Math games get a lot of table time at our house because we use them as a supplement to our homeschool curriculum. Playing math games is something my kids look forward to every week, and it’s real life math so it really gets into their developing brains and motivates them to get better and faster at math facts. Math games have helped my kids see WHY math is important for them to know, and that’s the golden ticket!
We tried out Prime Climb for the first time this week and I am excited that it’s a game that can be played by all my kids, including my 1st and 3rd graders. Some math games are too complicated for my little buddies who only know addition and subtraction, but this one can be played with kids of any math ability.
Each player has 2 pawns and the goal of the game is to get both pawns to land exactly on the number 101. On a player’s turn he rolls, moves, bumps, and draws.
The player rolls both die (numbered 1-10, the dice is my favorite part! Chunky and colorful, so nice to jiggle and throw!) and has to use BOTH numbers but the numbers don’t affect each other – you can’t add or subtract them from each other.
Starting with the number he’s on, the player has to add, subtract, multiply, or divide the number on the die. You can use both rolled numbers on the same pawn or one per pawn. You can manipulate those numbers any way possible to get you closer to 101. Sometimes going backwards to a smaller number is helpful, it all depends on the roll!
If you land on a prime number, indicated by a solid red circle around the number, you get to draw an action card and some of them are great (move forward, switch places) and some of them are not great (go back).
The coolest thing about this game is the system of coloring on the game board that indicates how the numbers are related to each other. We’ve spent a lot of time examining and thinking about just the board and all the numbers, the patterns and connections are fascinating! The colored circles around each number indicate the primate factorization and you can use them to check your math, it’s genius!
This is partially a game of chance, but the more you can manipulate the numbers through basic arithmetic, the greater your chances of winning. It’s a fantastic resource for practicing math facts, learning about prime factorization, and prime numbers generally. The visual layout of the board has helped some of my kids understand some concepts that were too abstract before and have helped them identify some previously undiscovered number patterns. It has also helped me see which of my kids need some more arithmetic practice. I anticipate the discoveries and benefits to continue as we continue to play.
We are thoroughly enjoying Prime Climb and think your family will love it too!
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Thanks to Math for Love for this superb game – I received Prime Climb free of charge to facilitate this review, but all my high opinions of this game is sincere and honest. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!
