Gamezebo Rating:

Math Blaster was a godsend. It was an "edutainment" game that fell just far enough East of its portmanteau to syphon the mid-afternoon doldrums that only a fifth grader can appreciate. Thanks to that game, the Westside Elementary computer lab wasn't just a crawlspace in the back of the library - it was my Rock of Gibraltar.

Calculords likely isn't educational enough to make the cut in Mrs. Antonopoulos' keyboard class, but it does hit on a lesson I've managed to learn in the years since: Math is kind of fun.

Now, I don't mean mapping geometric proofs, but there is something about manipulating basic patterns - finding the hidden meaning in numbers - that's challenging and interesting. It's why people enjoy Sudoku; it's why we play puzzle games.