Rethink the mechanics for a screen
Board play and digital play are different games. We added digital-specific elements like calling fouls and adjusted rules for online play, while keeping the math goals untouched.
Our Work NBA Math Hoops
NBA Math Hoops Goes Digital
When the pandemic closed classrooms, Learn Fresh's math board game lost its table. We rebuilt it as a game for tablets and phones, with live NBA and WNBA data, multiplayer leagues, and the same math at its core, playable anywhere a student is.
- Education
- Sports
- Mobile App & Game Development
- Live Data
- Client
- Learn Fresh
- Education non-profit, NBA Math Hoops
- Services
- Mobile App & Game Development
- UI/UX · Strategy · Design
- Stack
- Unity · Laravel
- NBA and WNBA APIs, tablets and phones
- Result
- Anywhere, any device
- Classroom or home, live leagues
01. The Challenge
Digital Pivot
The situation: NBA Math Hoops is a board game that builds math proficiency through students' love of basketball. When the pandemic limited in-person learning, Learn Fresh saw the chance to take the game digital, lowering the barrier so students could keep learning and building math skills through lockdown.
The classroom closed. The game stayed in it.
A board, cards, and dice only work when everyone is at the same table.
Students lost the thing that made math fun.
Remote learning had plenty of worksheets and very little play.
A game, not a lesson, had to survive the move.
Rules, feel, and NBA authenticity all had to carry over to a screen.
02. The Strategy
Critical Adjustments for Digital Gameplay
Make the environment do more
Physics-based dice rolls, interactive tutorials, an adjustable shot clock, and a toggle for division let the game meet players at every skill level.
Keep the look students already knew
The digital board replicates the physical one so past players feel at home, within NBA and WNBA brand guidelines and Learn Fresh's own palette.
Reward the practice
Game psychology, applied carefully: player unlocks and progress tracking give students a reason to keep going as their math improves.
Open it up beyond the classroom
Live multiplayer and a league system let friends and classmates compete, turning a classroom activity into a community of learners.
Bring the real league in
Real-time NBA and WNBA data through the leagues' APIs keeps rosters and stats current, and connects the math to players students actually follow.
The transition to digital meant we could use real-time data from the NBA and WNBA through their APIs, bringing an added layer of excitement and relevance to the game.
03. The Solution
A New League of Learning
NBA Math Hoops as a digital game: true to the original board, playable on tablets and phones, and bigger than the classroom it started in. Students collect real NBA and WNBA players, build rosters, and compete live in leagues while the math does its work underneath.
Game mechanics, UI, and school-grade security were the hard parts. Solving them is what made the game reach students everywhere.
- Live rosters
- NBA and WNBA API data
- Multiplayer
- Leagues across classrooms
- Any device
- Tablets and phones, school-safe
04. Highlights
What Shipped
Real-time NBA data
The NBA API feeds live player stats, images, and updates into the game, so nobody maintains rosters by hand. Basic statistics and graphing became part of the math itself.
Built for school use
The game works across tablets and phones without losing quality, and it clears the bar schools set: login protocols, permitted activity, and student data handled the way an educator would expect.
Enhanced gamification
Students collect their favorite NBA and WNBA players and build custom rosters. Progress unlocks higher player levels, adding strategy on top of the math practice.
An interactive board
Physics-based dice rolls add real probability to every turn, and interactive tutorials walk players through each math challenge, so practice feels like play.
05. Deliverables
Beyond the Board
A cross-platform game for tablets and phones, live league data through the NBA and WNBA APIs, multiplayer and league infrastructure, and a design that keeps the board students remember.
- Services
- Mobile App & Game Development
- UI/UX
- Strategy
- Design
- Technologies
- Unity
- Laravel
- NBA and WNBA APIs
YOUR NEXT DECISION
What is your business working around?
Tell us what's slowing you down, what you've tried, and what needs to be different. We'll start there.
Come with a problem. You don't need a specification.
The first conversation helps define the next step, whether or not that step is with us.