Deal Sum

Sixteen cards are face up and one number is the target. Pick four cards that add up to it exactly. The fourth pick locks the hand in, so the arithmetic has to be done before you commit — you get three tries.

It runs entirely on your device: 0 network requests, works offline. No ads, no account, nothing to buy, and no betting, money or prizes of any kind.

1. Focus the board — click it, or press Tab until it is focused.
2. Move with the arrow keys. The cursor is outlined, not just tinted.
3. Pick with Enter. Press it again on a picked card to drop it.
4. Watch the running total in the status row — it shows what you have picked so far and how many picks are left.
5. The fourth pick commits. If it hits the target you win; if not, that is one of your three tries gone.

How do you find a set of numbers that adds up to a target?

Anchor on the largest card first. If the target is 30 and the biggest card is a King, the other three have to make 17 — a much smaller question than the one you started with, and one you can scan for directly. Then work in pairs: look for two cards that make the remainder, rather than trying to hold four numbers at once. If the anchor leads nowhere, drop to the next largest and repeat. This is far faster than sampling four cards at random, because each anchor you rule out removes a whole block of combinations rather than one.

Is there always a set that works?

Yes. The answer is dealt before the board is: four positions are chosen and given values, and their total becomes the target. The other twelve cards are filled in afterwards. A reachable target is therefore guaranteed rather than hoped for — there is no deal where you are searching for something that is not there.

Do the suits matter?

No. They are decoration, and deliberately so — the game is arithmetic, not pattern-spotting. If you find yourself looking for a suit rule, there isn't one.

What does the number of routes mean at the end?

How many different four-card sets in that deal reached the target, counted exhaustively rather than estimated. A deal with one route is much harder than a deal with twelve, and the score reflects it.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Once the page has loaded once, the whole game is on your device — cards, rules, everything. There is no server involved in play at any point.

Is there any money, betting or in-app purchase in this?

None, and there never will be. Playing cards here are just numbers on tiles: no currency, nothing to buy, no wager of any kind, and no gambling mechanic anywhere in the game.

Can I play it with a keyboard or a screen reader?

Both. Arrows move, Enter picks and drops, and the board announces each card's value along with the running total and how many tries remain. Picked cards carry a tick as well as a border, so nothing depends on telling hues apart.

Sixteen cards, values one to thirteen, four to a hand and three tries. Every deal is checked against all 1,820 possible four-card sets, so the route count shown at the end is exact.

Target 24 is the other arithmetic game here — it gives you four numbers and every operator, and asks for one exact value.

Bookmark this page (Ctrl+D, or ⌘D on Mac) or install the app — it works offline the next time you need it.