ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 1992 VERY RARE OFFICIAL TI MODULES: COMPUTER MATH GAMES I, III, and IV reviewed by Charles Good Lima Ohio User Group These three Addison-Wesley education modules are each listed for $39.95 suggest retail in TI's last published 99/4A catalog dated June 1983. They are part of a series which includes the commonly available copyright 1982 COMPUTER MATH GAMES II and VI. The I, III, and IV modules have a 1983 date on their title screen. I obtained them as COMMAND MODULE SIMULATOR disk files (and now also as GramKracker files in the Lima UG software library), and at first I thought they had never been officially released by TI. I have never seen them advertised in Triton, Tex Comp, or Tenex catalogs. Even Mike Wright, who has more different kinds of TI modules than anybody else I know doesn't have these modules. I finally dicovered that Eunice Spooner actually has one of these modules, GAMES III, complete with TI published documentation. Even now (January 1992) it is possible to purchase GAMES III from TM Direct Marketing, but without any documentation. Larry Conner, a TI dealer who has sold lots of rare TI stuff to collectors told me that all three of these rare modules have passed through his hands. Larry said, "As I recollect, those are really neat games that make good use of the TI's special features." Apparently only TI sold very limited quantities of these modules directly for $39.95 each. Because of price I doubt if they sold very many. Quoting from page 2 of my "VI" module's documentation: "It is essential for all of us to know and understand how fundamental mathematics operations are performed. In order to develop this understanding, students must have the opportunity to practice, for only through practice can they develop strong mathematical skills. The Computer math Games VI Solid State Cartridge is one of five modules of math games that can help provide this opportunity. The program was designed by Charles Lund, Supervisor of Mathematics for the St. Paul, Minnesota, public schools and the staff of Addison-Wesley Publishing company in cooperation with the staff of Texas Instruments Incorporated. The Games included in the cartridge are both fun and challenging, with an entertaining, motivating format designed to capture and hold attention." "VI" is one of five modules?!?!^^The series includes I, II, III, IV, and VI, all of which have a title screen that names Charles Lund as author. There is no V. Apparently someone at Addison-Wesley or at Texas Instruments doesn't know how to count!^^There are some TI modules that teach this skill I believe. The options and difficulty levels of the math games that are in these modules make them suitable for students with a wide diversity skill levels. The documentation for my "II" and "IV" modules claims suitability for school grades 1 through 9. The unreleased "I", "II", and "IV" are probably appropriate for a similarly wide range of grades. These rare 1983 modules offer you a choice of text in five languages. (The older COMPUTER MATH GAMES II and IV are only in English.) When you PRESS ANY KEY TO BEGIN you are presented with the following options. It is suprising to see almost the entire startup menu screen filled with selections. PRESS 1 FOR TI BASIC 2 FOR ENGLISH 3 FOR FRANCAIS 4 FOR DEUTSCH 5 FOR ITALIANO 6 FOR ESPANOL All these language options function properly in COMPUTER MATH GAMES I. However, the Italian and Spanish options are not functional in "III" and "IV", and cause the computer to lock up. Each COMPUTER MATH GAMES module contains several distinct games. These games are described individually below. All have plenty of music and colorful screen displays. ---------------------------------- COMPUTER MATH GAMES I: The game of SQUARE OFF: Two people or one person and the computer can play against each other. You are shown a grid with a dot on screen at the intersection of each set of coordinates. You can chose to have coordinate 0,0 at the lower left, with positive numbers extending to the right along the x axis and up along the y axis. Or, you can specify coordinate 0.0 to be in the middle of the screen, with positive coordinate numbers extending to the right and up and negative coordinate numbers extending down and to the left of 0,0. You can specify 2-14 rows and 2-9 columns in your coordinate system, making the game very simple or very complicated. Each player alternately inputs a set of adjacent coordinates in the form 0,0,0,1 (position 0,0 and position 0,1), and the computer draws a line between these two dots on screen. If a mistake is made and the entered coordinates do not exist or are not adjacent or already have a line between them the player is given a second chance. Then it is the other player's turn. The object of the game is to close boxes by drawing the fourth side of the box and to prevent your opponent from doing the same. When you close a box you get a free turn. The player who closes the most boxes wins. This game gives practice using an X-Y axis coordinate system and in the use of negative numbers. To win requires a lot of thought and strategy. I enjoy this game. The computer is a challenging opponent. So are some of my children. The game of DOT-DOT-PLOT: This is for one player. You are again presented with a coordinate system, this time with only the X and Y axes showing. There are initially no on screen dots at each coordinate junction. You have your choice of putting the 0,0 location at the extreme bottom left and having only positive numbers on the X-Y axes, or placing 0,0 in the center of the screen and having both positive and negative numbers extend up/down and right/left from 0,0. You are to help the computer draw a picture. Your choices are Pine Tree, Airplane, Lobster, Dog, Car, Rabbit, Castle, or "Any of these". The computer puts the first dot on screen and you specify the coordinates of this dot. The next dot is then displayed and you specify the coordinates of the second dot. The computer then draws a line between the previous dot and the new dot. Another dot is then displayed, and when you identify its coordinates properly a line is drawn from the previous line to this new dot. In this way your picture is drawn "dot-to-dot" style until it is complete. When the picture is finished you are given a total of right and wrong guesses and told the total number of dots in your picture. The airplane, for example, takes 20 dots with connecting lines. You need a good monitor for this game. It is sometimes difficult by sight alone to accurately move from the first blinking dot of the new picture in the middle of an otherwise nearly empty screen back to the edge of the screen where the X and Y axes are located and get an accurate fix on the location of the dot. It is easier with subsequent dots, because you have the location of earlier dots to help guide you. The game of MATH BOXES: This game requires two human players. First you input the player's names and select the type of number; 1- Whole numbers (all positive) 2- Integers (whole positive and/or negative numbers) 3- Decimals 4- Simple fractions Then you select the problem type (+-*/). Finally, you select the size range of each of the two numbers in the problem (from -999 to +9999 if "Integers" is selected). The screen then displays 12 math problems arranged in three rows and four columns. The first player selects two adjacent problems to solve and if correct gets a line drawn between the two problems. If incorrect, the opposing player gets the line. The computer gives different colors to the lines of the two players. The object of the game is to draw a box with these lines and prevent your opponent from doing so. Depending on the options selected at the beginning of the game, the game can be "gosh darn hard" even for me, or easy enough for my first grade daughter to play successfully. The game of BEANS AND PITS: This game requires two human players and gives practice in interpreting numbers based on hundreds, tens, ones, tenths, and hundredths. The computer randomly transfers beans from a small pits (holes) to a combination of large and small pits. The large pits represent a number composed of 100's, 10's, ones, etc. Beans distributed to large pits stay there. Beans in small pits have to be cleared out so that eventually they are all in the large pits. The first player to completely clear out his small pits is the winner. This sounds confusing, and it is. However, the computer does most of the work of moving pits about between pits and declaring a winner, so the game is in fact fairly easy to play. After a winner is declared, each player is asked the "number" represented by the beans in his large pits. If there are 5 beans in the "1" pit, 8 beans in the ".1" pit, and 2 in the ".01" pit the correct answer is 5.82, but being able to answer correctly has nothing to do with winning or losing. The winner and loser are determined randomly by the computer. Learning how to determine the winner's and looer's "number" is the only mathematical learning experience of the game, but has nothing to do with the random win/lose chances. I am not terribly impressed with this particular game. ----------------------------- COMPUTER MATH GAMES III These are all timed card games. A player gets 30 seconds to come up with the correct answer of the opponent gets the point. Some but not all of the games suffer from the anomaly of not having aces or face cards in the deck. Instead, players sometimes get to play the 11 of spades, 12 of hearts, 13 of clubs, etc. If mistakes are made, the correct answer is NOT indicated in some of these games. In most of these games it isn't actually necessary to solve the math problems in order to win the game. Winning is by luck, and if you can't compute your score, the computer does it for you. Knowing WHY you won (or lost) and have the The game of WAR: (2 human players) Each player in turn is shown two cards and asked to pick the larger of the two (eg. 10 of spades vs. 12 of clubs) by designating the card on the right or left of the screen display. A correct answer is worth one point. If the cards are of equal value and the player correctly recognizes this, three more cards are dealt and the player is asked to indicate the higher of the last two cars dealt. In this case the problem is worth 4 points. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the shortest elapsed time determines the winner. This game is suitable for kindergarten and first graders. It teaches RIGHT, LEFT, and number recognition from 1 to 13. The game of FLASH: (1 or 2 players) You get to select the maximum value on the cards (2-13, no 1's). Next the type of problem is selected: 1-Arithmetic 2-Reduce the fractions 3-Squared arithmetic If you select "1-Arithmetic" you then get to select addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. The first three are intiger (whole number) problems with intiger answers. Division requires that you specify an integer quotent (always at least 1, never 0) and an integer remainder. For example, 6 of clubs divided by 4 of spades gives a quotient of 1 and a remainder of 2. "3-Reduce the Fraction" presents a fraction (numerator-slash-denominator ) and asks for the reduced form as a single fraction. For example, the game accepts "10/9", not 1 1/9, as the reduced form of "10/9". "3-Squared Arithmetic" gives you the additional choice of 1-Addition or 2-Subtraction. You have to calculate the square of the displyed problem, as in (10-4)^2. You need to know your MULTIPLICATION number facts in addition to your addition/subtraction facts The game of IN BETWEEN: (1 or 2 players) The highest card in the deck can be between 3 and 13 (no aces or deuces). The computer displays 3 cards and asks, "Is the middle card between the other two in value? 1-Yes 2-No". If the display is 9-7-7, the correct answer is NO. As does WAR, this game teaches number recognition and also the relative order of the recognied numbers. The game of TWENTY-ONE: (1-3 players). The computer is dealer and an additional player. The dealer's complete hand is shown at the start of each hand with one dealer card not showing. Players are given 2 cards and asked if they want more cards. The usual Blackjack rules apply. This is the only game where face cards are so identified (as J,Q, and K instead of 11, 12, and 13). When the deck is exhausted the computer reshuffles the cards and play resumes. There is no betting. Players and the dealer just win or lose hands indefinately until they tire of the game. Other than the lack of betting the game is very realistic. It is as good as any of the other "Blackjack" games written for the TI. The game of ZERO: (1-3 players) Here the red cards have positive points and the black cards have negative points. The game is played like TWENTY ONE or blackjack, except that the object of the game is to have a score as close to zero as possible. ----------------------------- COMPUTER MATH GAMES IV The game of NIM 25: (one player against the computer) This is the old "pick up anywhere from 1 to x blocks and the person who picks up the last block wins" game. Barry Traver has discussed the mathematical basis behind this game in recent issues of his disk magazine. There are 25 consecutively numbered blocks to be picked up. Number 25 is the last to go. You are given the option to go first or second and asked to chose the maximum number of pieces that can be picked up in a turn (max of 2-25). Unless you learn the secret the computer will usually win. Math skills are not needed to play or win, but it is fun to try and figure out the number of the highest numbered block that will be left on screen after each "pick up". The game of MATH DARTS: (2-3 players) You can select the number of players, the type of math problem (+-*-), and the maximum and minimum possible values for the numbers in the FIRST NUMBER +-*- SECOND NUMBER problems. Once ranges are selected, the computer randomly puts 10 numbers within the range on the left side of the screen as a target. Opitonally, the players can select the specific numbers to be placed on the target. A colorful man appears and throws two darts at the target. The numbers hit by the darts are the two numbers in the math problem. You get 10 seconds to solve each problem. The game of 500: (2-4 players) This game gives practice in recognition and interpretation of decimal numbers. You see a nice graphic of a baseball pitcher throwing the ball, which stops midway towards the batter. You are then given a problem to solve. If solved correctly within 10 seconds the batter hits the ball in the air. If solved incorrectly the batter hits a grounder.. You can chose the maximum number of digits to the right and to the left of the decimal place. Problems are of three types. 1- "What is the compact form of 700+50+9+.4+.03?" The answer is 759.43. 2- "What is the expanded form of 509.43?" The correct answer is 500+9+.4+.03. 3- "In the number 711.5 the number in the tens place is what digit?" The answer is one. The game of WOODCHUCK: (1-4 players) You can select +-* or / problems, and you can specify the high and low range of numbers to be placed on each of two dice. Then either the computer randomly generates numbers within this range on the dice or you select specific numbers within the ranges to be on the dice. You also have the option on your turn to roll the dice or to pass. Math problems ask you to +-* or / the numbers on the two dice. The answer is the number of points you earn, and your goal is to accumulate a specified number of points. Just to make things interesting, every now and then a dragon appears on the dice when they are rolled. The dragon eats all of a player's points and the player must start over from zero. The dragon makes this game really maddening! ---------------------- SUMMARY There is a lot of variety in these games. I like some better than others. They are all entertaining and they all make good use of music and color graphics. .PL 1