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A game for 2 people. Take turns joining two dots, until your opponent is unable to move.
Advent Calendar 2010 - a mathematical game for every day during the run-up to Christmas.
Can you identify the mathematicians?
The computer starts with all the lights off, but then clicks 3, 4 or 5 times at random, leaving some lights on. Can you switch them off again?
Solve this Sudoku puzzle whose clues are in the form of sums of the numbers which should appear in diagonal opposite cells.
A Sudoku with clues given as sums of entries.
Players take it in turns to choose a dot on the grid. The winner is the first to have four dots that can be joined to form a square.
The aim of the game is to slide the green square from the top right hand corner to the bottom left hand corner in the least number of moves.
A game for 2 players. Can be played online. One player has 1 red counter, the other has 4 blue. The red counter needs to reach the other side, and the blue needs to trap the red.
A game for 2 players. Given a board of dots in a grid pattern, players take turns drawing a line by connecting 2 adjacent dots. Your goal is to complete more squares than your opponent.
Design your own scoring system and play Trumps with these Olympic Sport cards.
A variant on the game Alquerque
Try this interactive strategy game for 2
Unmultiply is a game of quick estimation. You need to find two numbers that multiply together to something close to the given target - fast! 10 levels with a high scores table.
A game for 1 person. Can you work out how the dice must be rolled from the start position to the finish? Play on line.
A game for 1 or 2 people. Use the interactive version, or play with friends. Try to round up as many counters as possible.
A game for two players on a large squared space.
Take it in turns to place a domino on the grid. One to be placed horizontally and the other vertically. Can you make it impossible for your opponent to play?
Basic strategy games are particularly suitable as starting points for investigations. Players instinctively try to discover a winning strategy, and usually the best way to do this is to analyse. . . .
Exchange the positions of the two sets of counters in the least possible number of moves
This article for teachers describes several games, found on the site, all of which have a related structure that can be used to develop the skills of strategic planning.
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
An extension of noughts and crosses in which the grid is enlarged and the length of the winning line can to altered to 3, 4 or 5.
A game for two players. You'll need some counters.
How good are you at estimating angles?
The game uses a 3x3 square board. 2 players take turns to play, either placing a red on an empty square, or changing a red to orange, or orange to green. The player who forms 3 of 1 colour in a line. . . .
Who said that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing couldn't be fun?
A game for 2 or more people. Starting with 100, subratct a number from 1 to 9 from the total. You score for making an odd number, a number ending in 0 or a multiple of 6.
This article invites you to get familiar with a strategic game called "sprouts". The game is simple enough for younger children to understand, and has also provided experienced mathematicians with. . . .
An article for teachers and pupils that encourages you to look at the mathematical properties of similar games.
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
This is a game for 2 players. Each player has 4 counters each, and wins by blocking their opponent's counters. A good follow-on from two stones.
A game for 1 person to develop stategy and shape and space awareness. 12 counters are placed on a board. Counters are removed one at a time. The aim is to be left with only 1 counter.
All you need for this game is a pack of cards. While you play the game, think about strategies that will increase your chances of winning.
A game for 2 people that everybody knows. You can play with a friend or online. If you play correctly you never lose!
This article supplies teachers with information that may be useful in better understanding the nature of games and their role in teaching and learning mathematics.
Use the tangram pieces to make our pictures, or to design some of your own!
A card pairing game involving knowledge of simple ratio.
A game for 2 people. Take turns placing a counter on the star. You win when you have completed a line of 3 in your colour.
In this article for teachers, Liz Woodham describes the criteria she uses to choose mathematical games for the classroom and shares some examples from NRICH.
A game that tests your understanding of remainders.
Here is a version of the game 'Happy Families' for you to make and play.
A complicated game played on a 9 x 9 checkered grid.
Take it in turns to make a triangle on the pegboard. Can you block your opponent?
A train building game for 2 players.
A shunting puzzle for 1 person. Swop the positions of the counters at the top and bottom of the board.
An ordinary set of dominoes can be laid out as a 7 by 4 magic rectangle in which all the spots in all the columns add to 24, while those in the rows add to 42. Try it! Now try the magic square...
A game played with a standard pack of cards.
A game for 2 players. Take turns to place a counter so that it occupies one of the lowest possible positions in the grid. The first player to complete a line of 4 wins.
Can you make the birds from the egg tangram?