by Tim Isbell   (Posted October 2014)

DragonBox is a fun game, available on Android and Apple phones. Players have fun while the game secretly teaches them the principles of solving algebraic equations. It's available in two versions: 

• DragonBox 5+ is for young folks from 5 years old and up.
• DragonBox 12+ is for students from 12 years old and up.

My wife gave me an article about games, and DragonBox was among them. It looked interesting so I bought DragonBox 5+ (yes, even though I'm decades older than that, I figured I'd start at the beginning). As is true of many people my age, I found it a bit tricky to learn to play a game without any "directions." After stumbling around for a few minutes, I began to get the hang of how to "win." So I took it to one of our Math Coaching nights and gave it to a beginning algebra 1 student to see how he'd do. Like many teens, he jumped in and immediately caught up with where it took me an hour to get to!

In a few days I worked my way through all the levels of first game, and then decided to go back and perfect my score on each level. Then I bought DragonBox 12+, which in just a few levels re-taught all the material in the lower level. (But I was still glad I'd spent time on the lower level). Now I'm in the middle of conquering that one. It's a great game. I can see how any person who wants to learn algebra will greatly benefit from playing this game - and have fun doing it. And I can see how a young person who has no interest at all in math can enjoy this game even while it subversively shapes his/her mind to solve algebra problems.

So I'm writing this post to recommend DragonBox to: 

• Upper elementary students and middle schoolers who are working their way towards algebra 1.
• Anyone who had trouble learning algebra 1 and wants to give it another try.
• Parents or adults who want to help a young student become proficient in algebra.

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