Arcadia Zen Math Alternatives: Math Puzzles and Beyond

The closest alternative to Arcadia Zen Math is Crossmath: the same equation grids, with all four operations and multiplication before addition. Number Match is a lighter number game, and Killer Sudoku keeps a little addition inside a deeper logic puzzle. All three show ads, like Arcadia, and Number Match and Killer Sudoku sell a one-time way out, which Arcadia does not: its listing has no in-app purchases at all. If you are happy to drop the arithmetic, Sudoku Royale plays classic sudoku with no ads and nothing to buy.

Metajoy released Arcadia Zen Math in 2025, and it already has 51,915 US ratings, a lot for a young puzzle game. Its listing describes a calm math crossword: fill the gaps so each equation is true, large numbers, a hint prop, plant collections you grow as you solve, a daily speed challenge, weekly and regional leaderboards, and an offline mode. Metajoy also lists sister games in the Arcadia series (Mahjong, Dominoes, Onet Match), so if it is the series' look you like rather than the math, those exist too.

The App Store facts

From each app's US App Store listing, checked October 26, 2026. Prices and paid items change, so check the listing before you buy.

What you liked about Arcadia, and where else you get it

For comparison, Arcadia's own row would read "No purchase listed", with advertising noted in its age rating.

Ads you cannot pay to remove

This is the most common reason Arcadia players start looking. An app with no in-app purchases sounds like the honest option, and in a way it is: there are no coin packs, no hint bundles, no subscription. But it also means the ads are permanent. Every alternative here that shows ads at least gives you a way to end them:

• Number Match sells Number Match No Ads for $14.99.
• Killer Sudoku by Sudoku.com sells Killer Sudoku No Ads for $14.99.
• Crossmath sells Crossmath Premium $7.99, 4000 Coins $1.99, 1000 Coins $0.99 and more. Its listing does not say whether Premium removes ads, so check inside the app before you buy.
• Sudoku Royale has no ads and nothing for sale, so the question does not come up.

Keep the equations: Crossmath

If the arithmetic is the point, Guru Smart's Crossmath is the game to try. The rules match Arcadia's, so there is nothing to learn. What changes is the structure around the puzzles. Crossmath lets you choose a level from Easy to Expert for each game, and adds an Endless mode where answers are only checked when you submit. Its shop is larger than Arcadia's (which has none): coins, tickets and hint packs alongside Premium. Arcadia's plant collections and regional leaderboards have no counterpart in Crossmath's listing. Our Crossmath alternatives page looks at it from the other side.

Something lighter: Number Match

Number Match keeps numbers and a little addition (pairs that make 10) but none of the equation solving. You clear the board pair by pair, and its listing promises no time limit. It is a better fit for five spare minutes than for a long session. See the Number Match alternatives for games in the same vein.

Sums inside a logic puzzle: Killer Sudoku

Arcadia trains you to see which numbers fit a total. Killer sudoku uses exactly that skill, then adds the sudoku rule: no digit twice in a row, column, box or cage. A two-cell cage of 4 cannot be 2 and 2, so it must be 1 and 3. The arithmetic gets you started; the logic finishes the grid. Easybrain's Killer Sudoku is the best known app, and our best killer sudoku apps page compares the rest.

No arithmetic at all: Sudoku Royale

Classic sudoku uses digits as labels; you never add them up (see is sudoku math or logic?). What carries over from Arcadia is the feeling of a grid where every cell constrains its neighbors, and a calm pace if you want one.

Sudoku Royale (our app) is free with no ads, no purchases and no subscription. Practice has six levels, no mistake limit and works offline with puzzles it has already downloaded. The Daily Challenge and its leaderboard need a connection. When you are stuck, the hint names the technique and the cell, such as a hidden single, instead of handing you the answer, and the Journey teaches those techniques one chapter at a time.

Honest gaps for an Arcadia player: there are no collections to grow, no undo, no Android version, and the app is in English only, where Arcadia's listing has 12 languages. A timer shows in the corner and cannot be hidden, which may feel less "zen" than Arcadia's calm backgrounds.

When Arcadia Zen Math is still the better pick

• You want mental math practice. Sudoku gives you none. Arcadia and Crossmath do.
• You never want to be offered a purchase. Arcadia sells nothing; Crossmath, Number Match and Killer Sudoku all have shops.
• You like regional rankings and collecting plants. Nothing else here lists either.
• You play in a language other than English. Sudoku Royale's app is English only.

Bottom line

Same puzzle, more choice of level: Crossmath. A quick number break: Number Match. Sums with deeper logic: Killer Sudoku. No ads and no arithmetic: try Sudoku Royale. For a wider list, see the best number puzzle games and the best calm puzzle games; every sudoku matchup is on our comparisons hub.