Make 10 - where math and adventure meets!

German box art

Here comes a refurbished and enhanced post from 2017 about a game I really enjoyed: Make 10: a Journey of Numbers. It's a quirky little game that I wanted to revisit again!

My mind couldn't let go of its unusual, definitely not stock-looking boxart for over a year. Eventually, I bought the game at my local used-games shop, curious about what the game is about. Yup, it was there on the shelf for over a year. It seems like no one was crazy enough to invest in a kid's math game in a German box (thankfully it's a multilanguage game).

Not expecting much, I launched the game. It immediately welcomed me with really weird music, and a short intro story about falling asleep and being taken to Make 10 Kingdom which is inhabited by quirky Make 10 Pixies. And then my quest to beat every Make 10 Master has begun. Well, the quest is over now and every possible challenge and ‘side quest’ is finished.

I was hooked by the game and I enjoyed every single bit of it, even those more annoying minigames. In fact, I still return to the game from time to time, to do a challenge or two. It’s that fun. The joy of discovering hidden gems.

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a page from the manual

The gameplay is purely touch-based and consists majorly of taping on the screen in a point-and-click manner. Walking around can feel a bit mundane but thankfully the locations are just short enough to not overstay welcome and there are many MANY (over 30) minigames to play as you go through the story. Some are really good, some are 'sigh...', some can be quirky, and some are Dark Souls (Eclipse Stones). Most games can be revisited once unlocked. Exploration is encouraged through the game.

You are tasked to receive recognition from nine Make 10 Masters and to do so you travel across Make 10 Kingdom to find and "battle" Local and Grand Champs. Champs are Pixies who specialize in Make 10 Games and challenging them is the way to progress the story. Once they become your acquaintances they go to the Trial Mountains area. Overall, there are 100 Pixies in total to meet (90 are Champs). They all feel unique, have a lot to say, and once befriended you can revisit them in the Gathering Spot ("gotta collect 'em all"). I find that amazing. When unlocked, the aforementioned Trial Mountains allow you to challenge yourself in a particular minigame, which gets progressively harder as you climb up. There are 30 mountains (for 30 minigames) and top of each mountain Master Champ resides. Besides these, Make 10 has some smaller, bonus, minigames which open various paths as you explore the world.

The art style of the game is made up of charming, simple, and hand-drawn graphics. The attention to detail is remarkable though, as each place you visit is feels unique and rich, despite assets being often reused. The music is definitely something. Yet, very fitting. I enjoyed it very much. The story is endearing.

I recommend checking Nintendo's page for this game, which is still up. It nicely shows the described above features: link

(I myself plan to create a post with more geeky info (Pixies profiles and other trivia) soon as well). Edit: done.

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To sum it up, it's a great game. But also a quirky one too. I’m not sure if I would recommend it to everyone. But if you like solving math problems, if you like cute art, and if you like having a story and a living world in your educational games, then go for it. It's fun.

Btw, apparently muu muu - the developer of the game - had something to do with Jumping Flash! franchise. It's a PS1 classic, which I loved to play as a kid. I don’t read Japanese that well, so I’m not exactly sure what the deal is, sadly [2022 update: and the developer's website is now down 😕].

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Since Make 10 left a really good impression on me and since one of the characters stood out for me I made a fanart. Meet Count Nocturnstein, a vampire Pixie, with a really captivating design. Done in GIMP, FireAlpaca & Paintstorm Studio.

in-game appearance

fanart from 2017