Students often struggle to connect math with the real world. Word problems—a combination of words, numbers, and mathematical operations—can be a perfect vehicle to take abstract numbers off the page.

Robust skill-building and reinforcement of key mathematical concepts lie beneath the excitement of these games.

A study by economists shows a wide gap between the kinds of math problems kids who work in retail markets do well and the kinds of problems kids in school do well. In India, many kids who work in ...