My post was aimed at one specific downside: the power of professionally designed games to encourage a young person from getting started. Ordinary ^^^^^^^^^ discourage
mathematics may have a similarly dismaying impact: pick up something by Euler, and feel like you'll never be like that. Euler is the like Valve on steroids -- just too cool.
Kirby
I was called to dinner just after typing these words. Dinner conversation wander to numbers so important they get their own letters (often greek). But Euler, I said, one of the greatest math heads of all time, has a number named after him: e. Actually, I said there were several theories kicking around about what 'e' might mean, other than lim n->infinity (1 + 1/n)^n -- but I'm going with 'Euler' -- good mnemonic. My daughter is 10. She and I play 'Uru' together. That game is a work of art, destined to last for centuries. A classic even in our own time. Kirby