan wizard generates a customized, age-appropriate curriculum for every user. • A Common Core based curriculum dynamically adapts so a child advances only when they have finished the current lesson. • Addition and subtraction lessons include 9 types of puzzle games including number patterns, counting, ordering numbers, and more. • Multiplication and division lessons include 7 types of puzzle games covering multiplying and dividing single digits and factors of 10. • Kids learn and explore in two worlds – an island for addition and subtraction, and a starbase for multiplication and division. Each world has never-ending missions that are completed to earn unique characters and dozens of in-game items. • Math games for kids designed and classroom-tested for kids 5-10+ (Grades K-5) • Learn on the go! Play the downloaded app without WiFi. • Multiple user profiles on each device allow the entire family to learn at their own pace. • 100% ad-free and no in-app purchases. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS MathTango is a subscription service that gives total access to all math games for kids available in the app. You can choose to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis. New users will have access to a free trial at the time of sign-up. After your free trial, you can choose to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis. If you change your mind at any point, cancellation is easy through your App Store settings. • When you confirm your purchase, payment will be charged through your iTunes account. • Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. • Don’t want to auto-renew? Manage your account and renewal settings in your user Account Settings. • You can use your subscription on any device registered with your Apple ID. Like all Apple subscriptions, MathTango can’t use family sharing to share subscriptions across different Apple IDs. • Cancel your subscription anytime through your Account Settings, with no cancellation fees. • Questions? Need a hand? Give us a shout at support@playpiknik.com. Privacy Policy Sago Mini is committed to protecting your privacy and the privacy of your children. We adhere to the strict guidelines set forth by COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule) & kidSAFE, which ensure the protection of your child’s information online. Privacy policy: https://playpiknik.link/privacy-policy Terms of use: https://playpiknik.link/terms-of-use About Sago Mini Sago Mini is an award-winning company devoted to play. We make apps, games and toys for preschoolers worldwide. Toys that seed imagination and grow wonder. We bring thoughtful design to life. For kids. For parents. For giggles. Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at @sagomini.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: MathTango at 76% against HMH Brain Arcade's 0%. MathTango also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). HMH Brain Arcade's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 13.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. MathTango sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. HMH Brain Arcade asks for nothing beyond the download.
HMH Brain Arcade ships an update every 5 months, MathTango every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HMH Brain Arcade | MathTango |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.6 (4.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 75.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 4.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 233 MB | 884 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Piknik |
Customer experience
HMH Brain Arcade
MathTango
Bugs and requests
HMH Brain Arcade
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
MathTango
Reported bugs
3 issues- Progress and purchases not carrying over to new version
- Inability to log in to paid account on new device
- Accidental purchases cannot be refunded
Requested features
4 requests- Update the game to be more like the original MathTango
- Change the name to MathTango and the icon to Isacc
- Add more features and updates to continue playing puzzles
- Remove the daily puzzle limit
In-app purchases
HMH Brain Arcade
No in-app purchases
MathTango
- MathTango Plan$7.991 Month
- Piknik Unlimited Plan$9.991 Month
- Piknik Unlimited Plan7 Days trial$14.991 Month
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- Piknik Unlimited Plan$14.991 Month
- Piknik Unlimited Plan1 Month trial$14.991 Month
- Piknik Unlimited Plan2 variants$49.991 Year
- Piknik Unlimited Plan7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Piknik Unlimited Plan7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Piknik Unlimited Plan$79.991 Year
Questions
Is HMH Brain Arcade free?
Is MathTango free?
Do HMH Brain Arcade or MathTango have ads?
Which is updated more often, HMH Brain Arcade or MathTango?
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