COMPUMATICS: TOTALly awSUM: Our Flag Ship Game

A Game, such as COMPUMATICS: TOTALly awSUM appears very simplistic until you sit down to play. The designer of the Game cannot guarantee victory over a student who does not even know how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. The Games of InCITES, Inc. concentrate on teaching what we have determined to be Universal Education Skills. These are life skills that transcend class, culture, race, and academic ability. Some of these Universal Education Skills are: Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Collaboration, Group Dynamics, Probability Concepts and Basic Subject Area Skills. The Game COMPUMATICS can be challenging to players from Kindergarten to university level, but it may be easier for the less educationally sophisticated person to beat another at this game because he or she is concentrating on having fun while being engaged in meaningful play. The Game works quite as well in Business and Industry workshops where our Universal Education Skills are critical.

COMPUMATICS not only comes with game directions, but a PowerPoint presentation is available for the training of teachers. This helps in getting educators to maximize the educational aspects of the Game. For the players, a Play Procedure list is provided so that time is expedited, as in the case of the game being used during class time. The game can be played on different levels, and a 2-minute Sand Timer is even recommended to add rigor to game play. This is one of our many games that force a teacher to be quiet and learn from students who we often underestimate. The teacher is now a facilitator, and is more comfortable making comments only when necessary.

The Game Board is not simply beautiful. Its construct, from material to what appears on the Board, focuses on academic objectives as well as utility. The Game Board is designed to be placed on desktops, tables, or even on the floor. It is approximately 18’’ x 20”, and laminated. It does not come in a bulky box, and dozens of Game Boards can be stacked and stored easily. Because of the laminated surface, the Game Board is made to be

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written on, with dry/wet erase markers (Scoring sheets are also available, or scores can be kept on notebook paper)

. Students will write “equations” on the Game Board during play. Suggesting that students will “write equations” almost sounds difficult. The fact of the matter is that this process is much easier than it sounds. This is why even a Kindergarten student, teaming up with any other player, can play COMPUMATICS and begin to learn sophisticated math terms and concepts from an early age. Where do players get the information necessary to be successful at the game? It’s all on the board, and players begin learning the art of simple research. Every result of the play process can be found on the Game Board.

The Game is played with a pair of Number Cubes (dice), and involves the four Arithmetic Operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—to gain a perfect score of 100 points. Sounds simple? So why is the teacher so scared in playing with the First Grader, even though he/she knows more Math than the student? Or, why is it that the creator of the Game cannot guarantee beating a new player? Here are some revelations that will hint at the fact that this game is not as simple as it appears.

The game is won by a player gaining 100 or more points, when all other players have had equal turns at play. However, it is not the highest number of points that wins. The score of 100 cannot lose (it can be tied, but there is a tie-breaking procedure) Scores higher than 100 can lose to 100. No score less than 100 can win (99 or less). Each time a player’s turn comes, he/she has to do all four Arithmetic Operations. If a player has a score of 98, he cannot win, so he has to take another turn at play (if he did not get equal turns as the player who has scored 100+) Here’s the million dollar question: How does this player (the Teacher, or Principal), use a pair of dice to do addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication (all four operations), to beat a player who is sitting on a score of 102, with a wry smile on his face? That’s doing ALL four operations to earn FOUR points for a TIE, not a win!! This is not easy, but it can be done, and all necessary information to do so is on the Game Board. That’s why the name of this Game is COMPUMATICS: TOTALly awSUM!

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