MathMagic Number Game
One of the best ways of enabling pupils to enjoy mental maths practice is through playing games. Many games only give limited opportunities for working with all four rules of arithmetic but MathMagic is an exception. When engaged with this game the players are likely to engage in many more mental calculations than in more conventional situations, they will work more cooperatively and get a great deal of enjoyment.
The game, which was developed in Malaysia, has few and easily understood rules. It uses a 14 x 14 grid as a board and up to four players start with six playing tiles. Each tile is a square divided across the diagonals with each section coloured red, green, blue or yellow and has a number between 1 and 55. Players place their tiles, in turn, on the board ensuring that the same colours touch. Each colour represents an operation, so if blue sections touch the two numbers are subtracted, red sections are divided, green are multiplied and yellow are added. The answers to calculations represent a player’s score.
The aim is to get the highest possible score, which means that players need to be continually anticipating which move will produce the best score. Double or triple (or very occasionally quadruple) scores can be made if tiles match along more than one side.
The game is suitable for pupils aged 10 and upwards.
MathMagic is available from Tarquin Publications
Review by: Diana Cobden
Mathmagic
Tarquin Publications
£14.50
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