Welcome to Algebra Mazes, my new early algebra puzzle that shares DNA with my earlier creation, Sneaky Sums. Both Algebra Mazes and Sneaky Sums puzzles present you with a grid of shapes. Each shape represents a secret numerical value for you to deduce. Whereas Sneaky Sums puzzles were generated randomly, Algebra Mazes are handcrafted and designed to showcase particular strategies for solving for unknown variables.

Each shape in the puzzles below (circle, triangle, square, hexagon) has been assigned a secret numerical value between 1 and 10. More than one shape may share the same value. Your goal is to find the value of the shapes by navigating your way through the “maze,” pressing the + buttons to learn the sums of the shapes in the rows and columns. For example, pressing the + button in the top row of the puzzle below tells you that square + 5 = 13.

You can press the buttons in any order, but there is a logical pathway through each maze to uncover the shapes’ values one by one. Note that you can view only one sum at a time. When you press a + button, the prior sum is hidden (although you can always view it again by pressing its button).

When you think you know the numerical value of a shape, enter it into the space below the grid. All instances of that shape in the grid will be replaced by that value. If you wish to return to the shape, just switch its value back to 0.

There are 27 puzzles in all, and you can navigate between them by using the page navigation control in the lower-right corner. The puzzles start off gently but get harder as they progress.