So you want to remove those blocking ads from Hooda Math
I've been dealing with this whole situation for years, mostly because I work with a lot of classroom computers that aren't exactly well-maintained. The core issue is straightforward. Hooda Math runs entirely in the browser. There's a lot of pop-up overlays and ad networks loading around the actual game content, and those take up half the screen on older monitors. Not ideal when you're trying to focus on a math problem with twenty kids watching you fumble with a browser. The most reliable approach uses an ad-blocking extension. uBlock Origin is what I recommend. It's open source, lightweight, and doesn't sell your data the way some alternatives do. Install it in Chrome or Firefox, make sure it's enabled, then navigate to the Hooda Math page. Refresh once after installation. The blocking layer should intercept the ad scripts before they render. Some of the overlays might still appear briefly, but they disappear within a second or two instead of sticking around permanently. There's a specific edge case that comes up pretty often though. When Hooda Math rotates their ad partners, the block rules can temporarily miss certain elements. I ran into this last November when the site switched to a new ad network mid-semester. Every math puzzle had this massive rectangular ad taking up the bottom third of the playable area. The game itself was still functional underneath, but students kept clicking the wrong spot thinking it was a button. What worked for me was creating a custom filter rule in uBlock Origin's my filters section. The specific rule was:
.ad-container[class*="sponsor"], [id*="taboola"], [class*="adframe"] Add that, apply, and refresh the page. The blocking works consistently after that. I keep a notes file with these custom rules for each site I use regularly. Changes happen maybe once every few months, so it's not a constant hassle. If you can't install extensions for some reason, there's the DNS-level approach. Pi-hole works well if you have a Raspberry Pi sitting around. You set it up as your network's DNS server, point your classroom devices to it, and the known ad domains get blocked before they even reach the browser. This catches a lot more than most people expect because ad networks recycle the same domains across hundreds of sites. The initial setup takes about forty-five minutes if you've never done it, and it covers every device on your network, not just one browser.
Another option people overlook is a self-hosted hosts file modification. On a Windows machine, you'd edit the file at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. On macOS or Linux, it's /etc/hosts. You add lines mapping known ad domains to 127.0.0.1. Keep a copy of the original file somewhere before you touch it. This method is more manual and breaks whenever the ad network changes domains, but it requires zero additional software and works on any device regardless of browser or restrictions. One thing I want to be honest about though. These methods don't cover every single element. Sometimes a game will have a forced interstitial that opens before the content loads. No ad blocker completely stops that without also blocking the game asset delivery. If you hit that wall, the workaround is to pause JavaScript execution temporarily, let the game framework load, then re-enable scripts. In Chrome DevTools, you go to Application tab, then Service Workers, and you can selectively pause scripts. It's clunky but it takes about thirty seconds to set up once you know where everything is. The reality is that Hooda Math relies on ad revenue to keep the site running. Blocking ads means the site owners get less income. I'm not going to pretend that doesn't matter. That said, the ad experience on their site ranges from mildly annoying to outright intrusive, and schools have a responsibility to provide a focused learning environment. The balance isn't perfect, but blocking the worst offenders with a properly configured uBlock Origin instance is the most practical solution I've found.
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If none of the above options work for your situation, the only remaining alternative is reaching out to the site administrators directly and asking about a premium or ad-free tier. I haven't seen evidence they offer one, but it's worth checking the footer of their site or their contact page before giving up entirely.
