Number Munchers
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Number Munchers is an educational/edutainment computer game in the Munchers series produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) for several operating systems. Designed to teach basic math skills, it was popular among American schoolchildren in the 1980s and 1990s and was the recipient of several awards.[citation needed]
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[edit] Gameplay
Gameplay mirrors that of the other Munchers games. The player uses the arrow keys to move around the 5x6 grid, and uses the space bar to eat a correct answer. Each incorrect answer scores points for the player's opponent; eating all the incorrect answers on the board resets the level.
[edit] Levels
Specific to Number Munchers are the five modes of play: Multiples, Factors, Primes, Equality, and Inequality. In the Multiples number, the muncher must munch all numbers which are multiples of the number given; for example, if the designated number is 3 then the muncher must eat all 6's, 9's, and 12's and avoid numbers such as 7. In Factors the muncher seeks to ingest the factors of a given number, in Primes he craves prime numbers, and in the Equality and Inequality modes the muncher devours expressions such as 2+4 which are equivalent or not equivalent (respectively) to the designated number.
Gameplay begins with four Muncher lives (the one currently in play, plus three others in reserve). After a certain number of points are scored, an extra life is given to the player. If an incorrect answer is swallowed, a life is lost. In addition, five different types of enemy, or Troggle, appear throughout the game. Should a Troggle eat the Muncher, one life is lost.
[edit] Troggles
The Troggles are monsters with two legs and a large head, whose goal is to eat the Muncher and/or disrupt his progress by rearranging things on the board. On levels 1, 2, and 3, there is only one Troggle on the grid at any given time. A second Troggle appears from level 4, and a third appears from level 8. After approximately level 18, the game (especially the movement of the Troggles) accelerates to make responsible munching more difficult.
Safety squares occasionally appear to help protect the Muncher from the Troggles. These are temporary havens identified by four small white rectangles on the corner of the square. No Troggle may enter a safety square; if one appears on a square a Troggle currently occupies, that Troggle dies (but may be replaced afterwards). Safety squares may disappear as quickly and randomly as they appear; hence, one must take caution not to remain in one for long.
In addition, Troggles are quite cannibalistic; if one Troggle enters a square already occupied by another, or if two of them enter one square at the same time (even if they are of the same species), one Troggle will eat the other (however, another Troggle may re-enter the board afterwards).
There are five species of Troggle, each with its own binomial name:
- Reggies (Trogglus normalus) - magenta in color; simply moves in a line unless redirected by a safety square in its path.
- Bashfuls (Trogglus timidus) - greenish-blue in color; move in an arbitrary manner on the gameboard, unless approached by a Muncher, in which case he will move away from the Muncher.
- Helpers (Trogglus assistus), - also green in color; like the Muncher, he eats correct answers, thus at once making level completion easier and point accumulation more difficult.
- Workers (Trogglus laborus) - purple and white in color; this Troggle adds new answers and/or change existing answers as he moves around the board.
- Smarties (Trogglus smarticus). - a green Troggle with large teeth, and the most difficult enemy to avoid; always follows the Muncher on the board.
[edit] Cut scenes
Like the other games in the series, a player is awarded with a cut scene (reminiscent of Pac-Man and similar arcade games) after every third level; in this game, these are dubbed as "Great Moments in Muncher History". While these scenes are numbered (Act 1, Act 2, etc.), the order they appear in varies from game to game. Once all six have been shown, they begin to repeat themselves (starting with the scene after Level 21.) The six scenes are as follows:
- The Muncher is chased by a Reggie across the screen, then gets in an old-timey automobile and runs over the Troggle.
- Two Munchers act out William Tell.
- A Muncher races a Bashful up a mountain, plants his flag, and sings a song.
- A Muncher prank calls a Smartie, singing a "pitcher's got a big butt"-type tune.
- A Muncher beats two Troggles in a beauty contest.
- In some versions of the game, this is replaced by a Muncher stumbling through his house in the dark, then turning on the light to discover that he has broken all of his furniture.
- A Muncher carves his own image into Mount Rushmore.
[edit] Comments
Most players have found the Primes mode to be easiest, as the highest prime at the most difficult level is only 47, thus requiring players to only memorize the short list of 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, and 47.[citation needed] This is in contrast to Multiples or Factors, where the specific number which the player has to match for changes from level to level (e.g. in one level, the player must match for multiples of 4, while in the next, the player must match for multiples of 6). Also, Primes mode always has single numbers within grid squares and does not require the evaluation of an expression involving a binary operation such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
