Barbara Lewis
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Marc Konvisser with his Xumbers online game
Xumbers!
New online game features math.
Barbara Lewis | Contributing Writer
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10 December 1 • 2016
arc Konvisser, who taught
math at Wayne State
University until 1986 and
then developed educational software,
has created an online Scrabble-like
game using numerals instead of letters.
He was inspired to create Xumbers
(pronounced “Zumbers”) five years ago.
“My granddaughter loved numbers,”
said Konvisser, 75, of Orchard Lake.
“As a toddler, she had a play mat with
removable numbers. She would walk
around with them and take them to
bed. But when she was in second grade,
she wasn’t doing well in math.”
He developed a crossword-style
game, where players place number tiles
on a board to create sums, to give his
granddaughter a fun way to learn addi-
tion. As he tested the game, he found it
could be fun and challenging for adults
as well.
He sold the original Xumbers app
for $1.99 to iPhone/iPad and Android
users. When it didn’t sell, he created
Xumbers Free, a free app that includes
ads, for iPhone and iPad.
Then came ad-free Xumbers Social,
available on iPhone and iPad, which
lets players compare their scores with
Facebook friends, and Xumbers 42
(“Zumbers For Two”), which Konvisser
says is the “ultimate Xumbers.”
In Xumbers 42, players can match
wits with their device but can also
play with another person in real time,
similar to the way Words With Friends
is played. Xumbers 42 is available on
iPhone, iPad and Android devices; it
can also be played on a laptop or desk-
top computer at www.xumbers.com.
The board has a zero in its center.
Players have seven tiles at a time. With
each turn, they add tiles to an existing
string of numbers that runs from left to
right or top to bottom so that the last
one or two tiles on the right or at the
bottom form the sum of all the other
tiles in the string.
For example, a player could put down
a 2, 1 and 3, with the 3 being the sum of
2 and 1. Then the next player could put
a 6 at the end (2 plus 1 plus 3). Or the
next player could put a 5 in front of the
2 and two 1s at the end to show that 11
is the sum of 5, 2, 1 and 3.
The first player earns one point for
each number used in the sum. The
next player earns a point for any of the
first player’s numbers used in the new
sum as well as a point for any new tiles
placed. A player who uses all seven tiles
earns a five-point bonus.
The game ends after 10 rounds of
play.
Players can choose from three levels
of play, from beginner to expert.
Konvisser, a member of Congregation
Beth Shalom in Oak Park, regularly
plays Xumbers 42 with his sister-in-law,
Mary Deutschman of Cleveland. They
each take a turn once a day.
Cynthia Denman started playing
Xumbers last year. “It is somewhat
harder than it sounds, mainly because I
sometimes move before I have thought
it out. It makes me slow down and
think and makes me use arithmetic
skills that don’t get used on a daily
basis.
Konvisser admits he’s not in this to
get rich. Apple charges him $99 a year
just to put the game in its App Store
and, because it’s free and all but the
Xumbers Free version are ad-free, he
doesn’t get any income from down-
loads. Now he’s working on a physical
version people can play at home.
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