Sarah Winters

The inevitable death of Flash causes concerns for websites such as coolmathgames.com.

Picture this: you’re in fourth grade, and your class is finally able to go into the computer lab. You, and many others, hop onto coolmathgames.com and play to your heart’s content. Everything is calm, and all of your worries have washed away. Sadly, these memories will not be created for new generations to come.

In 2005, Adobe bought the growing software program, Flash, and hundreds of iconic games were born. This software program is responsible for all the Coolmath games we love: Run 1 and 2, Snail Bob, Bloxorz, B-Cubed, Fireboy and Watergirl, and Papa’s Pizzeria. Unfortunately, in a few weeks, these and many other games will no longer be functioning.

“Coolmath has impacted my life since I was a child by providing me with games that I can never play anywhere else.” said junior Sam Cohen, “My favorite had to have been Dolphin Olympics.”

As the years go by, Flash is unable to adapt and keep up with the more advanced computer softwares being created. Adobe has decided to drop Flash, the software maintaining many of our favorite games, and switch over to HTML5, a faster and more progressive software program. 

In a statement, Adobe said, “Specifically, we will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020 and encourage content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to these new open formats.”

“It’s shocking that the website could be shutting down because it was something that I played for so long, from elementary school to now in high school. It’s definitely sad to hear because I won’t be there anymore when I feel like playing Papa’s Hot Doggeria.”, said Chloe Dowler, a junior at Santaluces. 

It is not yet clear which games will be able to be switched over to HTML5, however those that are unable to be adapted will live on in the hearts of the millions that played those fantastic games throughout their childhood.