Review by Amanda Bindel, Common Sense Education | Updated April 2013
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Mystery Math Town

Get it now
  • Download from App Store

Clever story line pulls kids in as they work to solve problems

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • Math
Skills
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
1–6
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (3 Reviews)
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Price:  $2.99 An iPhone version is also available for $2.99.
Platforms:  iPad

Take a look inside

5 images
The houses in Mystery Math Town hold trapped fireflies that need rescuing, but kids have to solve math problems to open doors and move through stairways.
Kids rescue the fireflies by tapping the jar to release them. They also tap numbers to collect them as they'll need them to solve problems and move through the house.
Kids can customize their math challenge level -- choosing number ranges in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
In Mystery Math Town, kids start with the answer and operator and then choose from the numbers they've collected to solve the problem.
After collecting golden coins, kids can buy portraits to keep in the gallery. These portraits have funny stories to share, making the reward enticing and providing a brain break.

Pros: Players solve problems in reverse, so kids get a deeper understanding of the mechanics of math.

Cons: Lack of progress tracking data makes it difficult to identify mastery of concepts or areas for improvement.

Bottom Line: Mystery Math Town poses challenging exercises in a fun, engaging way.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Mystery Math Town offers unlimited user profiles, which makes it ideal for use even on a shared device. Work with students to customize their profile -- kids will surely want to set up their own avatar, but you may want to set the appropriate number ranges and skills to test. Progress within each user's play will be saved. Mystery Math Town is challenging for kids, and can be a fun option for daily math skills practice. It's just lacking progress reports for students, parents, or teachers.

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Standards:

Kids are on a mission to help find fireflies that have been trapped in jars and hidden in houses throughout Mystery Math Town. To find the fireflies, they navigate their way through different houses in the town, collecting numbers as they rescue the fireflies. They'll need the numbers because to move from room to room, through doors, out windows, or up and down stairs, they'll have to solve reverse math problems by providing the numbers to get to the given answer (like choosing between 1, 2, 5, 8, and 9 to choose numbers that add up to 10.) Finding the fireflies in one house unlocks the next house, where the maze-like rooms get trickier and the math problems do, too. In some houses, kids can also collect gold coins to be used to buy portraits for their gallery. Those portraits have lots to say, too, about each other, themselves, and the town. Kids create their own avatar -- though only one skin tone is available -- and multiple users can create profiles on the same device. They can customize their level of math challenge, too.

Mystery Math Town engages kids with a mysterious mood and snarky humor and gives them a mission -- to save the fireflies. Kids must solve problems in order to be able to move throughout the house. Since this is a mystery genre, solving problems fits into the story line and doesn't feel tacked on to get some math in. Kids use numbers they've gathered throughout the rooms of the house to complete the equation. As the game progresses, the problems get more challenging, and kids may find that they don't have the numbers they need to complete their equation. They'll just have to keep looking other places. Kids are working with logic and problem-solving as they navigate through the houses.

Kids will get a few laughs from the talking portraits and may enjoy interacting with some of the elements in the rooms, like a ringing telephone or ticking clock. 

Overall Rating
Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

Mystery Math Town draws kids in with zany characters, a mysterious story, and fun, interactive graphics. 

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

The story line and characters here engage kids and give them a purpose -- to save the fireflies. In the math problems, kids see the solution and must create the problem themselves, adding a level of challenge.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

Kids can use "lifelines" if they want to skip a problem. The tutorial on the start page includes detailed written instructions and some helpful hints. Good customization options let you tailor gameplay to a kid's skill level.

Common Sense Reviewer
Amanda Bindel Classroom teacher
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Key Standards Supported

Operations And Algebraic Thinking

  • 1.OA.1

    Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.2

  • 1.OA.3

    Apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract.3 Examples: If 8 + 3 = 11 is known, then 3 + 8 = 11 is also known. (Commutative property of addition.) To add 2 + 6 + 4, the second two numbers can be added to make a ten, so 2 + 6 + 4 = 2 + 10 = 12. (Associative property of addition.)

  • 1.OA.4

    Understand subtraction as an unknown-addend problem. For example, subtract 10 – 8 by finding the number that makes 10 when added to 8.

  • 2.OA.2

    Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.2 By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.

  • 3.OA.7

    Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

  • 3.OA.1

    Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 × 7.

  • 4.OA.1

    Interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, e.g., interpret 35 = 5 × 7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5. Represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as multiplication equations.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 3 reviews) (3 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Donald P. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Awesome for those that don't like math
While I don't teach elementary math, I do have this app for my daughter who is going into first grade, has some special needs, and HATES math. However, she LOVES this app. She plays it without being asked to, and asks to be able to play it! What better recommendation can you get than from a 6 year old who hates math but loves this app? The concept is simple. You have to work your way through a series of houses trying to rescue baby fireflies that have been trapped in jars. In each room you can pick u ...
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