Game 56: Prime Climb

We have finally come to the end of summer birthdays in the family - with mine - and the game Prime Climb was one of my gifts, and what a perfect gift a game about primes is! I'm a gamer and a mathematician and just turned a prime number of years old on this birthday!  (I also received the game Kingdomino - planning to play and post soon!)  Although this was a perfect gift, I feel I can't do a good write-up on it yet, as this day was not only my birthday but also the first day of the semester, and I was utterly exhausted by evening - having stood and lectured for nearly 5 hours straight (after having been on break) and having been absolutely swarmed by students about enrolling, wait-lists, add codes, etc.  We played it that night anyway, but not until very late, so I was not thinking at all about strategy - in fact, I don't think I was thinking, period!  We have a long weekend coming up, so we'll have to give it another try.
 I have a mathematician friend who also owns this and loves it - thinks it's great - so clearly, in my dazedness I missed a lot.  Of course, you just have to love a game that uses D10s rather than standard dice!
Each player has 2 pawns.  The goal is to get both your pawns on 101.  You get bumped back to the beginning if someone lands on the same space you are on.  You use your die rolls separately - in other words, if you roll a 2 and a 3, it is a 2 and a 3, not a 23 or a 6 or a 5.  Using the number your pawn is on, you then add, subtract, multiply or divide by the number rolled (can use both numbers on one pawn or one on each).  It's good to land on two-digit prime numbers, as this allows you to draw a card.  The cards generally give you more options, but once in a while a card can work against you.  For instance, one card directs you to reverse the digits of the prime you are on and to move your pawn to the resulting number. Well that's fine if you're on 37, but not so much if you're on 73.

I'm looking forward to playing this when I am not so tired, when I can really get my math on!

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