Tux, of Math Command

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Tux, of Math Command
Developed by Bill Kendrick, David Bruce, Holger Levsen, Tim Holy, Sam Hart
Latest release 1.6.0 / 19 December 2007
OS Cross-platform
Genre Educational game
License GNU General Public License
Website Tux4Kids on aliot.debian.org

Tux, of Math Command (TuxMath, for short) is an open source arcade-style video game for learning mathematics, initially created for Linux. The game-play mechanic is based loosely on that of the arcade game Missile Command, but with comets falling on cities, rather than missiles. Like Missile Command, players attempt to protect their cities, but rather than using a trackball-controlled targeting cross-hair, players solve math problems that label each comet, which causes a laser to destroy it.

Eventually the city imagery was replaced with igloos, to match the arctic theme of Tux, the Linux penguin, who stars in the game. (The first alpha of the game was released by its initial developer, Bill Kendrick, in September 2001, days prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was decided that the imagery of exploding buildings no longer suitable.)

Contents

[edit] Features

  • Multiple user support (useful for schools)
  • On-screen tutorials
  • High score table
  • Training mode
  • Multi-platform support (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS)
  • Localization to a number of languages (Norwegian-Nynorsk, Norwegian-Bokmal, Czech, Dutch and French)

[edit] Distribution

TuxMath is included in numerous Linux distributions, including the Edubuntu flavor of Ubuntu. It is included as a game on the ASUS Eee PC. [1] It was also included on the Dish Network 721 |PVR. [2]

[edit] Use in Schools

Numerous schools use TuxMath[3], and school newsletters[4] and educational[5] and software[6] websites mention it, often together with other open source educational software.

[edit] See also

[edit] References