Math games can be powerful tools in helping students achieve automaticity in basic addition and related subtraction facts if both teachers and students use them purposefully. According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM 2000), developing a solid mathematical foundation is essential for every child in prekindergarten through second grade. This grounding must include a strong number sense as well as computational fluency in basic addition and related subtraction facts where both addends are less than ten. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics document (CCSSI 2010) suggests that first-grade students be fluent in all combinations to ten. Second graders must use mental strategies to fluently add and subtract within twenty. By the end of second grade, students should know all sums of two one-digit numbers from memory. If math games are played purposefully, with discourse and a goal of fact mastery in mind, they can help children build number sense, fact fluency, and confidence in their mathematical abilities.