Nubby’s Number Factory is the cult hit plinko-style roguelike chaos that's heading to iOS and Android soon
Can you stop the sun from exploding?
- Pachinko-inspired roguelike built around number synergy
- Mobile port includes content from the major 1.4 PC update
- Free lite version and $4.99 full edition planned for launch
There are roguelikes about saving kingdoms, slaying gods, and surviving the apocalypse. And then there’s Nubby’s Number Factory, a plinko-style roguelike about clocking into work and preventing the sun from exploding by… making sufficiently large numbers.
I hadn’t heard of it either, but apparently it’s something of a cult hit on PC. The pitch sounds like a lovely joke someone committed to far longer than expected. You launch a small spherical creature named Nubby down a pegboard, watch numbers climb, then use those numbers to create even bigger numbers. If you fail to hit your assigned quota, the sun detonates. No pressure.
Mechanically, it plays like a chaotic combination of pachinko and roguelike deckbuilders. Nubby drops through pegs, multipliers stack, and over 50 different items twist how each run unfolds. The goal isn’t precision so much as synergy. You’re building a strange little number engine, hoping each launch spirals into exponential nonsense before your quota ticks over.
The mobile version has been in the works for months now. It was technically finished late last year, but the developer held it back to ensure the content of the big 1.4 PC update made it into the port as well. Instead of releasing a trimmed-down version at full price, they opted to delay and ship something close to feature parity. Fair enough.
Now the port is complete on both iOS and Android, with store pages currently waiting on approval. There’ll be a free lite version alongside a $4.99 full edition, mirroring the PC structure. No firm release date yet, largely because app store approvals move at their own mysterious pace.
It’s absurd. It’s about numbers. It might make the sun explode. And somehow, that’s enough to make Nubby’s Number Factory intriguing.
Since you will be waiting a while at least, might as well check out this list of the top roguelikes to play on iOS right now!
