Well conceived game style with UX flaws and overly simple definition of "algebra"
Note: despite my critical review to follow, I still think you should give this to your kid to play. It teaches the very beginning concepts of algebraic manipulations in a way that kids can grasp at a much earlier age than is typically taught. The critical stuff: From what I can tell this game only covers the simplification of equations which is hardly the "basics of algebra." It is cute, fun, and addictive but is only tutoring algebra in the utmost basic sense. From what I can see, there is no real purpose to chapters and levels. Once you get past the introductory phase of the game, the chapters and levels all appear to be the same. There are some quirks, bugs, and just arbitrary unintuitive decisions in the UX. Too many to detail here but the most glaring one is the choice to place the card row behind the window drag bar making it extremely difficult to select a card without accidentally dragging the entire viewport. The artwork and general style of the game is catchy and well made. The smuggling of algebraic concepts via arbitrary symbols is clever. I'd love to see a version of this game that continues past the mere simplification of equations and on to actually doing algebra.
