There are quite a few app developers experimenting with maths-based games on iPhone and iPad. Artgig Studio is one of them, and its Mystery Math Town game is well worth a look.

Aimed at 6-12 year-olds, the game is set in the spooky setting of Mystery Math Town, although the main character isn’t scary: he’s a “friendly and curious little ghost” who’s trying to rescue fireflies.

Your child’s job is to help using their mathematical skills, solving addition, subtraction and multiplication sums to unlock rooms and passages, while also meeting the quirky townspeople through their talking portraits.

Now, there’s quite a big difference between the maths abilities of an average six year-old and an average 12 year-old, but Artgig has factored that into the game.

You can set up individual profiles for each of your children, then customise the game settings to make it harder or easier, according to their skills.

The developer is also keen to stress that Mystery Math Town requires genuine critical skills: “Players develop math thought by building equations, not just tapping answers,” as they put it.

Mystery Math Town costs £1.99 on the App Store, and is iPad-only. Here’s a video demo: