How to Download Games on a TI-84 Plus CE

You can put any game on CalcPlex onto a TI-84 Plus CE straight from your browser, over the calculator’s USB cable.

Send a game from Chrome or Edge

  1. Plug the calculator into a computer or Chromebook and turn it on. Use the cable that came with it, or another one that carries data. A charge-only cable won’t show up.
  2. Open the game’s page in Chrome or Edge. Every game on the TI-84 Plus CE games page has one, with this box near the top.
    The box on a CalcPlex game page that says Plug in your TI-84 Plus CE, turn it on, and click Connect to send this game, with a Connect your calculator button
  3. Click Connect your calculator. A popup lists your calculator. On Windows, the page first asks if TI Connect CE is installed, since the popup can’t list the calculator without it.
    The browser popup that says calcplex.com wants to connect, with TI-84 Plus CE selected and the Connect button lit
  4. Select TI-84 Plus CE and click Connect. The box turns green and shows your calculator’s OS version.
    The game page box in green, saying Calculator connected (OS 5.8.5, jailbroken), with a Send to calculator button
  5. Click Send to calculator. When the page says Sent!, the game is on your calculator.
    The game page after the send: Sent! To play it, press prgm, pick SNAKE, and press enter twice

If the page asks you to jailbreak

Games written in assembly or C won’t run on OS 5.5 or later until the calculator is jailbroken. If yours isn’t, Send to calculator shows this first:

The page's Jailbreak your calculator first prompt, with a Jailbreak it now button and a Send anyway link

Jailbreak it now opens the jailbreak installer, which works in the same browser. Come back to the game’s page when it’s done.

Start the game

  1. Press prgm. Your games are listed in alphabetical order, and a * before a name means it’s stored in Archive. On a TI-84 Plus CE Python, choose TI-Basic next.
    The TI-84 Plus CE prgm menu on OS 5.8.5, listing *SNAKE
  2. Arrow to the game and press enter. Its name lands on the home screen.
    The TI-84 Plus CE home screen showing prgmSNAKE
  3. Press enter again. The game starts.
    Snake's title screen on a TI-84 Plus CE, with ENTER TO PLAY and CLEAR EXIT

These screens are from OS 5.8.5 with arTIfiCE v3. On OS 5.5 to 5.8.4, arTIfiCE v2.1 adds one step: run A from the prgm list the same way, then pick the game from A’s list.

Without Chrome or Edge: TI Connect CE

TI Connect CE is TI’s own program for Windows and Mac. Use it on Safari or Firefox, or for a game from another site. On a phone, an iPad or a school Chromebook that blocks USB, switch to a Windows or Mac computer.

  1. Install TI Connect CE.
  2. Download the game’s file from its page. If it’s a .zip, unzip it.
  3. Plug in the calculator, turn it on and open TI Connect CE. It opens on screen capture, which doesn’t take files.
  4. Click the second icon down in the left sidebar. It looks like a stack of pages, just below the green camera.
    TI Connect CE on a Mac with a TI-84 Plus CE connected: the left sidebar shows a green camera icon, then a stacked-pages icon, highlighted, then a third icon
  5. Drag the game’s file or files into that window. Then send them from the box that opens.

Then start the game from prgm.

If the game doesn’t start

  • ERROR: INVALID means the calculator needs a jailbreak. The jailbreak installer covers OS 5.5 through 5.8.5.
    ERROR: INVALID on a TI-84 Plus CE on OS 5.8.5 with no jailbreak, with 1:Quit and 2:Goto
  • Already jailbroken on OS 5.8.5? Press apps, open AsmHook2, then start the game again. A RAM reset turns the jailbreak off until you do.
  • On OS 5.2 or earlier, games start through Asm(: press 2nd, then 0, select Asm(, press prgm, pick the game and press enter.
  • To delete a game, connect your calculator on the game’s page. Once the game is on it, the button turns into Delete.