Count on Chaos

Your computer is infected. Buddy, a tiny calculator, is going in after the viruses.

Step into the Wallpaper Kingdom, an old adventure program where desktop tools have become strange places. The printer is a paper-covered meadow. The control panel is a land of giant switches. KERNEL waits at Castle My Computer, with Buddy's friends locked up along the road.

Same answer. Different attack.

In these turn-based fights, how you answer matters. A plain number makes Buddy strike and brace against the enemy's next attack. An equivalent equation delivers a power strike, but gives up that protection.

Need 25? Type 25 to brace, or try 5 × 5 for a harder hit. Read the enemy's next move and decide when to play safe and when to build something bigger. The question clock keeps the pressure on.

The viruses play dirty

Stolen digits. Jammed keys. A runaway equals button. Pop-ups that land on your keypad while the clock keeps ticking. Close the warnings before you answer, or the ones left open can hurt Buddy.

Your CHAOS meter fills as you answer. Spend it on a CHAOS.EXE spin for a helpful or risky surprise.

Choose your road

Follow the signposts through nine zones, each with its own boss. Choose between fights, recharge stations, campfires, treasure, mysteries, math gates and the Shareware Stall. Collect items and Quick Programs to change what your next fight looks like.

Boss victories repair broken desktop programs and free friends. There are nine friends to rescue, each with five ranks of abilities. Bring up to three along the road and let them help in battle.

A setback is another reason to return

An empty battery ends the run, but you keep freed friends, restored programs, cosmetics, records and earned scrap. Spend scrap on permanent Repair Bench upgrades before trying again. A defeated Buddy can also leave a travelling friend held hostage: find the cage on a later run to bring them back.

Beat KERNEL to finish the nine-zone journey, then choose whether to keep walking into Overtime for a distance record.

Choose Easy, Normal or Brainy math. Play with keyboard and mouse, and use the screen-shake and reduced-motion settings to adjust the presentation.