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Parents' Guide to

Math Runner Plus

By Leslie Crenna, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Sometimes-confusing game needs better pacing, more variety.

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android Free to try, Paid Educational Games
Math Runner Plus Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Math Runner Plus App: Screenshot #1
  • Math Runner Plus App: Screenshot #2
  • Math Runner Plus App: Screenshot #3

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What’s It About?

Small stylized birds and other critters fly addends in bubbles across various terrains toward a larger bird sporting an empty bubble for the target sum. Kids tap nests with possible sums to release baby birds, who rise into the air, mount a platform, and turn into marbles at the end. If an incorrect sum is selected, the baby birds disappear, the correct sum appears large but lacking contrast, and a "You Lose" message accompanies a small pulsing skull and crossbones.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Math Runner Plus offers good depth in adding multiple addends mentally but lacks variety and pace. If your kid has a solid grasp of addition concepts, knows how to set up a problem both vertically or horizontally, and is ready to take on mental math for one- and two-digit numbers, then this app could work. Third-graders might enjoy the challenge of adding up to six addends at once but will be turned off by the easier levels.

The visuals are engaging but too busy. It's truly difficult to figure out where to tap or what you're supposed to do at first. The sounds are unique -- a marble hitting a hard surface, birds squawking -- but the squawk for an incorrect answer is the same as for a correct one. Every single game at every single level is the same, just with a different background and different numbers. Main menu levels -- easy, medium, hard, (even) very hard -- all start out the same: lowest single digits, literally 1 + 2 = 3. Each game is quite long and time consuming with nearly 30 equations each, but you must finish to collect your score. Each of five levels has 50 games. Scoring is complicated and quite meaningless.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Ask younger kids to add the numbers in an area code or phone prefix.

  • Ask older kids how many years everyone in the room has lived all together.

  • Ask your kids to come up with their own (non-counting) mental math problem.

App Details

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