Basic Math

In Basic Math, each game features 10 rounds of arithmetic problems, involving either addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. The player moves the joystick to cycle through numbers zero through nine to fill in number prompts. The player scores one point for each correct answer. At the end of 10 rounds, the total number problems is displayed on the right, while the player's score is displayed on the left.

The game features eight modes. In the first four modes, the player can choose what number to start with at the top of the equation, then the computer will decide the second number in line, leaving the player to answer underneath. In the other four modes, both numbers of the equation will be decided by the computer.

Basic Math's lead designer was Gary Palmer, who joined Atari in February 1977. It is the only known title he developed for the Atari VCS. Prior to making the game, Palmer created debugging stations for the company's game programmers. He would later work on the Atari 400 and 800 computer's I/O functionality and left the company after; it is unknown what he did after he left.

Basic Math was the first educational video game released for the Atari VCS. Most of Atari's competitor consoles during this period had similar educational games in 1977, such as RCA Studio II's Math Fun and Fairchild Channel F's two Math Quiz games. 1 1977-1978, suggested that these releases were part of a push for the first generation of programmable consoles to be seen as more than game machines and would include educational programs.

Basic Math was reviewed in Video magazine as part of a general review of the Atari VCS. The reviewer described the gameplay as very basic mathematics and that the controls of the game were more complicated than the game itself. David H. Ahl of Creative Computing also commented that a number keypad would be more suitable for the game, while enjoying the musical tune when a correct answer was given.

From retrospective reviews, Howard J. Blumenthal dismissed the game as "hardly an electronic wonder" in The Complete Guide to Electronic Games (1981), summarizing it as a very basic set of flash cards for elementary school children. A reviewer from TV Gamer in 1983 said it was "an early game, now showing its age," concluding that the educational game Math Gran Prix (1982) was better. Author and video game enthusiast Ken Uston listed the game as among his least favorite from Atari in 1983.