Use your math skills to outrace the Math Monster to the entrance of the cave in Math Path Monster!
What Is Math Path Monster?
Math Path Monster is a cooperative children’s game for 2-4 players, ages 6 and up, and takes about 20-30 minutes to play. You can purchase a copy from Amazon for $19.99.
Math Path Monster was designed by Christopher Chaffee and is published by ThinkFun.
Math Path Monster Components
In the game box, you will find the following:
- 1 Game Board
- 4 Dice
- 22 Power Cards
- 4 Explorer Standees
- 1 Math Monster Miniature
- 2 Double-sided Math Boards.
First, the game comes in a smaller medium-sized box with not a lot of fluff space, which I always appreciate. And for the price point, the components are good quality. The board is thick and easily folds and unfolds. The cards are a good thickness and are easy to shuffle. Each explorer standee is unique and they slide easily into the plastic stands. I love the big colorful dice. They are very tactile and the numbers are easy to read. The dice also fit perfectly into the square cutouts on the math boards, making it easy for kids to show their work. But the MVP of the game is definitely the Math Monster miniature. This cute, orange giant has a huge grin on its face, and its eyebrows are a + and – sign. It’s clearly not angry that the explorers disturbed it, and the race from the monster’s lair to the cave entrance feels like a friendly challenge more than a race for your life. While the art style doesn’t do anything for me, and no artist is referenced, the game is very colorful and my kids enjoyed the look of it.
How to Play Math Path Monster
The Goal
The goal of the game is to get all the explorers out of the cave before the Math Monster reaches the entrance. This is accomplished through creating addition and subtraction equations using the results of the rolled dice.
Setup
To play Math Path Monster, first unfold the game board and place the explorers and the Math Monster in the Monster’s Den. While the game comes with 4 explorers, it is not necessary to play with all of them. By varying the number of explorers, you can adjust the challenge of the game, so choose the number that works best for you. Next, shuffle up the power cards, removing the “move twice” cards if playing the game with only 1-2 explorers. Lastly, give the youngest player the math boards and dice as they will be the first player. Then let the race begin!
Gameplay
During a turn, players will roll all four dice, and then choose two to create an equation on the Math Monster’s math board while using the other two to generate an equation on the explorer math board. The boards are double-sided with addition on one side and subtraction on the other and you can use either side you want. Once the dice are placed, solve the equations and first move any one explorer to the next space showing the answer to their equation. Similarly, move the Math Monster to the next space showing the answer from its math board.
Note that the explorers and monster are not moved the number of spaces equal to the answer. For instance, if the equation is 5-2, you don’t necessarily move 3 spaces. Instead, they move to the next space on the board that shows that answer. In our example, you would move to the space showing “3.” This might be one space away or up to five spaces. So even if you create an equation whose answer equals zero, the monster or explorer will still move.
If a character ever lands on a space with a grappling hook and rope, draw a power card. Power cards have three possible outcomes—move to the space shown, move twice (to the first space shown and then to the second space indicated), or skip the Math Monster’s turn. Power cards can be used to move any one explorer, and is not limited to the one that landed on the space. Likewise, if the Math Monster lands on a power card space, it gets to draw a power card and perform its action as well.
The board also has two one-way bridges on it. If a character ends its turn at the beginning of a bridge, it immediately gets to cross it. This is a good way to move the explorers quicker through the cave, but beware, the monster can also cross these bridges if it finishes its move at the beginning of it.
Lastly, if any explorers and their fuzzy friend ever end up in the same space, a dice battle ensues. For each character in that space, roll all four dice and total up the sum. Whoever has the highest total, draws a power card and performs the action shown. In the case of a tie, reroll the dice for just the tied characters.
Game End
The game ends when either all the explorers make it to the cave entrance, or when the Math Monster does. If the explorers outpace their orange pal to the cave opening, you have won the game. However, if the monster arrives there prior to all the explorers, it is victorious instead.
Why You Should Play Math Path Monster
Math Path Monster is a simple, cooperative strategy game that uses basic addition and subtraction as a movement mechanic. I played the game several times with my 1st grader and we both enjoyed it. She has regularly asked to play it since we got it. We found starting with all four explorers was too much of a challenge for us, but using only two of them created a competitive game. This leaves a lot of space to continue to ramp up the challenge and continue playing for a while to come.
In our first playthrough, the movement mechanic confused us a bit as we thought that if the monster’s equation equaled 0, we could keep it from moving. However, we quickly realized after that first game that that wasn’t the case, as some of the spaces have a “0” on them. The overall strategy of the game is simple. Try to move the explorers forward as many spaces as possible while having the Math Monster move only a single space if possible. The puzzle comes in figuring out how to best use the four dice to make that happen. However, there will be times when the dice results don’t provide any option but to have the orange fuzzball move farther than you want, or land on the same space with an explorer, beginning a dice battle. That little bit of randomness keeps the game fun and entertaining.
So, is Math Path Monster a good fit for your family? That highly depends on your kids’ math skills. Each dice has a different sequence of numbers on it, ranging from 0-5. Because of this, the possible answer to each dice roll ranges between 0-9. This does limit the game to simple addition and subtraction, and once your child grows beyond these skills, the game might begin to lose its appeal. I found Math Path Monster a lot of fun to play with my 1st grader. While the math problems were not difficult for her, she didn’t always choose the best strategy on how far to move the characters. Because of this, we still found the game competitive. However, I think that once kids grok the best strategy, the game might quickly become less challenging and lose its appeal. But for now, we are enjoying our time with Math Path Monster!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
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