Mathematics is inescapable. Everything we do is governed by mathematical laws. And board games, being little systems we invent to put on our tabletops, are inherently mathematical. But so many people are turned off by even the idea of math. That could be because of how it's taught in schools, but it could also be because so much of the fun we have with math in games is disguised to not look like math. This week we're going to look into the ways math turns into play, for good and for bad.