Topic(s): Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Negative and Positive Integers

Platform(s): Tablet, Phone (iOS; Google Play)

Developer: Gooble Games

Arithmagic is an arithmetic game developed by Gooble Games. It is one of the more unique math games, in that it takes ideas from several genres of games (tower defense, role playing, and so on) and places them in a math context.

Arithmagic challenges kids to think on their feet, as the levels progressively become more challenging and introduce monsters with mathematical expressions and missing number equations. The game’s deck customization allows for a high level of freedom in how kids can clear its levels. Finally, the periodic introduction of new mechanics help create a fresh experience that pushes the boundaries of mental math games.

General Math Content and Gameplay

There are a total of 45 levels in Arithmagic, and each level contains three waves of monsters. The goal of each level is to use the spells (which I’ll refer to as “cards” from now on in this review) to clear each wave of monsters before the monsters deplete your health (the green life bar) to zero. The monsters attack you as you are doing mental math.

To clear monsters, kids will need to do mental arithmetic, using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division cards to find the sums, differences, products or quotients (respectively) that are the opposite sign of the target number of the monster they’d like to clear. The gif above is a simple demonstration. To clear the monster with a target number of positive 10 (+10), a spell with a value of negative 10 (-10) is required.

Tapping a card changes it to its opposite sign or symbol. That is, tapping a positive card will change it to negative and vice versa. Tapping a multiplication sign will change it to division, and vice versa.

Several aspects of this game are important to note. First, there is a clear distinction between the color of positive signs and cards (green) and negative signs and cards (red).

Second, there are only integers in Arithmagic. There are no fractions or decimals in the game. Math educators looking for students to practice fraction or decimal arithmetic will need to use a different game.

Third, the game includes two difficulty settings: relax and challenge. Students can choose their desired difficulty and can change these settings any time. For players that want a simplified game experience with easier calculations, they can choose relax mode. For players who want an increased level of difficulty, they can play on challenge mode. This review is based on the challenge difficulty setting.

Fourth, if you drag cards onto a monster that aren’t equal to its target number, and continue to do so, the game will recalculate and state the current value of the monster’s target number. The game distinguishes between clearing monsters this way, and clearing monsters before this recalculation takes place. The game calls the latter a “perfect”, and distinguishes clearing monsters this way with a star that says “perfect”. Here is a demonstration:

The game rewards players for earning perfect clears. Clearing all three waves of monsters with only perfects rewards players with “skill points” and more coins, both of which are used to upgrade the game mechanics and buy new cards (explained later). It is extremely important to do the best you can to earn perfects, because the later levels in the game will be extremely challenging for a player with no upgrades. This creates a built-in incentive to clear waves perfectly, or in other words, to sharpen your mental math skills.

Fifth and finally, the game employs a level of freedom in that players can customize their deck of cards how they best see fit. Whether the player wants fewer multiplication or division cards, or if they’d like fewer subtraction or addition cards, it’s all up to the them to decide how they’d like to customize their deck.

It pays to have a few multiplication cards in your deck. Because monsters are always attacking and depleting the life bar, there’s a real need to be faster with calculations. Players will find many instances in which it is much faster to double or triple a number than adding several cards together to get the same number.

There is a 30 card minimum and 60 card maximum for every deck. I was using a full deck of 60 cards by the end of the game. It was nice to know that I could edit my deck to suit my needs at any time.

Educational Value, Arithmetic, and Monsters

There are a number of ways in which Arithmagic becomes more challenging as students play through the game. First, as players progress through the levels, the target numbers become larger compared to those in the beginning of the game. Further, in the early levels, the target numbers of monsters are written as numbers. In later levels of the game, the target numbers of the monsters are sometimes written as numerical expressions (for example, 13 +10 and 6 x 4 in the image below), and can even include negative numbers.

In addition to numerical expressions, some monsters have unknown number equations in place of a target number. To clear them, you’ll need the missing number that makes the equation true (see the video clip below). Solving unknown number equations is a first grade Common Core standard (1.OA.D.8), but this game has students practice using negative and positive integers, which you won’t see in any standards until Grade 6. Even though there is no real world application nor word problems in this game, students in middle school still need arithmetic fluency, and particularly with negative numbers.

Because of the inclusion of negative integers and expressions, I thought the game might be more suitable for sixth grade and up, or an advanced fourth or fifth grader. The relax mode difficulty might be suitable for students in the earlier grades. The game offers arithmetic practice and fun regardless of grade level!

It’s worth noting that the game introduces monsters with their own mechanics (unrelated to mathematics) that also make the game more challenging. For example, you’ll find monsters that make random cards of yours disappear, and monsters that give other monsters shields (so they are unaffected by any cards). In the later levels, the speed or intervals in which enemies attack you is much faster than it is in the earlier levels, so you’ll need more health to survive.

Game Mechanics, Upgrades, and Depth

What makes Arithmagic so engaging is the periodic introduction of new mechanics that make it fun to do arithmetic. After clearing boss stages with all perfects, students will unlock cards with new mechanics. My personal favorite mechanic is the stun mechanic. Dragging a card with a stun icon on it will add or subtract and stun all of the monsters, prevent them from attacking you for a set time. You can use skill points to upgrade the duration of the stun. Below is a clip of the stun mechanic in action.

Another mechanic introduced to players are heal cards. They can be combined with any of the other cards (especially multiplication cards) to heal your life bar in a pinch as the clip below demonstrates.

All of the mechanics can be upgraded using skill points, and new cards can be purchased with coins from completing the levels. Players can upgrade their total health, increase the speed in which their cards appear, increase the duration of stuns, and increase the multiplier of heal cards.

Only one skill point can be earned per level. It’s important for the player to think about what they’d like to upgrade. I found myself needing more health points later in the game, so I began to prioritize my life bar over the other upgrades. Overall, this game’s mechanics add a layer of depth that make it fun, engaging, and take it beyond just doing mental math.

Feedback and Mathematical Accuracy

Unfortunately, the game was not without mathematical errors. For example, because 99 is the highest number in the game, any sum or product higher than 99 will result in 99. It is impossible to calculate a difference or quotient higher than 99. There are no fractions or decimals in the game, so any calculation that is a decimal or fraction will be an integer. For example, in the clip below, I combined five with a division by three card, and the quotient was one. I did the same with four divided by three, and the quotient was also one.

Aside from mathematical accuracy, it would have been nice to have a skill point redistributor. After using skill points, players have no way of redistributing them, so it’s important to use them wisely. I also found the division cards to be less useful than the other cards. However, players can simply tap the division cards to turn them into multiplication ones. Most of the time, I found myself wanting to increase the value of cards. If I needed a decrease in value, subtraction was enough.

Further, there was no tutorial or scaffold to help acclimate players to new types of enemies. I figured out the mechanics of new enemies on my own, but it would have been nice if the game introduced me to the new enemies and their mechanics. It took a while to figure out how to defeat enemies with missing number equations, and to figure out that certain monsters make your cards disappear at random.

Summary

Arithmagic is an engaging mental math game that’s suitable for students who need additional help or extra practice with arithmetic and fluency. The game has several mechanics that make doing arithmetic fun and prevent it from becoming boring too quickly. Finally, students can set their own difficulty level, so the game’s level of challenge won’t exceed nor be too far beneath what they’re capable of. It’s just as engaging as games like The Counting Kingdom, in that it keeps a similar kind of pacing with introducing new mechanics while keeping the math intact.

If you’re a parent, teacher, or administrator, I would love to know your opinion! Feel free to drop a comment!