6 cards are dealt face up. The player tries to combine some or all of the first 5 cards to equal the value of the sixth card. Players may use any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Up to 2 pairs of parenthesis may be added if desired. The cards and parenthesis use a "drag and drop" style interaction. Because multiple solutions are often possible, the scoring system encourages the use of as many number cards as possible. The value of each card used to construct a solution is added to achieve the player's score. Using multiplication and division operations earns additional points. Besides acquiring points, each time an equivalency is completed a "hidden" background picture is displayed. An optional timer is available. The preferences window may be password protected.
Note that the software behaves just as the card game that it is based on, in that it does NOT assure all problems have a solution. While the vast majority of problems can be solved there may be occasions where the problem presented will not be solvable.
I encourage students in my class (8-10 year olds) to try and match the target number using all 5 cards. While this is not always possible it helps develop several number manipulation strategies. To further entice students along this line, version 1.5 adds a 100 point bonus for using all 5 cards and provides a visual record of the number of times this bonus has been achieved.
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