It is not in the dictionary, but we think Mathing should be.
Mathemagician’s Duel yields low anxiety, quality educational board gaming, perfect Mathing with witty characters, and light brass tacks. This is a math-centered card game that nurtures quick addition and subtraction skills. The game offers enough strategy to keep you excited and engaged, but not so much that each move becomes a tedious decision process.
The objective is to take on the role of dueling Mathemagician’s, competing to cast spells and deplete the opponent’s magical strength. The spells are cast by collecting Energy cards that equal the amount required to cast the Spell card. To cast, you must have the right conditions and the player must declare the Spell. Yes, we invoked our best Potter and Hermione impressions when we cast our spells.
This game is easy to teach and quick to set up. Each Dueler receives a scorecard, Magical Strength card, and Current Magical Strength pointer card. Each Dueler starts with twenty Magical Strength points. Then draw three Spell cards and choose one to put into play. Once a Spell is cast during play, draw another Spell card to bring the total back to three. Choose which spell you play next. Finally, in turn order, pull your hand of five cards, which can be any combination of Magical Energy Cards (numbers) and Magical Symbol cards (plus or minus.)
On each turn, Duelers play one card either building their own incantation spell or play on opponent’s incantation to try and prevent them from reaching the requirements to cast the Spell. Beware not to unintentionally cast the Spell for them and lose your Magical Strength. After you have played a card and your incantation is ready, you can cast the Spell, and the opponent Magical Strength is depleted by the number count on the Spell card.
If a Mathemagician plays a card that causes the incantation to go below zero, a Magical Misfire occurs. If the Misfire is performed on an opponent’s cards, the Spell is cast immediately on the player who causes the Misfire. That happened when we were moving fast and being brash.
When the deck is depleted and reshuffled, all players lose one Magical Energy. When a three-player game, any spell cast will affect both players. Dueling continues till Mathemagician’s Magical Strength is reduced to zero or less, and the last one standing is the Winning Wizard!!
Bits and Bobs 16 Spell cards 27 Magical Energy Cards 25 Magical Symbol Cards 6 Scoring cards 1 Rulebook
Our Thoughts
Addition and subtraction are constant, and the repetition surely can develop those skills. We found ourselves (grownups) flexing those muscles. When played with the target age group, they forgot they were Mathing. Those who have been schooling their kids during these trying times know that it can be exhausting and want to try a sweet reprieve with Mathemagician’s Duel? The conjuring of spells is a smart concept that we especially keen to since we play multiple Dungeons and Dragons weekly at Nerdz Garage. This game could be an introduction to D&D for the younger crowd.
We found a nice harmony in trying to cast spells swiftly and sabotaging the opponent. Have I mentioned we are competitive?? We thought it is a smart rule that all players reduce their magical strength by one when the draw piles are depleted and must be reshuffled. We found that out when we focused on mischief instead of casting our own spells. We were running through the decks. Lesson learned and returned to a more civilized game, with just a dash of trickery.
What’s Next? Mathemagician’s Duel Level 2: Sorcerer is in the production for those who want the next level dueling. Level 2: Sorcerer will be a standalone game that plays just like Level 1: Mage but incorporates multiplication and division alongside the original addition and subtraction operations! There will be new, more powerful spells!
Let’s hear it for Mathing!
Mathemagician’s Duel Year Published:2019 Player: 2-3 Play time: 20-4- Minutes Designer: Scott R. Kelly Artist: Bill Murphy Publisher: BSGames Categories: Card Game, Children’s Game, Educational, Fantasy, Math Mechanism: Hand Management
Let’s be honest; there is still a bit of drama when we play. Sit Down – Join the Game Suzzan Smith https://www.nerdzgarage.com/
