Thu - October 30, 2003

Sequences


All ages.
Any number of players.
Six dice.
Paper and pencil for scorekeeping.

Alternate turns. On your turn, roll all six dice at once, one roll.
Score your turn as follows:

Each possible sequence has a different point value. If you can make more than one sequence (each die can be used only once, though), then you add up the point values for all sequences.


1 scores 5 points
1-2 scores 10 points
1-2-3 scores 15 points
1-2-3-4 scores 20 points
1-2-3-4-5 scores 25 points
1-2-3-4-5-6 scores 30 points
five 6s scores 35 points
six 6s scores 70 points

So, if you rolled 1-1-2-2-3-4, that would be two sequences: 1-2 and 1-2-3-4 and the score would be 5 points for the first sequence and 20 points for the second one for a total of 25 points for that roll. If you don't have one of these sequences, you don't get any points for that roll. If you roll 1-2-2-3-4,

When one person reaches 100 points, finish that round so that everybody will have rolled the same number of times and, at that point, the person with the highest score wins.

Variations:
If anybody rolls four 1s, their score goes immediately back to zero.

Score the sequences as:
1-2 scores 5 points
1-2-3 scores 10 points
1-2-3-4 scores 15 points
1-2-3-4-5 scores 20 points
1-2-3-4-5-6 scores 25 points
Five 6s scores 30 points
Six 6s scores 60 points

With this scoring method, you must roll a 1-2 sequence to score at all, so it is a much slower game.

-pam

Posted at 01:45 PM     Read More  

Cross-Out Game


All ages.
Any number.
3 dice
paper and pencil for each player.

We call this the Cross-Out Game but I've also heard it called, "Centennial."

Each player writes the numbers 1 to 12 and 12 to 1 in order on a piece of paper, like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The objective is to cross out all your numbers, in order from 1 to 12 and 12 to 1.

Alternate turns.

When the player rolls the 3 dice, he can use any of the numbers showing or add any combination of them. The first number that has to be crossed out is a "1" so the player can't play anything until he's rolled a 1 and crossed out the "1" on the far left of his number strip.

More than one number can be crossed out in a single turn, as long as they can be crossed out in order. For example, an opening roll of 2-3-6 does not allow any cross offs, since the person has to first roll an 1 and cross off the 1 before crossing off a 2.

A roll of 1-1-2 is a great opening roll since it lets you cross off a "1," and a "2," AND a "3" (1+2) and a "4" (1+1+2). The best possible opening roll is 1-2-4 - it lets you cross out all the numbers from 1 to 7.

Another variation of this game is to NOT try to cross out in order, but to just cross out all the numbers that either show on one of the die or can be made by adding 2 or 3 of the dice. As another alternative, try imposing the rule that you can only use each number once - so if you rolled a 1-2-5, you could cross off the "1," "2." and "5" or the "3" and the "5" or the "1" and the "7" or just the "8" or the "6" and "2."

Posted at 02:05 AM     Read More  

Bug


All ages.
Pencil and Paper
One die.
Any number of players.

The objective is to be the first to draw a bug with all its body parts. Take turns rolling the die. Draw body parts according to the following chart:

Roll a 1, draw the body
Roll a 2, draw the head
Roll a 3, draw an eye
Roll a 4, draw an antenna
Roll a 5, draw a leg
Roll a 6, draw a tail

You have to roll a 1 and draw the body before you can draw any other part.
You have to roll a 2 and draw the head before you can draw an eye or antenna.

You can also play with points. When one player finishes drawing a complete bug, everybody stops and gets 1 point for each body part already drawn. Continue playing more rounds and adding up scores until someone reaches 51 and wins the game.

Posted at 01:51 AM     Read More  


Thu - October 9, 2003

Target Twelve


Ages: 8+
Concepts: probability, mental addition, strategic thinking
Source: Original
Materials: two dice
Players: two

Objective: add score to reach as close to 12 as possible without going over 12

First person rolls. He can choose to "stay" or roll again. If he rolls again, he adds what he got this time to the first roll. Again, he can choose to stay or roll again. If he choses to roll again, he adds the third number to his total.

Now it is player two's turn. Player two cannot roll more times than player one did.

Both players are trying to get as close to 12 as possible without going over 12.

If player one goes over 12, player two automatically wins a point for that turn.

If player one stops before going over, and player two doesn't go over in the same number of rolls, then whoever is closer to 12 wins the point.

If player one doesn't go over, but player two does, then player one wins the point.

Continue to play, alternating going first.

You can either just say the game is over when one of the players reaches five points and wins, or you can make it more exciting and have it that once either player has gotten to five points, you win by being
ahead of the other player by at least 2 points.

Posted at 11:58 PM     Read More  

Pig


Ages: 8+
Concepts: probability, mental addition, strategic thinking
Source: Marilyn Burns's About Teaching Mathematics (Math Solutions Publications, 1992).
Materials: two dice
Players: two or more

Win by being the first to score 100 points or more.

How to play: Players take turns rolling two dice and following these rules:

1. On a turn, a player may roll the dice as many times as he or she wants, mentally keeping a running total of the sums that come up. When the player stops rolling, he or she records the total and adds it to the scores from previous rounds.

2. But, if a 1 comes up on one of the dice, before the player decides to stop rolling, the player scores 0 for that round and it's the next player's turn.

3. If a 1 comes up on both dice , not only does the turn end, but the player's entire total returns to 0.

Posted at 11:27 PM     Read More  

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