‘HoliMaths X’: A Multiplication Game That Won’t Make You Hate Times Tables

We have the kind of kids who ask for math problems in the back of the car. They also love games, but even at only a three-year age difference, those two activities can pose skill level challenges. Enter HoliMaths X.

Currently on Kickstarter, HoliPlay Games has launched HoliMaths X, a card deck multiplication game. But most importantly, it’s flexible. There are sets of rules for ten different games and up to six players. There are also two different sets of cards, one for the multiplication tables of 1-6 and a set for 7-12. You also have the option of using two versions of a “cheat card” to look up the multiplication facts as you play. All of this combines to a customizable game to let everyone in the family participate. (Assuming they’re at least old enough to understand the basic concept of multiplication.)

My kids are 7 and 10. The older is proficient in multiplication while the younger one is just starting to learn. He understands the concept, and if you ask him, “four times five,” he’ll add four five times to get the answer. But he doesn’t have the facts memorized yet.

The three of us sat down to playtest the various rulesets HoliMaths X offered. Each of the sets comes with decks of multiplication cards (i.e., with problems on them), and decks of small cards with the answers on them.

In general, the rulesets have strategic approaches, which can still be challenging for a seven year old. Keeping an eye on everyone else’s cards and planning ahead–these things just aren’t quite solid in his gameplay skill sets yet. But again, he’s on the younger edge of the target audience for these cards. A more evenly matched classroom of kids would have a lot of fun taking each other on.

As a result, what my kids ended up doing was cutting me out (which I’m okay with! I know my times tables!) and inventing their own games–further extending the cards’ playability.

On the up side over a lot of Kickstarter projects, this is a complete game ready for production that they plan to ship in December if the Kickstarter is successful.

Note that the boxes and included instructions are printed in Spanish, but English instructions are also available. In fact, you can get a pretty good understanding of the game by taking a look at all of them on HoliMath X‘s very thorough Kickstarter page.

GeekMom received a copy of this game for review.