Mathological Liar

"Mathological Liar" is a great turn of phrase, and a catchy name for a card game.  I was wondering how one could make a mystery-solving game that's also a test of Grad 6 math skills.  The answer is, it's part game and part puzzle and not really fun either way.  Probably good for active math students, of course.

The idea is that their are 50 cases to solve, each with 4 cards.  All 4 cards have the same story/case on the front.  The backsides have witnesses giving their answers to being questioned about the events, and whoever has an answer where the math is incorrect is the "mathological liar", so, if the math is wrong they must be lying, which makes them the guilty party.




I suppose the challenge is in the social aspect: you read your character's answer and analyze whether you think they are innocent or guilty, and use actual math skills to backup your verdict.  You get some number of points for your reasoning.

The copy I got was missing the directions.  Oddly, five sides of the box say Grade 6 and one says Grade 2, but this is not the same edition as the blue box shown on BoardGameGeek as the Grade 2 edition.


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