How did Matiks turn mental math into a game with 5M+ downloads?

I recently came across Matiks, and honestly, the growth story surprised me.

The idea behind it is pretty simple:

What if mental math, memory and logic could feel more like gaming than studying?

The founders noticed that even highly educated students were increasingly relying on calculators for calculations they once did mentally. Instead of building another traditional brain-training app, they decided to make mental skills competitive, social and addictive in a good way.

Matiks lets you challenge real players in fast-paced 1v1 games across Math, Memory, Puzzle and Logic. You can race against time, improve your ELO rating, compete on leaderboards and build daily streaks.

The streak system is actually one of the more interesting parts.

50-day streak → T-shirt 👕
100-day streak → Cake 🎂
200-day streak → Hoodie 🧥

So instead of just getting another “come back tomorrow” notification, there’s an actual reason to keep going.

And the traction is pretty wild.

5M+ downloads on Google Play
2M+ monthly active users

That's a lot of people regularly choosing to spend time improving their mental math, memory and problem-solving skills.

What makes this even more interesting to me is the positioning.

Most educational apps try to make learning feel easier.

Matiks seems to be trying to make learning feel competitive.

You don't necessarily open it thinking, “I need to study math today.”

You open it thinking, “Can I beat this person?” 😅

And somewhere in the process, you're training your brain.

I'm curious what the Product Hunt community thinks:

Do you think turning learning into competitive gaming is actually a better way to build long-term habits?

And if you've tried Matiks:

What's your longest streak? 👀