Pokemon maths game

I have created a small set of Pokemon maths tasks. Each individual ‘card’ is a task to complete. Some are more difficult than others. They test students abilities to apply addition, subtraction and multiplication.

I have included boxes to help guide learners in choosing an appropriate calculation, but these can be removed/adapted to make the tasks more/less difficult.

It requires some basic familiarity with the rules of the trading card game; for those not familiar, the following overview should suffice:

HP
Each Pokemon has a HP value, which is essentially its health. The object is to reduce your opponent’s Pokemon’s HP to zero (or less than zero), at which point it is ‘knocked out’. Counters can be used to represent damage, often these are numbered with 10, 50 or 100; if a Pokemon has a 100 damage counter placed on it, then it has sustained 100 damage to its HP.

Moveset
Each Pokemon also has a move/moveset. This is a means by which the Pokemon can deal damage to the opponent’s Pokemon. Each move has a name and a number; the number indicates the damage dealt to the opponent’s Pokemon. Each move also requires a certain amount of ‘energy’ in the form of energy cards. The amount and type needed is indicated by the symbols to the left of the move name. For example, three symbols means three energy cards are required. Energy comes in different types, such as “lightning”, “water”, “grass”; the required type is indicated by the particular symbol. The examples on the cards do not require knowledge of energy types.

Some moves are modified by a rule. For example, the Pokemon Staryu’s “Double Spin” move does 10x damage. The actual damage depends on coin flips: a coin is flipped twice, the number of heads provides the number by which 10 is multiplied. If one heads is achieved, then it is 10 x 1, and the damage is 10; if two heads are achieved, then it is 10 x 2, and the damage is 20.

Supporter/item cards
Some cards modify the stats of Pokemon. For example, the “Cape of Toughness” adds 50 HP. So, if this card is attached to a Pokemon, the Pokemon acquires an additional 50 HP. For example, a Pokemon that has 70 HP, if then equipped with a “Cape of Toughness”, will have 70+50 HP = 120 HP.

Some cards heal Pokemon; this returns HP to the Pokemon. For example, “Pokemon Center Lady” restores 60 HP (or up to maximum HP as indicated by the Pokemon’s card and attachments). So a Pokemon with a maximum of 120 HP that has sustained 30 damage and now at 90 HP could be restored to 120 HP using “Pokemon Center Lady”, which returns a maximum of 60 HP to a Pokemon.

This should be sufficient information to engage with learners when completing the tasks.