Learn quantum computing
by actually playing it.
Fifty-five interactive levels that start from middle-school maths, pass through waves (amplitude, frequency and phase: the three knobs that fully describe a sine wave — the period is just frequency the other way round, T = 1/f) and arrive at the quantum Fourier transform and Shor's algorithm. Every formula is taken apart piece by piece, and every piece is something you can touch, drag and break until the penny drops.
📖 Not sure about a word? The glossary opens next to the text on any page — the G key works too — with the level where each term is explained. And inside the lessons the underlined words give you the definition at a tap, without losing your place.
How it works
1 · Touch first
Every concept arrives as a mini-game: sliders, arrows to drag, circuits to assemble. First you move and get it wrong, then you read the explanation. That is not a gimmick: learning this way lasts longer.
2 · All the maths is here
This is not a "no formulas" course: they are all here, from the simplest to the heaviest. But every symbol is a button: touch it and it tells you what it does, with the real numbers you are moving in the game.
3 · It ends with inventing
The last level is a workshop: you stack quantum blocks like bricks, try them on open challenges and go after your own record. There you do not repeat: you invent.
🔁 Flash review
A few questions, asked again at the right moment (after 1 day, then 3, then 7, then 21). It is the combination of active recall and spaced repetition: of all the study techniques measured by research, these are the two that work best.
Who made this course
Hi, I am Davide Cavallini
I have been programming since I was 7: I learned with my grandfather on a Commodore 64, and I never stopped. Professionally since 2012, I came to quantum computing in 2017 and to artificial intelligence in 2019.
Today I am a Forward Deployed AI Engineer: my job is getting artificial intelligence inside companies, not into slides. Concretely, I build bespoke AI business systems: management software tailored to the client's real process, with AI placed where it produces measurable results (and removed from where it is just for show).
Background: university studies in mathematics and statistics at the London School of Economics (LSE), plus specialist courses in quantum computing and in advanced mathematics applied to quantum computation (the full path is on my LinkedIn profile).
I have taught for years: courses and lectures across 8 different organisations — private and public companies, schools, academies and vocational training programmes — and I also give one-to-one lessons for people who prefer to go at their own pace.
I am part of Red Hot Cyber, where I write about cybersecurity, development and emerging technologies. On my YouTube channel I teach programming, cybersecurity and quantum computing: Quantum Arcade grew out of that, rewritten from scratch as a video game because watching is not enough, you have to get your hands in it.
This is, as far as I know, the first site in Italian that teaches quantum computing by playing, with a real quantum simulator under the hood instead of fake animations — and this English edition is a full translation of it, not a summary.
Let's work together
This course is free and will stay free. If it was useful to you and your company, school or personal path needs someone who can do or teach these things, here is what I do — with the real numbers, unpadded.
Bespoke AI business systems
Process analysis, design and production rollout of management software with AI built in: document extraction, internal assistants, automation, integration with the systems the company already uses.
How it starts: half a day of analysis to find where AI produces a real return and — above all — where it is better not to put it.
Training for companies and schools
I have taught at 8 organisations across private and public companies, schools and academies. Same approach as this site: you touch it, you get it wrong, you understand it.
Formats: from a one-hour talk up to a complete programme with a lab. Topics: applied AI, development, cybersecurity, quantum computing.
One-to-one lessons
One to one, at your pace, on your concrete goal: preparing for an exam, really understanding a topic, setting up a project, picking code back up after years away.
Also fine if you are starting from zero: Part 0 of this site came directly out of beginners' questions.
Twenty minutes, no strings attached
Pick your slot from the calendar. If after the chat the right answer is "you do not need this", I will say so: I care more that a project makes sense than that it starts.
🗺️ The level map
Each level opens by passing the previous one's check: a hands-on mission inside the game plus the recall quiz. Unlimited attempts, no penalty, no grade. Part 0 (middle-school maths), Part K (the classical computer), Part M (from secondary school to second-year calculus) and level 1 are always open: the first three are optional and can be played whenever you need them.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know maths already?
No. Part 0 covers negative numbers, fractions and percentages, coordinates, degrees, probability, equations, logarithms and the dot product: it is written for someone who has just finished middle school. Sine, cosine, complex numbers and e^{iθ} get built inside the course, starting from a point turning on a circle.
And what if I want to go deeper?
There is Part M, optional: it covers the maths syllabus from the first year of secondary school to second-year calculus, but only the pieces the course actually uses, and always with the curiosity inside — why the quadratic formula looks the way it does, where the number e comes from, why Grover's √N is a Taylor series stopped at the first term, how you compute e^(iHt), which is how you simulate a molecule. Nobody makes you do it: those who do understand the rest much better.
Do I need to know how a normal computer works?
No — and in fact it is better not to take it for granted. Part K — six optional levels — explains classical computing by playing: bits and binary, logic gates, addition with carries, linear and binary search, the cost of algorithms, reversibility. It is there because "quantum" is a difference, and a difference is only visible when you have something to compare it with: every quantum level opens with a side-by-side comparison of how it is done classically and what changes.
Is it a real simulator?
Yes: a state-vector simulator written from scratch (complex amplitudes, controlled gates, probabilistic measurement, entanglement). The QFT circuit you assemble is checked by automated tests: it reproduces the Fourier matrix exactly.
Do I have to register?
Yes, and it is free: first name, last name, email and password. It is not about collecting data — it is because progress is saved on the server (you find it again on every device) and because the final certificate carries your details and a code anyone can verify. If the state lived only in the browser, anyone could edit it and the certificate would be worth nothing.
How long does it take?
Each level is 10–20 minutes played without rushing; the whole path is a long afternoon. But the final workshop can keep you busy for weeks, because there the solutions are not written down anywhere.
I am a teacher: can I use it in class?
If you teach in a state or state-recognised school, at a university, in a library, in a public body or in a non-profit association: yes, freely and without asking for anything. The same goes for after-school clubs and free study groups. You can download everything, modify it, translate it or install it on your own server: the code is public and contributions are welcome.
If instead the training is paid — private academy, corporate course, bootcamp, paid tutoring — an agreement is needed, and it is usually a formality: book a slot. All the details are in the licence.