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Math Maze is an innovative new card game that includes a set of number cards printed with the numerals from 1 to 10, dots to represent the number, and the number word both in English and Spanish. Also included is a number bar with the four major operations printed on it. The game is designed to develop math skills in a fun and entertaining way using a very hands-on method. My daughter and I tested the game together but found the actual playing to be slightly more complicated than it first appeared. The object is to be the first player to be rid of all your cards. As we rolled the die and laid out the first problem, we saw that solving the math problems with single digit cards could prove difficult. For instance, when I rolled the operation multiply and the numbers represented were 8 and 3, I couldn't from my limited stack of cards come up with a 2 and a 4 or the addends to make that number. There is a Mathematics Function Bar available with only add and subtract that could be more fun and easier to implement than the one with all four operations. It was definitely easier finding a 5 to solve 8 - 3 than it had been trying to solve either the multiplication or division problems. However, even when we played with just the add and subtract bar, we were not sure what some of the directions meant or what we were to do with the cards after a play. The game is compact and appealing as a tool for drill, but I can see that it is not necessarily for a beginning math student. And my daughter seemed to lose interest before we could really figure out how the game is played. As a tool for recreational math, it needs some work in our opinion. As a handy deck for learning numbers and number words, it looks great.
Product review by Jennifer Pepito, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, September 2006
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