Sumaze! Primary

What's it about?

Mixing maths practice with fun gameplay in an app is not as easily achieved as one might think.  Done well, it makes learning easier, especially for those for whom it does not come easily.  Done poorly, children see it as the forced construction that it is.  Fortunately, Sumaze Primary is definitely in the former category.

The marriage between gameplay and maths skills is better realised in Sumaze Primary than in most other maths games. The typical gamified app looks like a game but plays like a multiple choice quiz - the game elements are bolted awkwardly onto some maths concepts. 

In Sumaze Primary, the fit between game and maths is much tighter. The challenge to a player's maths and thinking skills form the basis of the game and the means by which it plays, making it a cohesive whole. Such a clever design is depressingly rare across maths-game apps.

The challenge takes place on a grid.  Players move a controllable tile along the grid's squares through a simple swipe action.  Some squares are occupied with modifiers which adjust the value of the number shown on the player-controlled tile. Others force the player tile to move a certain way or block its progress until a key is collected.

To start with, the challenge seems easy - add 1 to the value until it equals the target value and then the level is complete. Then, the challenge ramps up.  Some routes make it impossible not to overshoot the target. As well as doing the maths, players have to plan far ahead. Players can't just rely on letting the game do the adding as they collect numbers. They need to think through what will happen if they take a certain approach.  It is a very clever mechanic.

If an unrecoverable mistake is made, the level can be reset instantly and tried again.  A new category of levels awaits those who complete each bank. These introduce subtraction, doubling, halving, and patterns as well as stretching forward-planning skills further.

The app's appearance is one of neat simplicity that suits it very well. It is age-neutral so older children can enjoy the problem-solving aspects even if the maths is easy for them.

Is it any good?

Sumaze Primary plays well on screens of all sizes. It is a great app for children to spend some constructive yet entertaining leisure time. It is an app that deserves its place on a classroom device as it is simple enough for all children to pick up and play yet prompts useful thinking. 

Thankfully, Sumaze Primary escapes a criticism levelled at other maths apps that merge education and gameplay - that of missing a teacher mode.   So often, apps prompt ideas in teachers' minds for alternative uses for them. Unfortunately, the gameplay structure in most apps precludes or makes these uses difficult. Not so in Sumaze Primary!

There is an easy-to-miss but so welcome inclusion of this mode.  Hidden in the app's instructions is a set of steps to activate this mode until the app is reopened. What a great way of doing things!  Teachers can use the app as they see fit and players do not have the temptation of undermining the reward structure of the game.

Overall rating

The quality of Sumaze Primary has often been described in this review in relation to what it does better than other apps.  It is a great app in its own right but the rarity of such an effective integration of maths, gameplay, and classroom suitability in other apps is what makes a comparison shine such a positive light on it.  Parents and teachers will find that this is a popular and useful app for their children to have on their mobile devices.