New Dragonbox App!

[MeaganS]

Called Dragonbox Big Numbers. We love everything by them. I'm downloading it now, so no feedback yet. 😊

[displace]

We have it too but DD doesn't seem to use it much. I haven't gone over it yet.

[MeaganS]

At first glance, it seems to go pretty well with Ronit Bird materials, although I'm only familiar with some of her stuff and I've only played with the app for about 10 minutes.

[Syllieann]

I bought it as soon as I got the email. I'm planning to let DD have at it tonight while we are stuck in a waiting room. I made a profile for myself too, just to see what it was about. So far it looks good.

 

We have it too but DD doesn't seem to use it much. I haven't gone over it yet.

Are you talking about the new one, just released today? There was a Numbers game before, but this is different.

[Soror]

I just saw the message but haven't bought it yet. We really like Numers.

[MeaganS]

Our school day may have been derailed by purchase of this game today :o.

Same here. I think it has been played by one dd or another for several hours total today. We managed to do school but I had to drag them away.

[displace]

I bought it as soon as I got the email. I'm planning to let DD have at it tonight while we are stuck in a waiting room. I made a profile for myself too, just to see what it was about. So far it looks good.

 

 

Are you talking about the new one, just released today? There was a Numbers game before, but this is different.

A big numbers one. We got it last week or so? I still haven't looked at it much. ☺ï¸

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My option, after playing obsessively for the last 24 hours or so...

 

This is, by far, their weakest in terms of math content.  I LOVE the original dragon box apps and the first Numbers app.  This app will NOT teach regrouping, you've got to have an idea of what's going on beforehand.  And once you kind of figure out the game play... you are not actually "doing" the math.  You're just swiping your finger around until you've bundled up ten (no counting, the computer does it for you) then moving it over.  

 

Having said that, the game in and of itself is completely addicting.  It's like FarmVille or Clash of Clans or any other limited resources game where you need to strategize about how and when to spend your various resources, when to attempt to level up vs adding to your infrastructure, etc.  This part of the game is REALLY well done and I appreciate having a self-contained game that doesn't require spending money (beyond the purchase price, and it is pricey for an app!), posting on Facebook, or anything else to keep moving forward.  The characters and settings are charming without being babyish.  

 

What I would change:  I would have wanted a much more explicit borrowing/carrying process.  Perhaps each resource could have a different way of showing the process, some faster than others to keep the game play form slowing too much for the math.  

 

 

 

 

Question for anyone playing: have you figured out any particular trick for fishing? We manage to catch fish, but I can't decide if anything we are doing is helping or speeding it up, or if it's somewhat random. At this point, we hold our finger on the screen where the line goes in the water, and when the bar finally turns red, we swipe up quick to catch a fish. Is that it? Not sure holding our finger there is doing anything.

I think the game is really well done, but I wish there wasn't so much waiting around for things to happen. That's part is annoying to me.

 

 

 

You don't need to keep your finger on the screen.  Just click the guy or the line when the red bar is full.  There doesn't seem to be any real "trick" to it.  Keep playing it, and eventually you'll get the chance to buy a second fisherman, and then you'll get quite a haul.  :-)  I'm glad for the fishing... gives me something to do while waiting for apples to grow!  lol.  

[MeaganS]

Agreed. It isn't the magic the others are, but it is a good one. My kids are loving it, especially my dd who is a sucker for gamification.

 

I mentioned that it would work with some Ronit Bird stuff. I still agree. The number patterns are something my possibly dycalculia dd has found helpful, and this game emphasizes that a lot. But my dd6 is mathematically beyond it (although she loves playing it) and dd4, who still struggles with the original nooms in the higher levels is zooming through this one, no problem.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Meagan S

[Syllieann]

I agree that it's not as good as the others. I like how nooms and dragon box are really more math than entertainment. This one reminds me more of prodigy. Lots of people love that, so maybe they will like this. For me, this wasn't what I was hoping. I don't think it is worth the screen time.

[silver]

This is, by far, their weakest in terms of math content.  I LOVE the original dragon box apps and the first Numbers app.  This app will NOT teach regrouping, you've got to have an idea of what's going on beforehand.  And once you kind of figure out the game play... you are not actually "doing" the math.  You're just swiping your finger around until you've bundled up ten (no counting, the computer does it for you) then moving it over.  

 

I wonder if the birth year given for the player makes a difference? I made one player (my kids decided they want to share progress) and sometimes there are pictures of the items that you drag around and sometimes there are digits with no pictures (and you have to actually do the math). I suspect a younger player would usually get only pictures and an older player might only get the numbers. I do agree that it doesn't really "teach" regrouping if you don't already have some idea of what to do. But it isn't entirely mindless.

 

 

So, the second fisherman is worth it? I've been pretty disappointed that the apple trees that cost so much don't grow any more or faster than the ones that were cheap.

 

My kids like having a 2nd fisherman so they can play at the same time and both watch/tap on one.

 

As you get more trees, the new ones give more apples per "ripe cycle". So the first few trees give 3 apples each, then 5 apples, and my kids have two trees that give ten apples. The higher yield trees seem to ripen slower, but you can wind up with lots of apples per harvest if you get more trees.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I agree with your assessment of the math part, actually. I was trying to decide what age it would be ideal for, and had trouble. I was thinking of it for my first grader, but the math would quickly be beyond her (she hasn't started regrouping yet), and some aspects of the game and strategy would be hard. Even the motor skills, like trying to catch bees, especially without accidentally clicking on something you don't want to spend your resources on. I think it would be better for a kid a few years older who could use more practice, but I agree it doesn't truly require doing the math itself.

 

So, the second fisherman is worth it? I've been pretty disappointed that the apple trees that cost so much don't grow any more or faster than the ones that were cheap.

 

If you have to chooose, definitely go with more apple trees. Long term, this will speed up game play. The fish to coins exchange rate is the best way to get coins, so for me, worth the extra fisherman. However, once you unlock the pastry shop, you can get coins even faster, so the extra fisherman isn't as necessary. At any rate, BUY TREES!

 

Because, obviously, im obsessed with this children's game....

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Lol, me too. I've been sick, so this is passing the time. I have 11 trees now. I think I'm fairly near the end, but I need an insane number of coins. I'm just trying to figure out which store to spend a zillion rocks on next. I need one that will make good use of my impressive bee collection :lol:.

 

 

HAHA!

 

I just unlocked the gold mines!!!  I've got all my little furry worm-slaves working hard!

[MistyMountain]

So this one does not require the kid to actually do the math? I was debating whether to get it or not and it is not even available on kindle yet like their other ones.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I won!!!

 

If you want to get gold fast, you neeed to make sure you've fully accessorize the houses for the little guys hidden throughout the various territories. I ended up with about 300 of the little "gummy candy" flower things, exchanged those for gold, then gold for money... that went very quickly.

[Jackie]

I won!!!

 

If you want to get gold fast, you neeed to make sure you've fully accessorize the houses for the little guys hidden throughout the various territories. I ended up with about 300 of the little "gummy candy" flower things, exchanged those for gold, then gold for money... that went very quickly.

Wait, there's more than the two in the apple orchard? DD and I have both become obsessed with this game, but we only found those two. Where are the others?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Wait, there's more than the two in the apple orchard? DD and I have both become obsessed with this game, but we only found those two. Where are the others?

There's one at the place where you can exchange apples for coins. and another in the spot where you can exchange gold for coins.  I didn't find them until at least halfway through the games.  

 

It actually irritated me that there were only four.  Why not one for each little inch worm guy?  I spent the rest of the game scrolling around everywhere checking to see if house construction zones would appear.  lol

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Yep, I finished it yesterday, too. I had avoided buying homes for the second two nooms after being unimpressed by the seemingly meaningless gummies the first noom gave, but I finally got so bored collecting apples to make those darn pies to get more gold, that I started buying stuff for noom number 3, and that's when it all sped up.

 

I never found noom 4, though! I'll have to go back and look for him. Glad to be done, though, lol.

 

Eta: okay, guess it was noom 5. Also, I was bummed to never find anything that required large numbers of bees! What was the point of so many bees, if you never need many for anything?

 

I KNOW!  I kept thinking, "oh, these bees are going to be important!"... and they never were.  lol.

[PeterPan]

Thanks for sharing!!  My ds with SLDs still goes back to replay the other Dragonbox app with the nooms, so this will be great!  

[Guest]

It's glitchy. We've had it for days and hasn't been able to play it yet!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

It's glitchy. We've had it for days and hasn't been able to play it yet!

 

 

I had no problems on my iPad air, but it runs slow on my old first generation iPad.  If you can't get it to work, I'd ask for a refund.... it was expensive!

[arliemaria]

I am a little sad about the time to win.  Seems to be a smaller game than Numbers.  My son has played Numbers off and on for years and still has puzzles to solve.  Perhaps they will add more to this later?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I am a little sad about the time to win.  Seems to be a smaller game than Numbers.  My son has played Numbers off and on for years and still has puzzles to solve.  Perhaps they will add more to this later?

 

There certainly could be room to expand the universe into some kind of multiplication game.  

 

I think Numbers has a much larger scope than Big Numbers.  Numbers starts with establishing some of the real basics of number sense and works its way up from there.  Big Numbers really only trains the addition and subtraction algorithm.