Learn to read a new script by playing arcade games in it

25 arcade games, a story mode, a daily challenge and a study room — in 12 languages, from Thai and Japanese to Hindi and Korean. Try a game free, no account needed.

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Games

Every game asks the same thing in a different costume: see a character, recognise it, produce it on your keyboard before the clock runs out. That loop is what turns a chart you have stared at into something your fingers know.

Asphalt AssaultGetaway cars race up the highway wearing characters. Type one to swerve and fire. In the spirit of the classic top-down spy-car chase. Balloon BrigadePop balloons as they drift down. The gentlest game here — good for a first session. In the spirit of the classic balloon-popping flight game. InkslingerMr. Pesar’s masked cats pop up around Tumbleweed Pass. Castle ClimbClimb the castle by typing ropes and ledges. Mr. Pesar rolls balls of yarn at you — hop them, or sweep them aside with the brush. Deep DigDig through the earth by typing the cell to tunnel into. Line up with one of Mr. Pesar’s cats and ink it with the brush until it floats away in a bubble. Echo Delta GlyphThe pads light in order and speak as they go — type the sequence back from memory. In the spirit of the classic lights-and-sounds memory game. Explosive InkStep through a maze of paper walls by typing, and set down pots of Yai’s ink. Each bursts in a splash that tears through paper and sends the cats scurrying. Fire ForceStolen letters flutter down onto the village. Type each one to flick ink at it from the battery below that part of the sky. Flight of the PigeonRide your pigeon through the sky, typing to flap and steer. Knock down riders on your own level. Frost SummitClimb the frozen mountain: type the block above to break it, then the hole to climb through. Mr. Pesar’s cats in knitted hats roll snowballs into your holes. Garden MazeType a path and sweep down it with Yai’s brush, mopping up the spilled ink. A cup of warm milk makes the cats sleepy. Laser PointerA red dot dances over a rug of letters. Type the letter under the dot and pounce — before it darts away. Whack-a-mole, for a cat. Letter BlotchA plane drops a crate of mail. Letter DropDrop white envelopes into a well by typing a column; envelopes with the same letter that touch clear. A falling-piece matcher. Letter MatchTurn two cards over and hear them. A matching pair clears only when you type the character. In the spirit of the classic card-matching memory game. Mail SortThe morning mail pours down the chute. Type each letter’s address to send it flying into its pigeonhole — three in the tray and the chute jams. Mice ThievesA line of mice winds down the garden, stealing the letters and leaving cheese behind. Ink a mouse and the line splits in two. Pigeon DeliveryBirds cross the sky, each carrying a letter. Type it and the bird lets go — catch every letter before the flock flies off. Post RoadHop across the road and the stream, leaf to floating leaf, and mail a letter in the mailbox on the far bank. Type a character in the lane ahead to hop there. Pyramid GlyphsHop down a pyramid of carved stepping stones and paint every rune with the brush. A ball of yarn bounces down, a cat gives chase, and Nok and Nuk can fly you back to the top. Raining CatsMr. Pesar’s cats march on the marshes in formation. Only the front cat in each column can be hit. ReboundBreak a wall of characters. Type the ball's character to catch it. In the spirit of the classic brick-breaker. Rock SplitterBreak drifting rocks apart — on word levels, into the characters that make them up. In the spirit of the classic asteroid-shooting game. Shelf SwatShadow cats are nudging the schoolbooks off the shelves. Type the letter on a tipping book’s spine to push it back before it falls. Swoop SquadronPaper planes and cranes swoop in and dive at you. A cat-faced kite can lower a net to snag your turret.

Fifty levels, five tiers

Levels 1 to 10 use a handful of easy characters at a gentle pace. Each level adds a few more, speeds up the fall and eventually sends several at once. Finish all ten levels of a tier and you earn an extra life. After level 50 the single characters stop and whole words start falling instead.

Speak instead of type

Every game has a spoken mode: switch on the microphone and say the character rather than typing it. The Study Room scores individual characters as a percentage, which is a blunt but honest way to practise Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese tones — a wrong tone usually comes back as a different word entirely.