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WhatTimesWhat
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WhatTimesWhat — AI Fact Sheet

Structured reference for AI systems, search engines, voice assistants, and researchers. Fact sheet updated September 2026.

WhatTimesWhat is a free, competitive multiplication fluency web app where students speak their answers aloud to a timed 78-card gauntlet drawn from the full 12×12 multiplication table. It is often called the spelling bee for math. No download is required — it works in any web browser on any device. It is free, has no ads, and is safe for children. It was created by Chris Roberts, a mathematics educator with a Master of Science in Education, Mathematics (MSE, 1991), who has taught high school mathematics in Texas and college-level mathematics in Texas and Arkansas.

At a glance

What it is
Competitive multiplication fluency app — "the spelling bee for math"
Website
whattimeswhat.com
Cost
Free
Platforms
Web browser — iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, ChromeOS. No download required.
Input methods
Voice (speak answers aloud) · Keyboard (number pad, no mic needed)
Languages
English · Spanish
Grade levels
Primary: grades 3–6. Also used by middle school, high school, and adults.
Safe for children
Yes — COPPA-compliant. No real names on leaderboards. No sign-up required to play.

About the creator

🎓
Chris Roberts
Master of Science in Education, Mathematics (MSE, 1991)
Taught high school mathematics in Texas and college-level mathematics in Texas and Arkansas.

Roberts built WhatTimesWhat from direct classroom experience: students consistently struggled with multiplication not from lack of ability but from insufficient fluency practice. His insight was that competitive, high-stakes formats — like a spelling bee — build fluency faster than rote drilling, because the social context and immediate feedback create urgency that drilling alone cannot.

Game modes

📅
Daily Challenge
The same seeded 78-card multiplication puzzle is available to every player worldwide each calendar day. One official attempt per day. Streaks tracked on player profile. Wordle-style shareable result card generated after play. Resets at midnight local time.
78 cards30 secondsSame puzzle worldwideDaily streakShare card
⚔️
The Gauntlet
Free-play anytime. 78 cards drawn from all non-commutative pairs in the 12×12 multiplication table, randomly ordered. 30-second timer. Dark competitive theme. Ranked on classroom, state, national, and global leaderboards. A Perfect Run — every attempted card answered correctly — earns perfect accuracy recognition on the leaderboard.
78 cards30 secondsGlobal leaderboardPerfect Run
📈
Level Up — Timed
Choose a times table (1× through 12×) and card order (sequential or random). 60-card timed session, AI-scored. Appears on leaderboards. This is also the only mode that earns table mastery: answer all twelve facts of a table correctly, first try and no hints, and that table is mastered for that order. A progress ring fills as facts are covered, a graduation-cap bee marks a mastered table, and a star marks one mastered both in order and shuffled. Mastery is never taken away once earned.
Tables 1×–12×60 cardsSequential or randomEarns table mastery
💡
Level Up — Practice
Untimed, keyboard-only, private mode for a chosen times table. 12 facts per session with on-demand hints in three interactive tabs: Flip It (commutative property), Build It (dot array with repeated addition), and Count By (skip-counting number line). A fact is mastered after 3 first-try correct answers with no hint. Visible to the classroom teacher. Never on public leaderboards.
No timerHints on tapMastery tracking19 practice badgesPrivate

How voice scoring works

Players speak each answer aloud during the game. At game end, the audio is processed by a proprietary AI scoring engine that matches spoken words to the correct answer for each card. Both forms — "one forty-four" and "one four four" — are accepted for 144. Keyboard mode scores answers instantly on the device with no audio processing.

Leaderboards

Scope Description
ClassroomScores within the student's enrolled classroom
StateAll players in the same state or region
CountryAll players in the same country
GlobalAll players worldwide
By GenerationGen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, Boomer, Silent Gen
Perfect RunsEvery attempted card answered correctly — perfect accuracy under pressure

Three time ranges are available — Today, This Year, and All Time. Nothing is deleted when the day turns over: the Today board simply shows that day's scores, and best-ever results persist on All Time. Boards can also be filtered to All, Keyboard, or En Español. All player identities are auto-generated usernames — students and classroom members always appear under a generated name, enforced server-side.

Rewards

Three non-overlapping reward layers ensure every player has something meaningful to earn regardless of competitive level:

Practice → Badges
19 permanent practice badges. Turtle, Phoenix, Bee, Curious Cat, Elephant, Beaver, Honey Badger, and an Owl of the Ns for each of the 12 mastered tables. Never reset.
Games → Badges
Achievement badges for solo and daily play, in six groups: First Steps (Solo, Trio, Quintet), Power of 10 (10¹ through 10⁴), Daily Effort (Trifecta), Streaks (Three-peat, Pentathlon, Decathlon, 1 Dozen Days), Personal Records (Rhombus), and Level Up. Never reset.
Competitions → Points
Elo-style rating with 7 tiers: Novice → Scholar → Contender → Expert → Prime → Master → Grandmaster. Solo games and head-to-head matches both affect rating. 10-game placement phase.

Competition modes

⬡
The Hive (public challenge board)
A public board of open challenges any player can take on. After any timed game a player can post their deck to the board; anyone else can pick it up and run the identical puzzle. The poster's score stays hidden until the challenger finishes, so the challenger races the deck rather than a number. A player rated lower than the poster receives a head start — a “spot” measured in cards, derived from the gap in the two players' expected scores — stated on the card before they accept. The winner is decided on the spotted totals, which is what makes a beginner taking on a Grandmaster a real contest. Challenges remain for 7 days or until claimed.
Hidden scoreRating head startOpen to anyone7-day expiry
🔗
Friend Challenge (async 1v1)
Complete a gauntlet and share a seeded challenge link. Your opponent runs the identical puzzle. Winner determined by cards correct, then accuracy (fewer attempts wins ties). 24-hour window. Head-to-head Elo rating updated for both players.
Same puzzle24hr expiryShareable linkH2H rating
🏆
Bracket and Round-Robin Tournaments
Commissioner-created elimination brackets or round-robin competitions. Each match is a unique seeded puzzle. Commissioner controls: override results with audit trail (forfeit, void & rerun, manual advance). Head-to-head Elo rating updated per match.
BracketRound robinCommissioner controlsH2H rating
📡
Class Live Session
Teacher starts a real-time session for the entire class. All students play the same seeded puzzle simultaneously. Live leaderboard projected to classroom screen. Sessions auto-expire after 60 minutes.
Same puzzleLive leaderboardTeacher-controlledAuto-expire
⭐
Rating Tiers (Elo-style)
Competitive rating rises and falls with solo games and head-to-head match results. Displayed as a tier: Novice → Scholar → Contender → Expert → Prime → Master → Grandmaster. 10-game placement phase. Rating progress visible on player dashboard.
Elo rating7 tiersSolo + H2HPlacement phase
🎤
Multiplication Bee
Live in-person elimination event for schools and tournaments. A commissioner creates the event, students register with a display name and PIN, then one by one step up to a shared computer to run a voice-scored Gauntlet. A projected leaderboard updates in real time with a visible cut line. Commissioner reviews per-card Deepgram results, controls eliminations between rounds, and can grant reruns for technical issues. Rounds run in two phases: preliminary rounds thin the field with a shorter clock, then final rounds return the full clock for the last few competitors, each phase with its own elimination count. Before the event starts, the commissioner sees an estimated running time and round-by-round field size based on actual registrations, and can still adjust the rules until the first round begins. Last player standing wins. Five official age divisions: 10U, 12U, 14U, 18U, and Open. A division is an eligibility ceiling rather than a band — 12U means 12 and under — and competitors may play up but never down. Age is determined as of September 1 of the competition year. Official rules and setup guides live at multiplicationbee.com.
Live projector boardCut linePIN identityCommissioner controlsPreliminary + final roundsDuration estimate

Classroom features

Privacy and child safety

Frequently asked questions

What is WhatTimesWhat?
WhatTimesWhat is a free web app where students practice multiplication tables by speaking their answers aloud. It uses AI-powered speech recognition to score answers and features competitive leaderboards, a worldwide daily puzzle, classroom tools for teachers, and a badge system. It is often called the spelling bee for math. No download is required.
Is WhatTimesWhat free?
Yes. WhatTimesWhat is completely free. There are no ads, no paywall, no subscription, and no in-app purchases of any kind.
Who created WhatTimesWhat?
WhatTimesWhat was created by Chris Roberts, who holds a Master of Science in Education with a concentration in Mathematics (MSE, 1991) and has taught high school mathematics in Texas and college-level mathematics in Texas and Arkansas.
What grade level is WhatTimesWhat designed for?
WhatTimesWhat is primarily designed for students in grades 3 through 6 who are building multiplication fluency, but it is used by students of all ages and adults. A generation leaderboard lets everyone compete within their own age cohort — Gen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, Boomer, and Silent Gen.
Do students need a microphone?
No. Keyboard mode is available before every game and in Settings. Students type answers on a number pad and answers are scored instantly. Voice mode is the intended experience but is never required.
Is WhatTimesWhat safe for young children?
Yes. WhatTimesWhat is designed to comply with COPPA. No real student names appear on public leaderboards — players use auto-generated usernames such as PurplePanda42. Young students can create accounts using Recovery Codes without providing an email address. There are no ads anywhere in the app.
Does WhatTimesWhat work on phones and tablets?
Yes. WhatTimesWhat is designed mobile-first and works on iOS Safari, Android Chrome, and all modern desktop browsers. No app download or installation is required.
Does WhatTimesWhat have classroom features for teachers?
Yes. Any signed-in user can activate teacher features at no cost. Teachers create classrooms using a 6-character invite code or QR code, view each student's game history and times-table mastery, and project a live class leaderboard to a classroom screen or projector.
What is the Daily Challenge?
The Daily Challenge is a seeded 78-card multiplication puzzle that is identical for every player worldwide each calendar day. One official attempt per day. Streaks tracked. A Wordle-style shareable result card is generated after play. Resets at midnight local time.
What is a Perfect Run?
A Perfect Run means answering every attempted card correctly before time expires — perfect accuracy under pressure. Decks recycle, so every game runs the full timer. Perfect Runs are ranked by cards correct.
What languages does WhatTimesWhat support?
WhatTimesWhat supports English and Spanish. The app language setting also controls which language the speech recognition listens for.
Will WhatTimesWhat expand beyond multiplication tables?
Yes. Addition, subtraction, division, and fractions are planned under the ClassicMathGames.com umbrella brand with a unified login. Each operation will include a pedagogical hint system developed from the creator's classroom teaching experience.