Game Screen

Four columns of math bots will appear, moving back and forth across the screen. Every time they get to the edge of the screen, they move down a little bit. The triangle at the bottom is the gun for shooting at the bots. You can shoot using either the space bar or the left mouse button. You can move the gun left or right using the mouse.

A math question will always be visible at the bottom of the screen below the gun. The closest bot in each column will have a possible answer to the math question. If you hit the bot with the correct answer, it will explode and disappear. If you hit a bot with the wrong answer, all the bots will move a little closer to you!

If you destroy all the bots, you win! But if any bot touches the gun or gets to the bottom of the screen, the game is over.

Your score in the game appears at the bottom left. These factors determine the score in any particular game:

• You can get a higher score when you play higher game levels.
• If you set the bots to move faster you can get a higher score.
• Your score goes up whenever you shoot the bot with the correct answer.
• Your score goes down when you shoot a bot with a wrong answer.

There is no penalty if you hit a bot that doesn’t have a possible answer. Also there is no penalty if you don’t hit anything.

The number of bots remaining to be destroyed appears at the lower right of the screen.

The title bar (at the very top of the screen) shows what level you are playing as well as a brief description of the types of math questions that are being presented.

If you hit a bot with the wrong answer, a hint (a yellow rectangle) will appear to show you which bot you should aim for. In some game levels, a hint will also appear the first time some math questions are displayed.

You can end the game at any moment by typing the Esc key on the keyboard.

At any moment while playing the game, you can pause the game by typing P on the keyboard.

Home Screen

The Home Screen offers a variety of options. The key feature is that it allows you to choose the type of math fact to play (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division), and it allows you to choose the game level. For example, with multiplication, in level “A” the player will see problems like 8×1 and 0x4, while in level “M” the player will see problems like 12×7.

The buttons on the Home Screen do the following:

• “Click to play” buttons: Click one of these light-blue rounded-square buttons to start the game using the level indicated in the corresponding green rectangle next to “Click to pick level”.
• Dark green arrows: Click these buttons to increase or decrease the math level. It is suggested that someone who is learning their math facts for the first time should start at the lowest level (level A) and work their way up.
• Dark green rectangles: These rectangles show the currently selected math level for each type of math fact. If you click on one of these rectangles, the Pick Level Screen will be displayed.
• White square: Click this button to make the window 50% bigger.
• Dark blue triangles: Click these buttons to increase or decrease the speed of the math bots.
• Light green buttons: Click these to turn off/on the music and the game sounds.
• ENG: Click this button to change to a different language. Right now, English and Spanish are supported. The button shows the currently selected language.
• Help: Displays an abbreviated version of this help text.
• About: Displays general information about MathAttack.
• Credits: Shows the source of content created by other people and organizations not associated with Loco4Learning LLC.

Several keys on the keyboard perform actions if pressed while the Home Screen is displayed. Most players will never need to use any of these keys:

• L: Shows up to 100 logged messages regarding the internal workings of MathAttack.
• Y: Turns on and off the collection of performance statistics. The statistics are logged and can be viewed by typing the L key.
• F: Changes the font. (By default, MathAttack uses Arial if it is available on the computer. Otherwise it uses Poppins.)
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: These keys change the update rate of MathAttack graphics, with 1 being the slowest and 5 being the fastest. These speeds range from 60 times per second to 300 times per second. The default is 4, which corresponds to 240 updates per second. Most monitors update at 60 times per second or perhaps a bit faster. However, MathAttack graphics tend to be smoother when a faster update speed is selected. The downside is that slower computers may not have enough CPU power to update at high frequencies. MathAttack itself will also reduce the update rate automatically if it senses that it is using too much CPU power.

Pick Level Screen

The Pick Level Screen shows all possible game levels for a particular type of math fact. Each successive level introduces a new set of math facts. Those levels that have an asterisk on the Pick Level Screen include math facts from lower levels.

On the Pick Level Screen you can click one of these two buttons next to a given level:

• Play: Immediately starts the game for that level.
• View: Displays the View Level Screen, which shows the math facts for that level.

The Home button will take you back to the Home Screen. The Esc key on the keyboard will do the same.

View Level Screen

The View Level Screen shows the math facts that are principally practiced at that level. Some levels also include random math facts from lower levels. Those random math facts are different every time you play the game and so are not shown on the View Level Screen.

The buttons on this screen do the following:

• Back: Returns to the Pick Level Screen.
• Play: Begins the game using the displayed level.
• Prev: Shows the View Level Screen of the next lower level.
• Next: Shows the View Level Screen of the next level up.