One of the great things about educational programs and materials is that they seem to always be evolving and getting better. In fall 2012, I was able to review a fun new Math role-playing game (RPG) called Prodigy. Here we are over 3 years later, and my kids still look forward to seeing what’s new and testing their math skills.
Prodigy combines the subject of math with the exciting world of fantasy. Basically, your child makes a character which they are challenged to level up by encounters in either a wild forest or in an arena competition. In order to learn and use magic spells to defeat their opponents they have to answer math questions. Successful answers mean they can attack – and speed increases their damage power.
My kids? LOVE it. During our original trial, they woke up every day for the whole 2 weeks and begged to play the math game. My oldest kept saying how much this game was amazing because it combined all his favourite things – Math and an RPG. Even my almost 5 year old got in on the adventure – working at the Grade 1 level.
The grade levels in the game are for Grade 1 through 8, aligned to the Ontario curriculum, and the math questions are progressive – making the questions more challenging. Problems like sequencing, addition, multiplication, medians and means, and other important parts of the math curriculum are included in the questions. Some were really hard and took some thought – so we used a math manipulative to help cement understanding of concepts so they could master them enough to move onto the next level.
Every time they defeat a monster or opponent, they win both experience points and gold. The experience points helps their character to level up, eventually moving up to new zones and areas. It’s not a super-fast leveling game, which is nice – meaning that the kids have to actually work to gain experience. The gold is used to buy gear and weapons at the store – which helped their character’s stats and damage potential.
My boys loved the integration of math fundamentals with fantasy game play.
Now, the game has had many updates and changes, while still maintaining its core of mixing math with game play. They keep adding and changing things to make the game better and better all the time.
Originally, Prodigy was a desktop based game – which meant you downloaded the game and played on your computer only. Now, the game has been moved to browser play, which means you just sign in on the website and play from there. I think this is a great new feature because it is hassle-free, and you can play from anywhere that you can access a computer.
Another great feature is that anyone can play the basic game for free. The basic game includes access to all the educational content, making it completely worthwhile all on its own. However, there is a membership option too – which allows players access to exclusive content and items, as well as level up faster. I’m very excited by the team’s work to make the game more affordable to the everyday parent. It’s now just $4.99/month – which is much more realistic in my opinion than their previous pricing structure.
There are more updates too. Here’s a list of some of the new changes in the game:
- Added lessons and virtual manipulatives to help students solve the problem
- Added several social features to encourage kids to keep playing with each other:
- An enhanced friends list to compare items with other students
- Player vs Player challenges
- Added game items and features for kids – new training zones, wands, pets, gear, etc.
For a more in depth look at Prodigy, how it works, and how students can play, watch this tutorial video for teachers.
You can now find the game at www.prodigygame.com – and it’s easy to get started. Just make your own wizard and away you go!
Happy Gaming!
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Awesome. I passed on it when first reviewed because our computer just can’t handle a download that intense, and the pricing structure put me off. Thanks for the update!
I’m so pleased that the company has made these changes too. It’s such a fun way to approach math.
As technology continues to become a more integrated part of out lives, it only makes sense that we will use it for education. Games like Prodigy and other online software tools for Math put children at ease and reduce the stress of the lesson and improve comprehension levels.
Its a shame its not supported on Mac. My boy looked forward to trying this.
Oh – that’s too bad that they aren’t mac friendly atm! hopefully it will be back on the mac soon so your boy can try this out!!
It is on the mac. The title screen says such. I play it because, why not, and i actually do recommend the membership, i have a free account, and hate the restrictions.
tried to login but only a big brown screen comes up and I used the login info given b y his teacher???
Hmm, I wonder what’s wrong, Alana. I recommend contacting the guys over at Prodigy help. They are really great. Hopefully they can help you!
Love Prodigy. We were introduced to it in Grade 3 and my daughter’s math skills have come a long way in a few months as a result.