Math Scramble adds up to a real challenge that only multiplies over time

Platform: Android

RATING:
5 out of 5

PRICE:
FREE

TASTY:
A unique brain challenge game for math lovers, combining equation-creation with Scrabble-like gameplay.

BUMMER:
Won’t solve the problems for me. (As a full member of the “math challenged” population, this is a serious deficiency!)

COOL:
With numbers and symbols (+, -, X) arrayed across five rows, there’s always more than one way to solve each puzzle.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

As a charter member of the math disabled class, I was more than a little nervous to give Sillycube’s Math Scramble a go. After all, the app is a successful mashup of basic math concepts (of course) but wrapped into a unique three dimensional, Scrabble-like puzzle game.

The result is a brain trainer/challenge app that will put a smile on math lover’s faces everywhere, and offer students an on-the-go “brush up” title to keep their skills extra-sharp.

Math Scramble starts off with relatively simple equations, and quickly ramps up the difficulty as time wears on.

As a young student, flashcards were the order of my day. Instead of seeing 2 + 2 and answering 4 (my 1970’s flashcard), this app offers today’s students a set of numbers and symbols (plus, minus, times) arrayed across five rows. You’re given a final sum to reach – let’s say 4 – and then asked to drag your finger over the game board to form an equation that will net this result.

Keep in mind that there’s always more than one way to solve each puzzle. So dragging over 2 + 2 will certainly get the job done. (Bravo!) But you could also select 4 X 1, or 1 + 1 + 2, and even 4 X 2 + 8 - 6 - 6. (That last one hurt a little.)

Pro-tip: The longer your equation to reach each sum, the more points you’ll score. So math enthusiasts, take your time, plan your attack, and make some super-long strings of numbers and symbols to reach your own personal Math Nerdvana.

Better (worse?) still, a little timer is grinding away in the upper-right corner of the app, reminding you that you posses little natural talent for this kind of thing, should have gotten tutoring a long time ago, and are downright hopeless. Your results and internal monologue may vary.