Overview
Data Dash is a fast-paced educational map built for Minecraft: Education Edition that teaches multiplication through hands-on gameplay. Players help a malfunctioning robot operated by Professor Digit by solving math problems using interactive number boards and a block-based building system. With real-time timers, live score tracking, and visual feedback, the game turns core math concepts into an engaging classroom activity that supports up to four students at once.
Background
Minecraft: Education Edition reached out with a specific need. They were looking for a series of short, standalone challenges designed for classroom use. Each one had to follow a consistent structure and theme, with one focused entirely on math. The goal was to build something that could fit inside a single class period, work for up to four players, and support both individual and collaborative play. Teachers had to be able to use it without extra setup or explanation. Students had to be able to start, play, and finish the experience without leaving the platform or needing adult supervision.
Data Dash was the math-based challenge in this set. It needed to deliver a complete learning loop — problem-solving, action, feedback, and reflection — all inside Minecraft. Microsoft asked for a written prompt, learning objectives, and three extension paths for teachers. The game itself needed to teach multiplication in a way that made sense in Minecraft, while also supporting curriculum goals. In addition, the challenge had to include a complete world file with a guided layout, working NPC systems, sample builds, and support materials.
Atheris Games was a good fit for this project because of our history delivering creative and functional work across Minecraft’s commercial space. While a small studio, we’ve worked on large-scale projects through our collaboration with Team Visionary, and have helped produce content for Twitch Rivals, OnePlus, Google Play, and other recognizable clients. We bring a mix of level design, custom development, scripting, and education-focused thinking to every project, and this one required all of it.
The Challenge
The math challenge needed to be more than just a map with problems. It needed a reason to exist, a narrative hook, and a flow that would make sense from the moment a student joined the world. Our task was to combine interactive learning, self-paced gameplay, and clear feedback into one complete experience. The map needed to be playable in a short session, while still giving students time to explore deeper with their teachers afterward through classroom extensions.
The project required a blend of UX and level design. It had to be visually clean and logically structured. The player needed to know where to go, what to do, and how to get started without outside help. It also had to include a fully autonomous gameplay system, where each problem, score, and result was tracked and displayed without requiring any commands or admin support.
The overall experience needed to represent an approach to math that was active, not passive. Instead of worksheets or quizzes, students would answer math problems by building the answers themselves using Minecraft blocks. The map had to give instant feedback, track mistakes, and encourage progress — not through punishment or score deductions, but through clarity and reinforcement.
What We Built
Players spawn in a clean starting zone. A visible light trail, paired with particles, leads them forward. Straight ahead is a large black screen used to display math questions. On the right is a leaderboard showing two stats: number of correct answers and number of incorrect ones. On the left, there’s a number board from 0 to 9, which players can click to select a number. Above the number board is a timer leaderboard that logs how long each player took to complete the map. In the center of the area is a platform marked with a “Build Here” sign. Nearby, the player sees an NPC with a question mark above its head. This character, Professor Digit, is a dog riding a robotic body. He’s the host of the experience and guides players through voice lines and text dialogue. Interacting with him brings up two options: Freebuild Mode or Play the Game. Freebuild Mode gives players space to experiment and practice. Play the Game starts the full challenge.
If the player chooses to start the game, Professor Digit walks them through the introduction and sets the scene. His machine is malfunctioning, and he needs help solving math problems to get it back online. After a short cutscene and second round of dialogue, the first problem appears on the main display screen. It’s a multiplication equation with a missing number. Players select numbers from the number board by clicking on them. Holograms of the selected digits appear over the build platform, and the player must construct the number using Minecraft blocks. If placed correctly, the blocks turn green. If placed incorrectly, they turn red. When the number is built, the NPC gives feedback. If it’s correct, Professor Digit responds with a voice line and a visual thumbs-up. A new question then appears.
This loop continues through ten problems. Each one is tracked with a timer and logged into the leaderboard system. Once a student finishes, they’re shown their score and time. The next player can take a turn, appearing in slot two on the leaderboard. The system supports up to four players and rotates them cleanly. The map also allows for replayability, making it a useful tool for group work, timed challenges, or progressive learning.
The entire system is autonomous. From start to finish, the map manages the dialogue, question selection, response tracking, hologram positioning, color-coded building feedback, and result displays. It was built to run without teacher input, so that educators could focus on guiding discussions or providing support rather than managing gameplay.
We also included a Freebuild Mode for teachers who want to customize or extend the lesson. In this mode, players can use the same space and tools without the challenge timer, giving room for open-ended learning or creative exploration.
Educational Design
The structure of Data Dash was informed by specific educational outcomes. Every part of the experience was designed to reinforce learning through active engagement.
- Spawn and orientation introduces players to spatial logic, UI literacy, and goal-setting. It also builds digital confidence and interest.
- NPC interaction with Professor Digit supports reading comprehension, decision-making, and auditory processing. The character design was intentionally friendly to build emotional connection.
- Timed problem display develops processing speed, working memory, and multiplication fluency. The visible timer helps students monitor their own progress.
- Number selection encourages motor coordination, number recognition, and decision-making through physical interaction.
- Block building connects abstract math to physical actions, strengthening symbolic reasoning and spatial awareness. Color-coded feedback supports correction and learning without frustration.
- Positive reinforcement through animations, leaderboards, and dialogue builds confidence, encourages retrying, and promotes a growth mindset.
The overall gameplay supports key education skills across multiple domains:
- Mathematics: multiplication fluency and reasoning
- Cognitive: memory, attention, visual-spatial skills
- Executive function: planning, sequencing, task completion
- Digital literacy: interface navigation and interaction
- Social-emotional: confidence, motivation, resilience
- Motor skills: 3D precision using standard input methods
All of this takes place in a format that fits within a classroom period and can be reused across multiple sessions. The entire experience supports primary-level education with the flexibility to adapt across a variety of classroom styles and learning speeds.
Development
Data Dash was built entirely with Minecraft’s internal systems, using scoreboards, selectors, and invisible entities to manage everything from timing to scoring. We structured the gameplay to be fully autonomous, requiring no setup or intervention from the educator once the map was loaded. A key part of this was tracking playtime. Since Minecraft does not provide a native timer in seconds or minutes, we recorded game ticks — Minecraft’s internal time unit — and converted them to milliseconds, seconds, and minutes using a combination of scoreboard operations. These values had to be further split into digits so they could be displayed visually with number blocks on the leaderboard. This conversion system allowed us to display accurate completion times for each player in a readable format, down to milliseconds, without external tools.
We also created a pre-defined set of multiplication problems, each linked to its own answer matrix. These problems appeared randomly and were presented on a large display screen at the start of each round. When a player selected a number from the interactive board and placed the matching blocks in the build zone, the map would compare the built number against the answer matrix for that specific problem. If correct, the system gave immediate positive feedback and moved to the next problem. All player actions were logged — successes and failures were both tracked — and we built a complete scoreboard system that updated in real time. Since Minecraft blocks themselves cannot store dynamic data, we used invisible entities bound to each leaderboard row to handle the logic. These entities stored the score, tracked correct and incorrect answers, compared them against other players, and dynamically determined leaderboard placement.
This same method was used to handle two-digit numbers, both for time tracking and answer validation. The system had to isolate the tens and units digits separately, display them through custom visual blocks, and update them based on player performance. Since the visual layer could only show blocks, all actual comparison and tracking logic took place in the background, driven by scoreboards and selectors. Using this architecture, we were able to deliver a clean, intuitive player experience that felt simple but was powered by layered backend logic built directly into Minecraft’s native tools. The result was a game that could display live rankings, handle input with precision, and provide educators with a tool that worked seamlessly out of the box.