Hollyhock Math Path

What you do

Hollyhock Math Path is a number puzzle you walk. At the foot of Hollyhock Hill a cottage garden gate shows a starting number, and above it rise hedgerow after hedgerow, each with two to four garden gates. Every gate carries a painted sign: +5, −3, ×2, ÷3 and, on the hardest trails, flip gates such as ×−2 that multiply by a number below zero. Tally, a young rabbit in a sage scarf, carries a chalk slate up the hill, and each gate she passes through changes the number on it. The paths between the hedges fork and rejoin, so the order of the signs is yours to choose, and the whole hillside is in view from the first step. The goal is the biggest number at the hilltop picnic: three leaves for the best number possible, two for beating or tying at least 90% of all the routes up the hill, and one for reaching the top. The trick is that the biggest number right now is rarely the road to the biggest number at the top. Adding before a times gate doubles what you added, dividing before you add keeps the addition whole, and on the Ridge a number below zero can turn into a big positive one at a flip gate. Every seeded trail is checked so that grabbing the biggest number at each gate falls short.

• 124 trails in three sets, all open from the start: Meadow (six hedgerows, three lanes, plus, minus and times), Orchard (eight hedgerows, four lanes, and divide gates that drop the remainder) and Ridge (ten hedgerows, numbers below zero and flip gates).
• Four short teaching trails, one idea each, coached one line at a time: add before you double, a small step back, halves drop the remainder, and two minuses make a plus.
• Today's path: a new trail every day, the same for everyone on the same date, Meadow size on Monday and Tuesday, Orchard size Wednesday to Friday and Ridge size on the weekend, with a daily streak and a gold mark for a best-number finish with no help.
• Leaves worked out exactly: the game counts every route up the hill, so it knows the best number possible and how many routes your number beat or tied.
• Sum bubbles that show each gate's sum before you step through (12 × 3 = 36), unlimited undo, a restart that undo can take back, and Peek, which marks the best next gate from wherever you stand.
• Your best number, leaves and no-help mark for every trail save in this browser, along with any walk in progress, and Undo or Restart never touch them.

How to play

1. Press Start the first trail on the title card. The first Meadow trail is a short lesson that explains the moves one line at a time above the hill.
2. Tally starts at the cottage gate with the number on its sign. Above her, every hedgerow has two to four garden gates, and the paths show which gates lead to which.
3. The gates you can reach next glow. Tap one to see its sum in a bubble, then tap it again, or press Walk, to go through. The number on the slate changes, and the next hedgerow's gates light up.
4. Signs add (+), subtract (−), multiply (×) or divide (÷). Division drops any remainder toward zero, so 7 ÷ 2 = 3 and −7 ÷ 2 = −3. On the Ridge, flip gates multiply by a number below zero: −4 × −2 = 8.
5. Pass through one gate in every hedgerow to reach the hilltop. Three leaves for the best number possible, two for beating or tying at least 90% of all routes, one for reaching the top.
6. At the top you can show the best route in gold, walk the trail again or go on to the next one. Undo works there too, so you can step back and try a different last gate.

Controls

• Touch: tap a glowing gate to see its sum, and tap it again (or press Walk) to walk through. The Trails, Undo, Peek and Walk buttons sit in a row under the hill, and every gate you can tap is at least 44 pixels across.
• Mouse: click a glowing gate to choose it and click it again to walk. The buttons under the hill (or beside it on a wide screen) do the rest.
• Keyboard: Left and Right (or 1 to 4) choose a gate, Enter or Space walks through it, Z or Backspace undoes, H peeks, and Escape closes the trails list. Every button is reachable with Tab.
• Toolbar: pause, help, restart (takes Tally back to the cottage gate, and Undo brings the walk back; leaves and best numbers are never touched), optional sound and fullscreen.

Tips worth knowing

• Add before you multiply. A +4 gate followed by ×3 gives you 12 extra, but ×3 followed by +4 gives you only 4 extra.
• Subtract after you multiply, not before: ×3 then −2 costs 2, while −2 then ×3 costs 6.
• Divide before you add. x ÷ 2 + 6 keeps the whole 6, while (x + 6) ÷ 2 halves it, so a divide gate early in the walk usually costs less than one late.
• On the Ridge, a big number below zero is not a disaster if a flip gate lies ahead: −30 at a ×−2 gate becomes 60. A divide gate pulls a number below zero back toward zero, which helps when no flip gate is coming.
• Read the hill from the top down. The last hedgerow's best gate tells you which gate you want in the row before it, and so on back to the cottage.

Accessibility

• Everything can be played with a keyboard: Left and Right or 1 to 4 choose a gate, Enter or Space walks through it, Z or Backspace undoes and H peeks.
• Every step is announced for screen readers, for example "Through the times 3 gate: 12 times 3 is 36", and each gate you can reach next is a button named for its sign and its sum.
• Each sign has its own color and its own symbol (green plus, rose minus, honey gold times, sky blue divide and plum flip), and the numbers on the signs are at least 16 pixels tall on a phone, so nothing depends on color alone.
• Nothing is timed, and nothing is lost to a wrong turn: Undo steps back as far as you like, and your records only ever go up.
• Reduced motion moves Tally straight to each gate and keeps the leaves and sparkles few and nearly still. A speed setting slows or quickens her walk, and sound is optional and never needed to play.

Guides and roundups

• How to Play Math Path Puzzles: Rules and Strategy
• Math Games for Adults: Free Number Puzzles
• Quick Free Games to Play When Bored at Work
• Best Cozy Puzzle Games to Play in 2026