Lunatic Autism Mom Reviews The Numbers League Game

It's no secret that my 9 year old is struggling with math and we are struggling right along there with him.  This has resulted in full Neuropsychological testing and subsequent evaluation for Dyscalculia in which we were found "borderline".  Basically there is a misunderstanding with the building blocks of math which makes even simple math concepts incredibly difficult.

Currently we are working with the school to look for interventions, at home we do extra work with current curriculum and do additional practice on the basics and facts.  We are constantly looking for fun ways to bring math into real life opportunities as much as possible. We practice money by keeping a check register of gifts and the occasional pay day for chores (I could do a whole post just on chores and payday!), we practice fractions with cooking and we practice measurements with cooking as well. What can I say? I like to bake!!

Another way to try and bring in more math practice is games. For Adam, those simple math games just couldn't break through the ADHD and keep his interest so we went in search of a new game and found Numbers League by Bent Castle Workshops.

LINK TO THE NUMBERS LEAGUE WEBSITE

I love boardgames and consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur and I think this game is really fun! More importantly it holds Adam's attention and he gets to practice his math skills. 

How to play: There are at least two levels of play with this game and so far we have only played the basic level. You lay out the Villain cards in the middle of the table and then you build Heroes to capture the Villains. Each piece of the Hero (legs, body and head) has a number value and added together equals the strength of the Hero. Match the Hero strength to the number on the Villain and you have captured the Villain! If you don't have enough strength, never fear, you can also use a weapon or tool to boost your strength AND band together Heroes to capture the Villain together.  Once all the Villains are captured the game ends and the person with the highest score wins (by this point we are pretty tired of adding numbers so sometimes we determine the winner to be the person who captures the most villains).  

This is a picture of my game pieces. I had *8* Heroes so we added post-it tabs to help us keep track of our Hero totals. When adding up 3 or 4 Heroes to capture a 22 point Villain this really helps! Above my Heroes are the Villains I had captured and the deck to the left was the draw deck.  Another thing I think is fun about this game is the names of the Heroes, each card contains a piece of the name and when you build your Hero you will determine his or her full name.  Here you see (L-R) Wise Winged Wonder, Ancient Yellow Quarrel and Frigid Twisty Paladin.  

The basic game uses addition, the next level has some subtraction and even multiplication cards as well. Expansion packs are available so you can keep vanquishing Villains with your Numbers League!! 

We've played this game a few times, in that time has he learned a ton of math skills? Not really BUT he is practicing addition for an hour or more! I'd like to see a worksheet make that happen.  Adam loves to build the heroes and even if we don't have time for a full game or if he can't find an opponent he still loves to build the Hero and determine his/her strength. Its a super fun game by itself and the fact that you practice math is just a bonus.  I give it the Lunatic Autism Mom seal of approval!!  

**Edited to add... I purchased this game after finding it online quite by accident. I did not receive it from Bent Castle and I am not being paid to review it. That would be an AWESOME career though!!**