DragonBox Big Numbers 4+

This is an entirely addictive game, and adults will enjoy it as well as children. However, I wish there was a way to close the addition/subtraction window, as it's way too easy to accidentally open it (for example, while collecting bees), and then you can't close it without doing the math. In the mean time, all the rest of the bees are flying by and you can't catch them because the other window is open on top. Similarly, if you accidentally select to trade your bees for honey instead of your fish for ice cream, you can't leave the trade window, you have to complete the transaction first. Please let us close the windows and I'll happily give this a five star rating.

I bought this for my homeschooled nine-year-old who has been consistently resistant to learning arithmetic. Both her parents have degrees in math, but surprisingly she has no interest in it. I don’t want to push her into her parents’ interests, but everyone needs some basic arithmetic skills. Although she can do some in her head, she refuses anything that looks workbook-like. I have tried to find a game that would show her arithmetic while holding her interest, but had no luck until now. She took to this game right away! She played it for about six hours the very first day. (I know that’s a ridiculous amount of screen time, but I really didn’t want to stop her.). One of the things that holds her up is that she has always written numbers backwards and gets frustrated. I noticed that her writing improved and she grew more confident as she played. I was stunned to see her so excited - while learning how to do basic arithmetic of multiple-digit numbers “on paper”, including the idea of “carry the 1”. She told me repeatedly how much she loves the game. I just can’t thank the developers enough for this game; it is the best!