| Math Gran Prix | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Programmer(s) | Suki Lee [1] |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Educational |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, two-player |
Math Gran Prix (released as Maths Grand Prix in Europe) is an educational video game written for the Atari 2600 by Suki Lee and published by Atari, Inc. in 1982. [2]
The player must advance a car through a Grand Prix race by answering mathematics questions, with 9 variations of play. [3] Random bonuses may pop up during play. Both two- and single-player gaming against the computer is possible, with the computer's calculation speed slowed artificially compared to its normal speed of calculation in single-player mode. [4] Questions included addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. [5] The game is aimed at 7- to 10-year-old children. [6]
The game was programmed by Suki Lee. [7] Lee went on to work on Obelix , also for the Atari 2600. [1] The cover art for the game was drawn by Warren Chang. [8]
In a January 1983, review the British computer games magazine TV Gamer described the game as "certainly a lot more entertaining than its predecessor, Basic Maths ". [3] A review in the January 1983 edition of Tilt magazine, a French video games magazine, gave the game 2/6 for graphics and 4/6 for interest, saying that the game might even be of interest to adults. [4]
Reviewing the game in 2017 in the book The A-Z of Atari 2600 Games: Volume 2, Kieren Hawken described the game as "nothing more than a curio. An ugly and very unexciting curio at that!" and gave the game 3/10 overall. [9]
Menno Deen, in a PhD thesis for the Eindhoven University of Technology, cited Math Gran Prix as "an example of the restrictive nature of early edutainment titles of the 80s", stating that the game's lack of player autonomy does not impart motivation to learn. He furthermore stated that Math Gran Prix and other mathematics edutainment games: "adopt the instructional model of the explainer and instructor, focusing on skill mastery and correct performances" rather than facilitating experimentation or exploration, the latter two of which he argued are more conducive to learning. [10]
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982, alongside the release of the Atari 5200.
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Suki Lee is an American video game designer and computer programmer. She was one of the few female developers at Atari, Inc. in the early 1980s where she wrote the educational game Math Gran Prix for the Atari 2600 (1982) and Obelix (1983) for the same system. Afterward she worked as a project manager at Apple Computer.
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