Coding can take years or even decades to master, even for the most committed. Because of this, many learners become burnt out and give up on the skill that unlocks the possibility for great creativity and earnings, with the average computer program making $93k in 2021 and many making well above that.

But, to get to the point where you can develop impressive things, whether for personal projects or for clients, coders must overcome one of the most difficult challenges: getting through the learning phase. Thankfully, there are many ways to make the process more fun and rewarding, and this article will outline how beginner coders can expand their skills and knowledge through free coding games and challenges.

What Are Coding Games and Challenges?

As the name suggests, coding games and challenges are activities that require coding as part of the process. The types of games and challenges can vary. Still, they will generally have a mutual goal of pushing the learner to create something capable of performing a specific function or set of functions without writing too much code.

Name of Activity	Description
Challenge: LeetCode	LeetCode is a popular platform for coding challenges. It offers a wide range of coding problems that vary in difficulty. These challenges test algorithmic and coding skills, helping participants prepare for technical interviews and competitive coding.
Coding Game: Scratch	Scratch is a beginner-friendly coding game designed for kids. It uses a block-based visual programming language, making creating animations, games, and interactive stories easy. It introduces coding concepts in a playful way.
Challenge: HackerRank	HackerRank is a platform with coding challenges and competitions. It covers various domains, including algorithms, data structures, and artificial intelligence. It’s a great place to hone coding skills and prepare for coding interviews.

These games and challenges will typically start with a tutorial that guides the player through writing some code, then lets them try on their own by repeating a similar task that requires slightly different coding. As the game progresses, the difficulty level increases and more code must be written to progress or win the challenge.

What Are the Benefits of Coding Games and Challenges?

While it may sound like fun and games (pun intended), playing coding offers dozens of benefits, from improving problem-solving skills to developing patience and taking on difficult tasks. Here are a few of the most mention-worthy benefits of playing these games and conquering these challenges:

Encourages Creativity

Besides the obvious, one of the benefits of coding games is that they require lots of creativity since there is not always one right answer. In many cases, it’s up to the player to decide how they want to write their code and the result they want to achieve. This means that the coder could need to choose between a series of code types, languages, structures, and more to come up with the best solution.

Improves Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-solving skills are important in every aspect of life, which means that even if a coder tries coding games and chooses not to pursue coding as a career, they can still benefit from the skills acquired by playing these games. Because so many obstacles appear during the coding process, coders need to be able to decide on the fly about the best way to proceed, and this is exactly what coding games make you do.

Opportunity to Try New Things

Sometimes, when we are pursuing a goal, we get tunnel vision and only aim for that goal. While this can be beneficial in some cases, trying new languages and coding techniques in the world of coding can lead to faster and better results. Simply put, by venturing outside your comfort zone, you could find strategies to help overcome a problem you are facing with an ongoing project. This is why coding games and challenges can be so beneficial since they get coders to experiment outside of what they are used to seeing and doing.

Develops Patience

One thing you need to succeed as a coder is patience, and a lot of it. Things can be going so smoothly until you hit a huge wall and can’t seem to go any further. Unfortunately, this is simply part of coding, and combining problem-solving skills and patience makes overcoming these progress interruptions much easier. Therefore, playing coding games and challenges can help you work on patience and develop this skill set.

Builds an Impressive Resume

Last but not least, having completed various coding challenges can be seen as an asset when it comes to applying for jobs. Many coding games and courses will give you a certificate upon completion, which you can use to support your application. With the increase in demand for coders, employers are always looking for people who can show strong coding skills, and certificates from coding challenges or games can help you stand out from the crowd.

What Kind of Coding Games Exist?

When it comes to coding games, there are many kinds out there, so it is easy to find one that appeals to you, no matter your learning style. Some of the most common include:

• Coding quizzes or challenges: These games usually involve completing coding questions or challenges against the clock.
• Strategy games: These are like strategy computer games but with an added coding element, such as learning a programming language to be able to play them.
• Puzzle and logic games: Puzzles and logic-based games help you understand problem-solving better, which is another key skill to becoming a successful coder.
• Simulation games: Games like these help players understand coding principles and get familiar with the code.
• Text adventures: These fun adventure games involve navigating through levels using text commands rather than graphics.

Because so many kinds of games and challenges are available to coders online, it’s worth trying as many of them as possible to find which ones best suit your learning style and what coding skills you need to master.

Where Can You Find Coding Games?

One of the best parts of coding games is that they are so accessible. Simply searching for “coding games” or “coding games for beginners” will show you hundreds of relevant results where you can find a wide variety of coding challenges and games. Some of the most well-known websites for coding games and challenges include:

• CodinGame
• CodeCombat
• Codewars
• Hackerrank
• CodinGame
• Codeforces

While these websites have built a reputation for being great coders’ resources, some may be more suitable for people of different skill levels. Therefore, if you try one website and find that the challenges require skills beyond your current level, all it takes is to try another site until you find one that pushes you to develop your skills without being too frustrating.

How Often Should You Play Coding Games and Challenges?

Determining how often to play these games is entirely up to you. While some coders enjoy spending hours advancing in various coding games and learning new skills, others prefer to play only occasionally and let their brains rest in between.

What is most important is to avoid burnout and to only play when you have the motivation to do so. This is especially true for people who code as part of their job because they will already spend many hours per day coding, and doing the same in their free time can lead to feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.

Moreover, never let games become a nuisance to your day. They are meant to be fun! If the games start consuming your free time, it is best to take breaks and do something that calms you.

Conclusion

From tutorial-based coding games to competitive challenges, there is no shortage of available game options on the internet for those wanting to learn new coding skills and treat themselves to some entertainment. From the creative aspect of these games to the possibility of gaining an edge over other applicants in the workplace, these games can play an important role in advancing your coding skills and knowledge. So, next time you are sitting around bored, why not play some coding games and see where they might take you? You never know. You might just become a master coder!