Math is everywhere in every game we play. Math makes games replayable, interesting, and fun. If you think about any game you are certain to see some form of math involved. Every memorable game you play has to have math involved. You simply can’t make a good game without a math element. It can be so simple a small kid can solve it, but just a small amount of math adds a huge amount of flavour and intrigue to a game. For example poker is a game of probabilities. You are playing the probability that you will have better cards than your opponent. You gauge the risk and then bet accordingly. You would never think of it as math when playing the game, but the designer ingeniously embedded it into the games rules. The point is that math is everywhere even in the most influential games in humanity’s history.
To study and understand math’s role in the games we love, I set forth on a path to create a card game that involved all the simple mathematical operations. Like any card game this one needed to have its own set of cards that were a part of the gameplay. The cards had to have personalization on my cards to help set my game apart from others. I made sure to not get ahead of myself so I began to brainstorm what type of game I’d like to do. My first thought was to create a game that was based on some sort of sport. After contemplating the games that I could create with that style, I came to the conclusion that I would be better of if I left the game so it’s focus was on the math and then add character to the game after. In the end I was happy that I chose that way to do it. It gave me a lot less limitations when designing the rules. It did take some time to come up with an idea for my game, but after I did come up with a good idea I ran with it immediately.
The idea I came up with involved taking turns adding to an equation with cards that are dealt to the players. This game premise involves strategy, luck, and a general knowledge of math. After completing it I added some simple characterization to the decks of cards. I added different coloured numbers to help make the game more memorable and unique.
