Good calculation games

Here are games that work well with arithmetic tasks. By “work well” I mean:

Mechanics provide players enough agency and freedom to develop tactics, so that the overall activity is still a game (rather than a quiz)
Mechanics produce strong, pleasant flow, as evidenced by popularity
The overall feeling of the game is vaguely mathematical (this one is hard to define and requires human judgment with some artistic license)

This gets two and a half out of three on my “quality math game” definition (attached).

Examples:

Kenken (generic names calcudoku, mathdoku): calculation mechanics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEN-KEN
Sudoku: number-placement, matching mechanics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku
Zuma (generic name Marble Lines; one of the most-played browser games): matching (similar or equivalent objects, such as fraction/decimal/percent), recognition mechanics http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-marblelines/index.html
Tarsia: matching (similar or equivalent objects) jigsaw mechanic http://www.mmlsoft.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=10
Kakooma: ”Where is Waldo?” mechanic for a number that is a sum (can be product) of other numbers http://kakooma.com/
24 game: make a target number http://www.24game.com/t-about-howtoplay.aspx
Make 21 game: make a target number in every circle http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_188_g_2_t_1.html?open=instructions&from=category_g_2_t_1.html
Math Scrabble: build up equations out of pieces http://happypenguin.org/newsitem?id=7566

Sue VanHattum

What do you think of Flower Power?
Maria Droujkova

Sue, this is one of my favorite Manga High games – it satisfy all the conditions. We did an event with Manga High at Math Future – that’s how I first learned about this game: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/Mangahigh
http://twitter.com/curious4ans Darci Sosa

Here’s another game for your list: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Powerlines/powerlines1.html
I used this with 6th graders. I introduced it to them on an Friday- they played for 20 minutes straight. Monday they came RUSHING IN “can we play that game again?” then proceeded to play for another 20 minutes. Once they get the password for a phase, they must return to http://resources.oswego.org/games/ and select the next level from this list.
http://twitter.com/curious4ans Darci Sosa

A site that has put together a very comprehensive list of math games is ericmilou.com. Dr Milou works at Rowan University and is quite a math advocate. He has done training for the teachers in my (middle ) school.
Cool math Game

this is gonna help kids a lot..

cool math game
Anonymous

This goofball hit my blog about 10 times today. I can’t imagine it will really get him anything. I tried to find his contact info to email him, but didn’t find a way.