Math is an incredibly important subject. It’s something we use every day even without thinking about it. Unfortunately, it can be a pretty dull and daunting subject to learn — but it doesn’t have to be.
Over the years, there have been a ton of educational games created to help kids learn and practice math skills in a fun, engaging way. You don’t need to be a mathlete to excel in these games, but you may feel like one afterward.
If you’re looking for an alternative to another stale worksheet, check out our top picks for best math board games for middle school to add some excitement to your next math lesson.
Table of Contents
🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Math Board Games for Middle School
In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.
Proof!
Players: 2-6
Playing time: 10-20mins
Exercise your brain and use those mental math skills as you quickly try to come up with math equations using the numbers shown on your cards.
Use addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square roots to create equations and then prove your answer to your fellow players. Each equation must use at least 3 cards, and the game is played until all the cards are gone.
Proof! is fast-paced and you’ll constantly need to be scanning for solutions. It’s a great practice for students and an excellent refresher for those who haven’t opened a math textbook in ages.
My Little Scythe
Players: 1-6
Playing time: 45-60mins
In the Kingdom of Pomme, these little seekers are happy to live where they can coexist with their animal friends of all kinds in harmony. They create friendships, enjoy delicious, crisp apples, and search for magical gems.
Players will lead their animal miniatures on an adventure in this competitive fantasy game where they’ll all be vying to be the first to collect 4 trophies by completing various objectives. Move, seek, and make your way to the finish line as you learn magic spells, complete epic quests, and of course, win a pie fight.
This strategy game will enforce critical thinking and math skills as players plan their moves intentionally and weigh out the repercussions of each action. It’s a fun break from games with an outright math theme, while still requiring players to use a variety of math skills.
Absolute Zero
Players: 2-5
A game where you’re literally striving for nothing.
The goal of this game is to combine a set of positive and negative integer cards to create a value of zero. Each round can consist of a combination of 3, 4, or 5 cards, but remember, the more cards in hand, the more mental math you’ll need to do. The game is versatile and can also be used in other ways to teach other integer operations.
Absolute Zero is a fantastic game to have on hand in the classroom. It can be used as a filler activity when there’s a little bit of time left in class, or to review previously learned concepts. However you choose to incorporate it, it’s a great activity that helps students truly grasp the concept of combining integers.
Prime Climb
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 20-45mins
Prime Climb is an award-winning game created by mathematicians. It offers a colorful, visual approach that makes learning and practicing math less intimidating.
After rolling the 10-sided dice, players choose whether to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to determine how many spaces they can move forward. Try not to get knocked back to the start because the first player whose pawns reach exactly 101 claims the win.
The innovative color scheme in Prime Club opens the door for ample learning opportunities and offers a new, simpler way to introduce and teach multiplication and division.
This game is fun and addictive; kids will be begging to play. Add it to any math or STEM classroom to sharpen math skills and increase fluency.
Sagrada
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 30-45mins
Beautiful, fun, and thought-provoking, Sagrada combines art and sudoku as players carefully piece together a stained-glass masterpiece. Each turn, players will draft colorful dice and use these to complete their window. But there’s a catch. Dice of specific numbers and colors must be placed into particular patterns.
This will make the game progressively more challenging as you’ll need to decide based on the probability of a particular dice you need to come up with when you need it.
Players will also need to recognize patterns and use deduction skills to best choose which pieces to play and when. The game plays as an abstract artsy game with hidden mathematics elements.
Five Tribes
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 40-80mins
With the recent death of their sultan, the land of Naqala is left without a ruler and the throne could be yours according to the prophecy. But you’ll need to prove yourself.
Earn the trust and support of the five tribes as move your meeples around the board in a mancala-like fashion. Each tribe — or different color meeple — has its own ability which can help or hinder your success in taking over. You’ll need to use strategy, manage your resources effectively, and plan ahead to earn your place as the new sultan.
Five Tribes is both challenging and rewarding as players try to formulate how they can get their meeples to particular spots. This game may not be math-themed, but there are hidden elements of calculating and analyzing to get ahead.
Mathological Liar
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20mins
Something just isn’t adding up.
Your detective skills are needed to solve a series of math mysteries and discover who the mathological liar is. Every round is a new case where players receive suspect alibi cards to help solve the crimes. Work through the math problems to figure out who the culprit is. Those who are innocent can breathe a sigh of relief as their arithmetic has been done correctly.
With a variety of math operations used throughout the cases, this is a great game to brush up on some skills that may be a bit rusty.
Adsumudi
Players: 2-8
Playing time: 15mins
Adsumudi is a math monster with all the answers. Your job is to find a way to use the numbers on the cards to reach his answer using any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
With varying difficulty, you can start with easy mode and work your way up to monstrously hard mode for advanced students. To make it even more challenging, set a time and work against the clock to quickly create equations.
Play as a cooperative or in competitive mode as a fun way to exercise those mental math skills!
Qwixx
Players: 2-5
Playing time: 15mins
Qwixx is a fast-paced dice game where every move counts and you’ll have a chance to score even when it isn’t your turn. Everyone takes turns being the active player and rolling the 6 colored dice.
Non-active players can use the sum of the two white dice to cross off any colored number on their scoresheet, while the active player can combine one white die with any of the colored die to check a number off in that color’s row.
Numbers must be crossed off in order from left to right and you cannot return to any skipped numbers. The more numbers you can cross off, the higher your score. This game is easy to learn, simple to play, and will quickly have you addicted.
Sumoku
Players: 1-8
Playing time: 15mins
Numbers, meet crossword puzzle. In Sumoku, players will lay numbered tiles in rows and columns while performing addition and multiplication operations.
First, players will need to determine which key number they’ll be working with: 3, 4, or 5 by rolling the die. Then, they’ll need to use addition skills to add tiles to the puzzle whose sum is a multiple of the key number.
For example: If the key number is 4, you can add 3+8+5 to get 16 because 16 is a multiple of 4. Create new columns and rows or add on to those already placed. Anything goes as long as you don’t place like colors next to each other.
This game is a great way to reinforce those multiplication and addition skills in a fun way where players can build off each other. Plus, it comes in a portable bag so you can take it to and from school or play on a family trip on summer holiday to keep those math skills sharp.
Wrap-Up
We hope you enjoyed our list of the best math board games for middle school! Playing these games will make learning fun for your 6th, 7th, and 8th graders — and may actually unlock a hidden love of mathematics that they never knew they had!
Have you tried any of the games on this list? Did we miss any of your favorite math games? Drop a comment below and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear from you.
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Liz has no objections to being referred to as “nerdy.” Maybe it’s the educator in her — or her maturity level— but when it comes to board games, those best suited for children are the ones that spark her interest. When she’s not looking for the next game to incorporate into the classroom or play with her niece and nephew, you can find her trying out nature-themed games like Wildcraft or Trekking the National Parks.