Lok's Adventures
Run and jump to the right answer.
Grades 3-5 · Multiplication facts, in a jumping platformer
How to play
- 1A times-table fact shows at the top, like 6 × 7.
- 2Three ledges float at different heights, each with a number.
- 3Run with the arrow keys or buttons, and jump onto the ledge with the answer.
- 4Land on the wrong ledge and it costs a life. Three lives.
Try a few
7 x 7
Answer: 49
Climb one step from a fact you own. If 7 x 6 is already 42, then 7 x 7 is one more group of seven, not one more: 42 and 7 is 49. Stepping from a neighbouring fact works on every row, as long as the step is a whole group.
4 x 6
Answer: 24
Same climb, smaller row. 4 x 5 is 20, a fact nearly every child has. Six fours is one four past that, so add 4 and land on 24. Climbing up from the fives is shorter than counting from the bottom of the row.
6 x 6
Answer: 36
You can climb twice if you have to. 5 x 6 is 30, so 6 x 6 is one more six: 36. If 7 x 6 comes next, that is one more six again: 42. Each rung costs one group.
Why this game helps
A platformer asks for two things at once: solve the fact, then get your body to the right ledge, which is planning a move and executing it under a little time pressure. For a child who finds drill tedious, wrapping the same multiplication practice in running and jumping is the difference between wanting another turn and enduring one, and the reps are what build recall. It belongs at the fluency end, for facts a child already understands; the jumping is the fun that keeps them coming back to make those facts fast. Meaning first, in the slower games, then speed here.
If your child finds this hard
The mistake this game keeps exposing is stepping by one instead of by a group. A child who knows 7 x 6 is 42 is asked for 7 x 7 and answers 43. The reasoning is real and nearly right: they noticed that 7 is one more than 6. What they missed is that one more seven was added, not one more unit, so the jump is seven rungs and not one.
Say it back in groups and the error corrects itself: seven sixes is 42, so seven sevens is seven more, which is 49. The multiplication grid earns its place here, because 7 x 7 drawn as a square is visibly a 7 x 6 rectangle with one extra row of seven on the end. Once a child has seen that row, adding a whole group stops feeling arbitrary.
Landing on a wrong ledge costs a life, so a shaky row burns three of them before the practice starts. If that is happening, the jumping is not the problem and more attempts will not help. Get the row solid somewhere slower first.
Common questions
- What age is this suitable for?
- Grades 3 to 5, the years when the times tables are being made fast. It also asks for some platform game coordination, so a younger child who knows the facts may find the jumping the harder half, and an older child who does not know them will find the jumping the easy half.
- He lands on the wrong ledge even when he knows the answer.
- That is a jumping problem, not a math one, and it is worth naming so he does not read it as being bad at multiplication. Every ledge is reachable with a single jump from the ground, so a miss is always about aim rather than height. He can also keep steering left and right while in the air, which is the part children tend not to try.
- She plays this instead of practising. Is that enough on its own?
- No, and it is not built to be. An arcade game makes known facts quicker; it cannot teach a table that has not been met, because there is no explaining in it, only reps. Pair it with something slower such as Multiplication Grid, and let this be the part she asks for.
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