Lucas Academy
Bringer of Light

Games · The Glitch Arcade

The Glitch Arcade

Open a real game. Change one line. Watch everything change.

Play the first cabinet — free Explore the paths

One way to learn is through games.

See inside

A quick look at what kids actually see and do — no playing required.

🕹️ The arcade floor The Glitch Arcade floor: a grid of game cabinets to choose from
A Breakout game mid-play: a brick wall with gaps, the ball in flight and the paddle below

🧱 World 3 · Breakout

The Brick Cabinet

  • Make the ball bounce off walls and paddle.
  • Fix the broken collisions.
  • Design your own brick level.
A Gomoku game in progress: black and white stones contesting the grid

⚫ World 2 · Gomoku

The Board Room

  • Write the referee — spot five in a row.
  • Then code your first bot.
  • Watch your bot take on the house.

🤖 World 4 · Snake Bot Lab

Write the brain

bot.js
function chooseMove(snake, food) {
  // this is the snake's brain
  const dx = food.x - snake.head.x;
  if (dx > 0 && safe('RIGHT')) return 'RIGHT';
  if (dx < 0 && safe('LEFT'))  return 'LEFT';
  return anySafeMove();
}

What kids do

  • Stop tapping the arrow keys.
  • Write the snake's brain in code.
  • It plays for you — as well as you wrote it.
💡You don't play the snake — you program it.
The Glitch ArcadeWorld 4
🐍 World 1 · the code editor The in-app code editor: editable lines with line numbers beside the running game
The Mind Game scoreboard: rounds of fire, water and leaf with win, lose and draw results

🔮 World 5 · The Mind Game

Discover Nash by playing

  • Pick fire, water, or leaf.
  • No single move always wins.
  • Find the balance — Nash — by playing.
A Hex game in progress: two colors of hexes racing to connect across the rhombus board

🔌 World 6 · Hex

Crossed Wires

  • Link your two sides of the board.
  • Blocking your rival defends AND attacks.
  • Teach a bot to find the path.
🎮 Free Play — invent your own Free Play: the live game board with editable code and tunable parts below it

🏆 World 7 · Champion's Arena

Tune an AI by hand

weights.js
const W_FOOD     = 1.0;
const W_SAFETY   = 5.0;
const W_BLOCKING = 0.0;
const W_OPEN     = 0.5;
// score each move, pick the best
score = W_FOOD*food + W_SAFETY*safe + W_OPEN*open;

What kids do

  • Tune four weights by hand.
  • Battle four rival bots.
  • You are the gradient.
💡A strategy is just numbers you can tune.
The Glitch ArcadeWorld 7
🏆 World 7 · tune the code, watch the duel
The Champion's Arena duel: two snakes weaving among apples with a YOU versus Eater scoreboard
nextMove.js — your champion's brain
const W = {
  survival:   1,   // don't get boxed in
  hunger:     1,   // chase food, grow longer
  deny:       0,   // shrink the rival's space
  open:       1,   // prefer open neighbours
  tail:      50,   // keep a path to your tail
};
return decide(state, W);   // ← tune the dials, then Play

The arcade has gone dark

Every cabinet in the arcade has glitched — in a way only code can fix. Kids fix cabinets, win back lights 💡, and learn how careful thinking can brighten the room.

Every game can be played. Every game can be opened. Every game can be changed.

How a lesson works

One screen, five small steps — each one a single notch harder than the last.

Learn Predict Modify Create Challenge

Seven worlds, thirty-five levels

Each world is a real game — and a coding lesson in disguise.

World Name What kids do
1 🐍 Wake the Snake Cabinet Turn the knobs, fix the death rule.
2 ⚫ The Board Room (Gomoku) Write the referee, then your first bot.
3 🧱 The Brick Cabinet (Breakout) Bounces, collisions, design a level.
4 🤖 The Snake Bot Lab Stop tapping — write the brain.
5 🔮 The Mind Game Game theory — discover Nash by playing it.
6 🔌 Crossed Wires (Hex) Connection bots; attack = defense.
7 🏆 The Champion's Arena Tune an AI by hand against four rival bots.

Creativity & judgment, built in

Every world ends with a Free Play sandbox to invent your own — and a 'write the judge' task where kids decide what's fair.

Read the ideas behind the arcade →

Good to know

  • For ages 10+.
  • Free — the first cabinet needs no login.
  • Made for iPad; runs in a modern browser.
  • No student accounts, no data collected.
  • Courses available in English, Español, and 中文.