Children use the process of elimination as well as their knowledge of math concepts to deduce the correct answer. Totally Twisters presents children with mind-twisting challenges that take the form of Story Problems, Number Line, or Mental Math. Story Problems require children to identify relevant information and sometimes use pictures to solve a problem. In Number Line, players are shown a pointer on a number line and must estimate the likely number that it would represent. Each player controls a different direction of the machine's movement.
Players ring in and select options using keys on the keyboard.
Note that some math topics overlap the curricula in 2nd and 4th grades, providing review and new challenges for the typical 3rd grader. When children are competing, they are learning from others' mistakes. It will be important that kids playing the game are mature enough to handle this kind of competition. Kids who are struggling would do best on their own. We find the program to be quite suited to the average third-grader, since this is an age when many kids enjoy competition, but at the same time, are quite social creatures.