We’re huge dragon fans in my family, and my kids have been working on learning multiplication since they were about five years old. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to get a copy of Dragon Times, and it’s been a hit!

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There are two types of cards in this game – dragon and spell – plus a spinner and directions.  They even have extra gameplay options you can download online, for free!

Dragon cards are between 1 and 100, and each is a multiple of a number between 1 and 10 (so no prime numbers past 7).  Each dragon has different features based on what its factors are, whether it’s odd or even, and whether it’s a prime number.

Spell cards are from 1 to 10 and wild.  According to the rules, you need two spell cards to capture one dragon; if you’re going for the #10 dragon, you’d need either a 1 and 10 or a 2 and 5.  Or one of any of those numbers and a wild.

When we started playing Dragon Times, my kids had just started working on multiplication.  They could generally skip count by 5’s and 10’s, and we were working on 2’s.  So I started with just the dragons that were multiples of 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.  This did two things for us – it eliminated a LOT of the guesswork, as they knew they had to use one of those four numbers.  It also made the game go much quicker (drastically fewer dragons!), which was great for short attention spans.

As my kids got the hang of the game with just those multiples, we added in 3’s, then 4’s.  At the time of this writing, I don’t think we’ve gone past that yet, however, when my daughter saw me pull Dragon Times out to review it, she said, “I love this game!  It’s my favorite!”  She also said that about Auntie Pasta’s and Silly Sentences – this girl has a lot of favorites! – but that’s okay.  I’m delighted that she remembers good times playing this game, as that’s what is important to me.

The spinner comes in on the second half of the game, which we’ve never gotten to (by the time we get through the first half, even with fewer dragons, my kids’ attention spans are done).  It works on factoring, but because of the features of the dragons (which are also pictured on the spinner), even young kids can play.  They just need to match physical features.

Also included in Dragon Times are two “spell books” – multiplication charts.  My kids do find them frustrating to use, as they are very small.  We’ve found better success with a full 8 ½” x 11” multiplication chart I made on my computer in a spreadsheet program and then laminated.  With the homemade one, my kids can draw on it to help them stay within one row and column.