Math Rider~ Math Game Review

The game begins with a wonderful adventure story that then takes kids on quests like rescuing a princess, finding a flower to help save their mother, and more. You ride the horse, named Shadow to accomplish these noble tasks and along the way are mastering addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There is a map that shows the kids progress along the path of their journey.  It is a fantasy land with wizards, elves, princesses and castles.  They receive varying rewards based on their accomplishments.

There are varying speeds and levels to meet each child’s needs. My son started out at the easiest level but has quickly progressed to the hardest level of addition and subtraction. He is not into multiplication or division yet. The only thing they have to do to control the game is type in numbers to answer the problems. They don’t have to worry about moving the horse or rider. This makes it easier for the kids to focus on the math problems.

The thing I really liked about this math game is the way they track the problems your child answers correctly. There is a big grid that shows their progress and mastery with all of the problems from 0-12. It tracks how well they answered each problem by showing it in colors grading from red (not mastered) through green (mastered). It also has percentages showing how many correct and how many incorrect. I also love that it shows their improvement from previous lessons.  Then as they play the game, it records and analyzes every response (or non-response).  Then it removes the problems mastered, drilling the kids on the ones they still need to improve on. This makes it more challenging and helps them increase their skills. When they get a problem wrong, it isn’t a big deal. The horse slows down and allows the child time to work through the problem and get it right.

My son’s math curriculum has a daily speed drill that he does. I have let him do Math Rider instead of his speed drills and this is just thrilling to him. He was always resistant to doing the extra drills, but doing it in game format is so much better for him. Instead of forcing him to do it, he is begging to play!

There is a 7-day free trial available for Math Rider so you can check it out for yourself. To purchase the program it is a one-time $47 fee and you get a lifetime membership for up to 8 different players. This includes free software updates for life as well.

Math Rider operates on Windows and Mac computers and is a software download that uses 80 MB of space on your computer. It uses Adobe Air Runtime software.