By: Tristan Chow

Have you ever wanted to do better on your math tests? Well, did you know that playing board games may be the solution? Believe it or not, science shows that playing board games actually helps improve your math grades. Everyone knows that playing board games improves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children. But, recently scientists are starting to believe certain board games such as Chutes and Ladders and Monopoly can also enhance their technical math skills.

The team at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, came to this conclusion after analyzing the results of 19 studies. One study focused exclusively on math and board games such as Monopoly, and the results were shocking. In the study, kids aged 3-9 played board games under the supervision of trained adults or teachers. In some cases one set of kids (intervention group) played number-centric board games. And the other set of kids (control group) played board games that did not require math skills. In another study both groups of kids played number based games such as Monopoly and Dominoes.

The kids’ math skills were tested before and after each study. The results were published, and they revealed that playing number-centric board games helps improve the children’s math skills in over half of the four areas. On top of that, most of the kids in the math-centric board game group scored a higher grade than those in the control group. If you want to get higher math grades, maybe you should decide to play some board games!