We've played this with our 8-yr-old (second grade) son and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Without a doubt, the game offers plenty of opportunities for critical thinking, planning, review of basic math (addition, subtraction), practice in grade-level or difficult math (multiplication, division, strings of operations), and introduction of challenging concepts like equivalent fractions, multiplying/dividing fractions, etc. We do a lot of interacting with each other's tiles to come up with multiple scenarios in order to use those as teaching moments.
Gameplay and setup is very easy (and one can also easily modify rules for simpler play) and while one wishes for wooden and hard plastic trays rather than thin plastic, or tiles rather than cardboard numbers/symbols, well, those days seem to be a bit behind us and the tradeoff in cost may not be worth it for some. Turns can last a while, especially as the board begins to fill up and it gets more difficult to fit equations in; this is not an in-and-out-in 20-minutes family game. But we just leave it out and finish at a more convenient time if we go long. Earlier comments mention the problem with getting a zero and a multiplier and then being able to "run the table" so to speak, but that's a rare occurrence and one could always just make a rule where zeroes can't be used with the times symbol--problem solved.
All in all, we're very pleased with both the family fun and the educational aspects of the game--highly recommended.Get more detail about Equate: The Equation Thinking Game.
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