Ahh Math. Growing up I remember kids my age either loved it or hated it. I personally loved the subject, but did not truly connect with the teachers. I think part of it lies in the fact that my teachers did not attempt to make learning Math fun. It was always repetition of formulae, such that I felt like a human calculator (that was at times disallowed to USE calculators). So can an educational game help make Math fun? That would be novel, eh?
| Math Eclipse (2019) | Mental Eclipse |
| 2-4 Players | 10-20 minutes |
| Ages 7+ | BGG Weight – (not yet available) |
Math Eclipse Addition and Subtraction are two separate games, but as they are essentially the same I will combine them under the name Math Eclipse. In each game players are attempting to be the only player with cards remaining in their deck. Players will win cards in a dice-chucking duel of mathematical prowess.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, place a player mat in front of the dueling players in their color of choice. Each player will receive their deck of cards matching their opponent’s deck, as well as their set of dice and score marker. The players shuffle their decks and place them on the Deck space of the play mat. The game is now ready to begin!
Math Eclipse is played in head-to-head dice rolling and card resolving turns. Players will flip the top card of their Deck and place it in the Active Card area of the playmat each turn. The number printed on the card is the player’s starting position on the track atop the playmat and the marker is to be placed appropriately. Also on the Active Card is an instruction detailing which die or dice to be rolled this turn. The players simultaneously roll their dice and adjust their marker accordingly. The player with either the most points (whilst playing Addition) or the fewest points (whilst playing Subtraction) wins the round and places their Active Card into their Wins pile. The non-winner then subsequently places their card into the Losses pile. Once the draw Deck is depleted, players shuffle their Wins pile to create a new Deck. Play continues in this fashion until one player’s entire deck resides in their Losses pile. When this happens, their opponent wins and must then declare a rematch or challenge another mathmagician.
Components. These are games in a baggie. No box. And honestly, I am becoming more and more okay with that. Yeah, I know it can be a bit frustrating when you have a pristine-looking collection of beautiful game boxes, but throw these into a drawer, or a decorative cubby box and move on. The playmats are thin glossy paper with little adornment, and fulfill their purpose. The cards and dice are similarly plain and simple, but do the job. Math Eclipse will not win any beauty contests, but that isn’t the goal here.
Math Eclipse does one thing very very well: it helps to make Math fun again. When players are moving their markers either up or down the track in attempts to beat their opponents, they are unwittingly using Math skills to arrive at their scores. This game actually tricks players into using Math, even though everything about the game just screams educational. Not only this, but for fans of TTRPGs, it gets little ones learning about the different dice available in a typical RPG dice sets. Granted, Math Eclipse includes only 1d4, 1d6, 1d10, and 1d12, it is still a great step forward in setting up our young ones for future initiative rolls.
All in all, this is an educational game that certainly fulfills its goal: make Math fun (well, and competitive). The components get out of the way of the computations and keep players focused on the tasks at hand. I have played this with other adults as well as 10 year-olds and it has performed wonderfully. With such limited rules and few components, Math Eclipse is a great learning tool and definitely something I plan to use with my young children as they begin their grind of learning Mathematics. If you have small ones that could use a boost in Arithmetic, consider grabbing a few different versions of Math Eclipse. Because let’s be honest, who DOESN’T love rolling dice?
