Invaders From Planet X

Earth received two interstellar transmissions just as alien spaceships entered our atmosphere. The first transmission was clear: respond correctly, or else Earth would be vaporized! The second transmission was encrypted, so a team of experts was called in to assist.

Players must determine the mapping between alien symbols and English letters, decrypt the alien message, then figure out the correct response!

Invaders From Planet X is a classroom game that blends mathematical practice with an escape room-style puzzle element.

To unravel the mystery, participants must gather and interpret clues. One step of this process requires completing a mathematical practice puzzle to construct an important piece of evidence. 

Three "puzzle" documents are available for download. The puzzle format is the same for all three of these documents; they differ only in terms of the mathematics content they contain. Before playing the game, choose one of the puzzle topics.

Topic choices for this Math Mystery include:

• Percent calculations to find the missing part, whole, or percent
• Solving one-variable inequalities
• Trigonometric functions and inverse trigonometric functions for reference angles on the unit circle