Number Munchers
Encyclopedia
Number Munchers is an educational
/edutainment
computer game in the Munchers
series produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) for several operating system
s. Designed to teach basic math skills, it was popular among American
school children in the 1980s and 1990s and was the recipient of several awards. It was later replaced by Math Munchers in 1995.
s, Factors, Primes
, Equality, and Inequality. Players can also choose from a "challenge" mode, which randomizes these modes. In the Multiples mode, Muncher must munch all numbers which are multiples of the number given; for example, if the designated number is 3 then 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.
Game play begins with four Muncher lives (the one currently in play, plus three others in reserve). After scoring a certain number of points, the player gains an extra life. Players lose a life if they swallow an incorrect answer. Additionally, five different types of enemy (or "Troggle") appear throughout the game. Players lose a life if they make contact with a Troggle.
The highest known level is -127, which is equal to level 129 per wrapping.
s with two legs and a large head, whose goal is to eat Muncher and/or disrupt his progress by rearranging things on the board. Levels 1, 2, and 3, contain only one Troggle on the grid at any given time. A second Troggle appears starting with level 4, and a third appears starting with 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 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
:
and similar arcade game
s) 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:
Educational game
Educational games are games that have been designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play...
/edutainment
Edutainment
Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.-Overview:...
computer game in the Munchers
Munchers
Munchers was a series of educational/edutainment computer games produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium for several operating systems. They were popular among American schoolchildren in the 1980s and 1990s and were the recipients of several awards...
series produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) for several operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s. Designed to teach basic math skills, it was popular among American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
school children in the 1980s and 1990s and was the recipient of several awards. It was later replaced by Math Munchers in 1995.
Levels
Specific to Number Munchers are the five modes of play: MultipleMultiple
The word multiple can refer to:*Multiple , multiples of numbers*List of multiple discoveries, instances of scientists, working independently of each other, reaching similar findings...
s, Factors, Primes
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
, Equality, and Inequality. Players can also choose from a "challenge" mode, which randomizes these modes. In the Multiples mode, Muncher must munch all numbers which are multiples of the number given; for example, if the designated number is 3 then 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.
Game play begins with four Muncher lives (the one currently in play, plus three others in reserve). After scoring a certain number of points, the player gains an extra life. Players lose a life if they swallow an incorrect answer. Additionally, five different types of enemy (or "Troggle") appear throughout the game. Players lose a life if they make contact with a Troggle.
The highest known level is -127, which is equal to level 129 per wrapping.
Troggles
The Troggles are monsterMonster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
s with two legs and a large head, whose goal is to eat Muncher and/or disrupt his progress by rearranging things on the board. Levels 1, 2, and 3, contain only one Troggle on the grid at any given time. A second Troggle appears starting with level 4, and a third appears starting with 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 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
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
; 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
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
:
- Reggies (Trogglus normalus) - magenta in color; simply moves in a line unless redirected by a safety square in his path. Also if Muncher is one square somewhere away from him, Reggies will chase after him in that direction.
- Bashfuls (Trogglus timidus) - greenish-blue in color; move in an arbitrary manner on the gameboard, unless approached by Muncher, in which case she will move away from him. She is pigPigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
-like. - Helpers (Trogglus assistus), - also green in color; like Muncher, she eats correct answers, thus at once making level completion easier and point accumulation more difficult.
- Workers (Trogglus laborious) - 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 yellow Troggle with large teeth, and the most difficult enemy to avoid; he always follows Muncher on the board. But if Muncher is three squares somewhere away from him, Smarties will not make chase.
Cut scenes
As in the other games in the series, a player is awarded with a cut scene (reminiscent of those in Pac-ManPac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
and similar arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s) 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:
- A Muncher is chased by a Reggie across the screen twice, then the Muncher gets in an old-timey automobile, outruns the Troggle, and the Troggle falls down and gives up.
- Two Munchers reenact the story of William TellWilliam TellWilliam Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle....
. - A Muncher races a Bashful up a mountain, plants his flag, and sings a song.
- A Muncher prank-callsPrank callA prank call is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. Prank phone calls began to gain an America-wide following over a period of many years, as they gradually became a staple of the obscure and amusing cassette tapes traded amongst musicians, sound engineers, and media traders...
a Smartie and sings the universal taunting melody http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Taunt.mid commonly associated in the United States with lyrics including "Nanny nanny boo boo", "pitcher's got a big butt", etc. - A Muncher beats two Troggles in a beauty contest.
- Later releases of the game replaced this cut scene with one in which a Muncher stumbles through his house in the dark and then turns on the light, only to discover that he has broken all of his furniture.
- A Muncher carves his own image into Mount RushmoreMount RushmoreMount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...
.