Prime Climb

Product Information

This is largely due to the fact that it relies on students being comfortable with certain mathematical concepts that have been introduced and worked on by around grade four, such as: ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT : ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Prime Climb is designed beautifully with quality pieces, though the pawns could probably take an upgrade. The box is sturdy, but not small. It does have a divider insert which helps keep things neat. The board is the fold-out type and is very well-made and easy to fold/unfold. ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT : 5/5 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ There are a few other minor details to the rules, but those are the main elements. If you're interested, the official rules are here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ia2wo2arkh6exyu/Prime-Climb-Updated-Rules-February-2015.pdf?dl=0 Similarly, some cards are Keeper cards, which allow users to hold on to a certain action that they can deploy when it most benefits them.

A: If it’s a Keeper card, yes. Otherwise, Action cards apply to the pawn that is on the prime number. If both pawns are on red circles, then you may choose which pawn the card applies to. With its mix of race-to-the-finish gameplay, competitive bumping and sometimes unpredictable cards, Prime Climb can be a lot of fun to play, particularly for kids who enjoy board games. With that said, we feel that the game can be used by kids of just about any age (such as homeschooling students following a more advanced math curricula) so long as they are comfortable with the underlying math skills required and, of course, are able to sit still and learn, remember and adhere to the usual series of sequential and conditional rules that board games tend to involve (if a piece lands on X then do Y). The overall goal of each player is to get both of their pieces to the space marked 101 without overshooting it.Prime Climb seems like a natural fit for homeschoolers and others following a more conceptual approach to math study, such as those following the Singapore Math method or similar programs. From these past few math teacher circles, I’ve discovered that while I’m not usually the fastest at solving problems in the group or the best at seeing unique ways of solving a problem, I do bring something to the group. I’m really good at organizing information and illustrating the problem. When I’m presented with a new problem, it takes me a while to process it. My first instinct is to pause and process the problem, then I try to come up with a way to organize the information I have. Only then, do I try to solve the problem. But would it hold up to the scrutiny of a maths lesson? The ten primary students of my weekly maths club are willing and eager guinea pigs . The students vary in age, current ability and confidence. All have mathematical potential ready to be developed. Some have encountered primes, others have barely grasped the fundamentals of multiplication. My task, as their maths coach, is to prepare activities that engage them as a collective, while also hitting their individual sweet spot of challenge — the so-called ‘low floor/high ceiling’ criteria of task design.

Action Cards can be used for immediate action while Keeper Cards can be kept for later and deployed strategically when needed. There is a lot of deep thinking involved when it comes to Prime Climb, from figuring out which of a series of potential moves will provide a best outcome to deciding when and where to deploy potentially game-altering Prime Cards. Intended for two to four players, once the board and cards are laid out, each player gets two pieces of a particular color and positions themselves at the start, i.e. at 0. Roll the dice. The two numbers you roll will be used, one at a time, to move your pawns. In other words, if you roll a 3 and a 5, you have a 3 and a 5 to use on your turn; you do not get to use an 8, a 15, or a 35.Example. Say you have a pawn on 14, and you roll a 3 and a 9. You could, if you chose, subtract 3 from 14 to land on 11, then multiply 11 by 9 to move to 99. Note that each die is applied one at a time. You cannot multiply 3 times 9 and use 27 for your move. You CANNOT add 9 to 26 to make 35, and then multiply 35 by 3, for if you did, you would go to 105, which is off the board. You must stay on the board at all times. (It’s not enough just to end up on the board at the end of your turn.) It does not, however, directly cover certain other topics (such as geometry, graphing, statistics and more) that some parents may wish to work on and may not be as useful for them. Price Consequently, we feel the game can really serve to augment conceptual math learning programs, which tend to encourage the learning and deployment of alternative math algorithms and strategies in problem solving. EDUCATIONAL LEVEL: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ If you are looking for a game that allows for practicing all four operations, pushes kids to strategize and really hounds the concept of factors and prime, this is a GREAT game! I would classify this as the math game with the HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL VALUE of every math game we have tried! It’s a wee bit on the expensive side, but the depth of the EDUCATIONAL VALUE makes it well worth it, in my opinion. EDUCATIONAL LEVEL SCORE: 5/5 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

STEP TWO: Remove the blank cards from the pile, shuffle the remaining cards and place them in a pile so that all players have access. After you play a card, discard it. If you run out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and continue drawing as necessary. 101 and Winning the GameThe engrossing and competitive nature can get kids practicing their basic operations and prime factoring skills without it being too obvious, busy as they will be figuring out their next ideal move and how to best beat their opponent (something that can make things a bit more personally engrossing compared to more cooperative board games). Divide by 2 (32) and multiply be 3 to end at 96! Division gets you closer to 101 than any of your other options. FAQ In normal game play, Bump and Draw Phases happen after all your moves are completed. In Double Time, you bump and draw after each move a pawn. You can draw two or more Prime cards per turn in Double Time.

See the 101 circle? It’s the big red circle at the center of the spiral. The goal of Prime Climb is to land both your pawns on 101 exactly. Rules STEP FIFTEEN: Player One ROLLS a 3 and 11. Player One adds the 11 to the 8 spot and MOVES to 19. He then subtracts the 3 from the 100 spot and MOVESto 97. Prime Climb is playful learning as it should be, where the play actually reinforces students’ discovery and understanding of mathematical concepts. It takes a creative mathematics educator like Dan Finkel to achieve that balance. It is obvious from the design of Prime Climb that Dan’s pedagogical aims fuel every aspect of gameplay.As a result, it can be a good way to introduce logical and strategic thinking to kids. Those looking to augment a conceptual math curriculum with some fun activities Note: You bump a pawn only when you end your turn on an occupied space, not when you pass through an occupied space. The inclusion of a multiplication table is a very helpful addition for this game as it can be used to help students who are still a little less than secure in their multiplication work things out and generally have less of a frustrating time when playing. Educational Benefits of Prime Climb Game-based Math Practice If you draw a Keeper Card, keep that card, face up, for a future turn. You may play any number of Keeper Cards during your Move Phase. You may not play a Keeper card the turn you draw it. This works for division too. Say you want to divide 84 by 4. When you divide, all you do is remove the colors of the smaller number from the bigger one. In this case, you need to remove the two oranges in 4 from the colors in 84. That means you’re looking for a number with the colors purple and green. Sure enough, 21 has precisely those colors, and 84 divided by 4 is 21.