Tue - October 14, 2003

Dollar in Trade Game


This is a great way to develop the concept of place value and borrowing/carrying (or "regrouping" as it is now called). Kids who are just ready to grasp these concepts find this a surprisingly fun activity.

This can be played as a solitaire game or as a race between two people in which the person who earns the dollar first is the winner.

Start with a dollar bill, 12 dimes, and 12 pennies in the "bank." (If playing with more than one person, each person gets their own "bank.")
Player one rolls two dice and "earns" pennies corresponding to the total he/she rolls.
Play continues in this way (alternating turns if playing with another person).
Pretty quickly there won't be anymore pennies in the bank because the players will have earned them. What can they do? Exchange 10 pennies for a dime so that they can continue to earn pennies.

Keep rolling and earning and exchanging until someone has 10 dimes and realizes they can be exchanged for the dollar. That ends the game.


Posted at 02:21 AM     Read More  

NIM Game 3-4-5



Lay out 12 coins in 3 rows. Row 1 has 3 coins in it. Row 2 has 4 coins in it. Row 3 has 5 coins in it.

Players alternate turns and may, on their turn, take any number of coins but from ONE row only on that turn.
The player who takes the last coin is the winner.

Another variation of this game is to play it with rows of 1, 3, 5, and 7 coins. Same rules.

Posted at 02:06 AM     Read More  


Sun - October 12, 2003

NIM Game


20 coins or other counters
2 players
all ages
strategic thinking, planning ahead

Lay out 20 coins.
Take turns picking up 1, 2, or 3. (For example, player one picks up 2 coins, player two picks up 1 coin, player 1 picks up 3 coins, player 2 picks up 3 coins, and so on.)
The player who picks up the last coin LOSES.

Don't read this until you've played a while first
(Hint: if you always go second and always make sure that the total picked up in a round is 4 (they pick up 1, you pick up 3 or if they pick up 2, you pick up 2, etc) then you'll always win. Why?)

Variations:

Use fewer coins and see how the game plays out.
Make the rule that you can pick up 1 or 2 coins, not 3.
Make the winner the person who TAKES the last coin.

Posted at 06:42 PM     Read More  

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