Another educational app, FREE for a limited time – Factor Samurai is a fun game to practice multiplication/division while looking for prime factors. The goal of the game is to cut falling numbers down to their prime numbers. So if the number 14 is on the screen, it would be cut once to become 2 and 7. If the number 18 is on the screen, it would be cut twice – first to 3 and 6 and then the 6 would be cut to 2 and 3. The game has three levels – grasshopper, apprentice, and master. The speed of the falling numbers increases in each level. Once a player has cut 3 numbers that are already prime, the game is over. The score (showing how many numbers were cut down to their prime) is displayed! There is an option to play the game through the Game Center.

One concern I have is that the number 1 is included in the falling numbers and one is NOT a prime number. So… I contacted customer support with my concern and was pleasantly surprised to get a response within 10 minutes! The developer is planning on taking #1 out of the falling numbers with the next update. They anticipate the update to be live by the end of the month (July). Great news 🙂 because this is a fun game that helps kids with an important math standard!

Common Core Standards met:

• 4.OA.4 Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1–100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is prime or composite.