A few days ago I learned about the game Prime Climb from this tweet:
I bought the game almost immediately and it arrived today. Made for a fun little Family Math project tonight.
First, because this is the internet, the unboxing:
Next up – our first roll. We were still obviously a little green with respect to the rules, but the kids were interested in the game immediately – particularly about getting some of the mysterious “prime cards.” Right from the beginning you can see that there’s some nice arithmetic practice for kids in the game. Also, I love my son’s comment two rolls in: “This is a very wild game!”
Next we come in during the middle of the game. It is fun to see all the different possibilities that you have after a roll. My son notices, for example, that with one of my pieces on 50, it would have been really lucky to get a 2 and a 1. That roll would allow me to multiply by 2 and add 1, which is good since the goal is to get your pieces to 101.
You also see one of the “bad” things that can happen to you in this game as I get sent back to the start. As my son said – a wild game!
Next up a lucky roll for my younger son. Turning the camera on sort of gave him a hint that there was something good he could do, but despite the give away from me, this clip lets you see the nice arithmetic practice that happens in this game. Some of the strategy, too, since it isn’t obvious at all what spots on the board lead to the easiest ways to get your pieces to 101.
Finally, with my son near the end we turned on the camera to see if the game was going to end – it did:
So, a really fun and really clever game from the folks at Math for Love. My younger son likes the excitement of the “prime cards” and also sending people (his brother especially) back to the start. My older son likes thinking about all of the different possibilities after you roll. I like the combination of a fun game and a little math review.
This is a great game for kids. The box says 10+, but my 8 year old was certainly having a good time. If you are looking for a fun and educational game for a holiday present, this one is an absolute no brainer.
Mike's Math Page 
Would love to hear if you come up with other, more strategic, variants of Prime Climb. I love the visuals, particularly the way the prime factorizations are depicted.
Also, the multiplication table included is worth admiring and exploring. Alex Bogolmony at Cut-the-Knot has a page that nicely reminds us that there is real mathematics to be found in the tables (link here.) Coming full circle to Prime Climb, he flagged this in a discussion of some other game ideas on the Math 4 Love site.