Element Quest
Match elements with their symbols from the periodic table! You have 3 lives for 15 questions. Beware the Latin tricksters — Na isn't nitrogen and Au isn't aluminium! Every answer comes with a fun chemistry fact.
Question 1 / 15
About Element Quest — The Periodic Table Symbols Game
Quick: what's the symbol for gold? If you said Au, you're already thinking like a chemist. Element Quest turns the periodic table into a 15-question dash where you match each element to its symbol before your three lives run out. It's aimed at kids around grades 6 to 8 who are meeting chemical symbols for the first time, though plenty of grown-ups get tripped up too. The game's free and saves your best score on the device you're using. The real fun is the Latin tricksters: Na is sodium, not nitrogen; Fe is iron; Pb is lead. Every answer drops a small fact.
How a round plays out
You'll see an element name and four symbols. Pick the right one to score and build a streak; get it wrong and you lose a heart. Miss three hearts and it ends. Fifteen questions mix the easy ones, like O for oxygen, with the abbreviations that catch people out.
What it's good for
The game helps symbols stick, ties each name to its notation, and slips in trivia about where elements turn up in daily life — handy before a science test. Once the symbols click, browse all our 19 free learning games, or switch to living things with Animal Sort, our animal classification game.
Questions we get asked
Does Element Quest cost anything?
No, it's free and there's nothing to download. Your best score is stored on your own device.
Is this good for a Year 7 chemistry student?
Yes. It's a low-pressure way to memorise element symbols, which is exactly what most Year 7 and 8 science courses start with.
Why is gold's symbol Au and not G or Go?
Au comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold. Several symbols work like that — iron is Fe from ferrum, lead is Pb from plumbum.