I build middle school math games for a living. For the past seven years I've developed them in the classroom as semester-long strategy and story-based board games that led to whopping 80% gains on state tests, and now I build them with pro software teams.
Games do and can work, but beware:
There's an awful lot on the web, but many are low-budget and you don't want your students to perceive math as cheap.
Before we get started, it's helpful to know how math games are constructed and how they function.
Most math games plainly add an animation to a math qoute in a way that the two are unrelated. A horse jumps because two numbers were added correctly.
There a lots of this type, and the advent does seem to work for training multiplication tables or other basic functions. Timez attack sets the stage for having created intriguing 3D worlds and a cute tiny frog for its character that seems as intriguing to girls as boys.
Using conceptually disintegrated games for teaching more complex concepts may have some undesirable effects, and may cause a disconnect in the middle of the math concept and its meaning.
For deeper concepts, occasionally a game will pop up where the math concept is used in a context where the visuals makes sense. The author(s) of Math Playground, the #1 of the free web-based sites that have multiple games, have put a lot of concept into their work... Where the animations frequently match the concept. This is foremost work and makes all the incompatibility for pupil learning. Lure of the Labyrinth is a blend in the middle of the two approaches, and worth a visit for the intriguing game design.
Math Snacks, put out by New Mexico State University, aren't assuredly games, but rather videos you watch. But they are assuredly funny, and they assuredly work, teaching basic concepts such as ratios through exceptionally well written intriguing "shorts".
To take your students even deeper, look for "story-based math games" where the math concept, story and animation are all seamlessly integrated. Otherwise, think about it. What we are assuredly teaching is that math doesn't assuredly have any connection to world in which it integrated!
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