Games

Pattern Blocks are used in early math and just for fun. Great for drawing mandalas, tilings, and tesselations. Originally written as a toy for my daughter in 1998, this is my most popular app by a landslide. Latest version features full-browser resizing, better email, hundreds of backgrounds, and keystroke shortcuts. Now with Art Gallery for kid-safe sharing!

Mandalar is PatternBlocks for mobile! PatternBlocks is now released as a mobile app. See Mandalar. Still in Adobe Flex - all web/mobile platforms are cross-operable.

NumBlox is a cusinaire rods app. Cusinaire rods (number blocks) are used to teach early math. NumBlox features a simple, clean interface, drag and drop blocks, rotate blocks, and a play area that grows to fit your web browser area. New version! NumBlox 2.0 features pencil, eraser, choice of grid style, stacking blocks, and scrollable edit area. NumBlox 2.1 adds 3 choices of block color scheme. Now for mobile! NumBlox is now available for iOS and Android, too! Mobile versions feature native sharing to Facebook, Twitter, and Email. Sharing can be disabled for young children. Now also available for NOOK HD^TM and NOOK HD+^TM by Barnes & Noble.

MathToybox is a social site for my kids' games, featuring PatternBlocks Art Gallery, direct access to the Triaxle Scoreboard, and room to grow in a kid-friendly design.

Originally Flex3 / PHP, now rewritten in jQuery / PHP. But the apps no long work.

Triaxle is a puzzle game based on hexagonal instead of square neighbors. Score history is tracked both locally and versus other users, via a server database.

This was the first complex program I wrote in ActionScript 2 - complete with soundtrack, fairy lights, gameplay, PHP backend - big learning experience.

Now with direct access to the Triaxle Scoreboard.

Calligraphy is surprisingly popular. I wrote the original 1997 Java applet as a throwaway programming example - but people kept using it. So I turned it into a real product. Latest version features textured and tinted papers, transparent inks, zoom, print options, Undo support, marker as well as chisel nib, etc.

Calligraphy is now available in Slovene! Translation by Milan Ozimek.

Kuizu is a Japanese vocabulary quiz program I wrote for myself. It features several intermediate level word lists, flash cards, multiple choice quizzing, and matching games. It assumes you want to memorize kanji + kana pronunciation + English meaning. Auto-adjusts word frequency based on success rate, tracks progress and mastery. Can sort wordlist, select which words to use, etc.

Thanks to Laurie Hainke and Yuko Matsuda for contributing 7 word lists!

FishFood is an aquarium ecology simulator for middle school life science. To keep your fish alive, you need to feed them, keep the water oxygenated, and not allow the algae to get out of control. Features three colorful fish species, air bubblers, algae-eating snails, decorative plants, rocks, sands, and wallpaper.

WordShapes is a spelling game for developing visual memory. The word lists are taken from the Dolch basic sight words lists, mainly.