Kakooma

       
        This summer I learned how to complete Kakooma puzzles.  This interesting activity has a deceptively simple concept, although it requires more thinking than you would expect.  There are several different versions of Kakooma: addition, multiplication and negative numbers.  These puzzles were created by Greg Tang, an author who has written books such as The Grapes of Math and Math Fables.  He has also created many different activities to improve students' math skills.


        In order to complete the addition version, the player looks at a set of numbers to find which number is the sum of two of other numbers.  After choosing the correct answer for each mini games, the player needs to find the number that is the sum of two of the sums.  The game is not complicated, but by the time a player finishes, many mental math calculations were needed.
 

       

        Give this puzzle a try:

        In order to sharpen your math skills, you can visit:
            Kakooma for some free Kakooma trial games
            Greg Tang's World of Math has some other fun games 
            Break Apart, Math Limbo and Numskill