Grocery Cart: A Real Life Math Game Review

I picked up PayDay not long ago, thinking it would be a great way to learn some life skills and do a little math. Wow, was I wrong. I ended up hating PayDay, with gameplay like “pay your friend $100 because it’s their birthday,” even if you had to take out a bank loan. Not the lesson I was going for.

I was pretty excited when I saw Grocery Cart pop up in a gameschool group I’m in. It looked right up our alley. As I looked I found a few other “real life math” games from the same company and ended up buying Grocery Cart and 2 others, Budget and Discount. Here is our review for Budget. 

Last night we played Grocery Cart and it was a BLAST!! I worried a little that my kiddo was going to balk at a “math” game, but she got really excited and not once did I hear any complaining when she did quite a bit of multiplying with decimals. 😀

Here’s the lowdown on Grocery Cart… a real life math game. (It’s pretty similar to what we do once a week to do our grocery shopping!)

Each person gets a grocery list, the same list for everyone. There are 8 to choose from… you’ll need to make extra copies of the lists so you can keep the original fresh. Once you’ve got your list, you’ll go through the 4 provided sale flyers. You look up the items on your list to figure out where it’s going to be cheapest to purchase each item… making a note on your list so you know when you land on a store what you need there.

Once you’ve figured out where you need to purchase your items the game starts. You spin the spinner and land on a square with different stores and departments. You can purchase what you need at that store, or skip the store. The thing is, if you’re getting near the end of the game you may want to purchase at even the second cheapest store, because if someone finishes their shopping before you, you lose the right to look for best deals and have to go to the next store to finish your shopping.

Once you’ve all finished shopping, add up your receipt. The person who spent the least, wins!

I love everything about this game. Having to find the best deal by looking through circulars. I love that you have to figure out how much an item is if you need 2 and 1/2 gallons but the price is in half gallon. 😀 I love all the critical thinking it takes to decide if you should buy something even if it’s not the cheapest, but the game is just about over. I love adding all the prices up at the end.

Here’s what I think is super cool though… you can modify the game. Use your local coupon inserts. Change the stores on the board. Make up a list using items you’re having for dinner, and use the coupons actually available at your local store. How much more real life math can a board game get?!!

We had a blast playing this game. I hope the Discount and Budget are just as fun. 🙂

What about you? What are your favorite real life math games? Come tell us all about it over in my private Secular, Relaxed-Eclectic Homeschooling with Older Kids Facebook group! We can’t wait to meet you!