Maya Numbers Escape Room Grades 4-6, The Step Pyramid Count, Printable Math Game

Designed by Creouts Publishing using original prompt(s) and AI (Claude by Anthropic). Illustrations made with AI image tools. Every puzzle is computer-checked to have exactly one answer.

THE STEP PYRAMID COUNT: a Maya numbers math escape room game for Grades 4 to 6
In the rainforest river town of Fernwater, a golden step pyramid stands on its island across the water. Every year on Planting Day the town opens the old Seed Chest and shares out seeds for the new gardens. Its lock was made by builders who counted the Maya way, with dots, bars and a shell for zero. This morning Tottle the coati tipped over the count basket, and the six count-stones that open the chest rolled away round the market! Six places round the market are six stations, and each gives ONE number. In the finale your six numbers must match the number on the chest's lid, and then they spell the password.

THIS IS A PRINTABLE ESCAPE ROOM GAME for a classroom (4 to 6 teams) or for 1 to 6 children at home. It is not a book and not a worksheet pack: crews move around six stations, write each number in digits AND in Maya numbers on a Count Card, and crack one last lock together. Everything is paper: no padlocks or boxes needed.

HOW IT PLAYS (60 to 75 minutes, or two shorter lessons)
- Story and Dot-and-Bar Check warm-up: read three Maya numbers, add them, write the total the Maya way
- Six stations, about 7 to 9 minutes each; every crew starts at a different one
- The Seed Chest: add your six numbers. The total must match the three-level Maya number on the lid, so any slip shows. Then the bottom level of each number points to one letter on the stone lock ring
- The password opens the chest: certificates for everyone

TWO LEVELS, ONE ANSWER KEY
- Lower Steps cards, Grades 4-5: two-level Maya numbers to 399, prices times 2 or 3, a four-row stack, one-step work-back, 8 garden corners, an add-and-subtract tile trail, a four-tag bank
- Top Steps cards, Grades 5-6: a shell zero and change from a payment, a five-row stack, chains of hidden stones, three-level numbers to 1199, 12 garden corners, Maya numbers inside the rules with doubling and halving, a left-over tag
- Both levels of a station give the SAME number, so mixed classes play side by side and you check everyone with one key
- The Maya key (dot = 1, bar = 5, shell = 0, levels of twenty) is printed on every card

SIX STATIONS ROUND THE MARKET (numbered from the easiest to the hardest, as our AI test solves ranked them)
- 1 The Fruit Stall, The Shopping List: fruit prices in cacao beans, written in Maya numbers; total the list (and work out the change on Top Steps)
- 2 The Basket Weaver, The Basket Stack: an add-up math pyramid of baskets; regroup the Maya way (five dots make a bar, four bars make a dot on the level above)
- 3 The River Steps, The Muddy Steps: a math pyramid with stones hidden under mud; work back to the starred stone
- 4 The New Garden, The Step Garden: plot corners from Maya coordinates on a grid, join them into a step pyramid, find its area
- 5 The Carver's Bench, The Tile Trail: each jade tile has a Maya number and a rule; follow the trail to the number that is on no tile
- 6 The Seed Store, The Seed Sacks: a number-bank math pyramid; put every tag back on the right sack

5 KINDS OF MATH PYRAMID PUZZLE
- In the kit: the Basket Stack (add up), the Muddy Steps (hidden stones, work back) and the Seed Sacks (number bank)
- In the free bonus folder: the Stairway Climb (a pyramid maze) and the Difference Steps (a subtraction pyramid)

WHAT YOU GET (instant download, 4 PDF files)
- Full kit, US Letter (39 pages)
- Full kit, A4 (39 pages)
- Projector slides, 16:9 (12 slides: story, mission, the Maya key, move signal, countdown in Maya numbers, the Seed Chest, the chest is open!, answers)
- Tablet edition with tap-to-jump hint and answer buttons (classroom play needs the printed cards)
- Free bonus folder (QR code inside): Lantern Night (4 fast-finisher cards with answers and hints: The Stairway Climb, The Difference Steps, The Seed Jars with three-level numbers, The Lantern Count in twenties and four-hundreds) and ink-saver editions of every page

INSIDE THE KIT
- For the teacher: what to print and how many (with sheet counts), a room plan, a 75-minute and a 60-minute plan by the clock, a step-by-step script that also works without a projector, skills with Common Core codes, an answer key with solved pictures, 3-step hint cards for every puzzle (where to start, the method, the worked answer)
- For every crew: mission page, Count Card with the warm-up and three cacao beans (hints), crew badges and job cards (Reader, Recorder, Checker, Runner)
- For the room: six full-color station signs
- The puzzles: 12 station cards (six stations, two levels) and two Seed Chest cards
- Two-up certificates with type-in names

YOU WILL NEED
Printer (color looks best; ink-saver pages are in the bonus folder), paper, pencils, a ruler, scrap paper, a clock and tape for the signs. 30 to 40 minutes to print and set up the first time. Every crew writes on its own cards (or use plastic sleeves and dry-erase pens to save paper).

GOOD TO KNOW
- Digital download only: nothing is shipped.
- Print at 100% (actual size), single-sided.
- The counting system only: the Maya of Mexico and Central America wrote numbers with dots, bars and a shell for zero, one of the first number systems with a zero. Fernwater, its pyramid and Tottle are made up.
- Play times are plans, not promises: classes differ. Hints keep every crew moving.
- Not tested with a class: it was solved and set up from the printed pages alone by separate AI sessions, and their notes were acted on.
- Maya numbers are not a Common Core standard of their own: the kit practices Grade 4-6 standards along the way (place value, operations, coordinates, area).
- Great for a number systems unit, math centers, a sub day, a math club or a party at home.
- Love math pyramids? Creouts Publishing also publishes math pyramid puzzle books in paperback (search "Creouts Publishing" on Amazon).

LICENSE
For one teacher's own classes, or one family or club. Print as many copies as you need for your own students. No resale, sharing, uploading or claiming as your own; no AI training.

Digital files cannot be returned.