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Design your own scoring system and play Trumps with these Olympic Sport cards.
The idea of this game is to add or subtract the two numbers on the dice and cover the result on the grid, trying to get a line of three. Are there some numbers that are good to aim for?
A shunting puzzle for 1 person. Swop the positions of the counters at the top and bottom of the board.
A variant on the game Alquerque
Exchange the positions of the two sets of counters in the least possible number of moves
A complicated game played on a 9 x 9 checkered grid.
A game for two players on a large squared space.
An odd version of tic tac toe
A fun game for two. You'll need some counters.
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.
In this game you throw two dice and find their total, then move the appropriate counter to the right. Which counter reaches the purple box first? Is this what you would expect?
Who said that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing couldn't be fun?
A game for 2 players. This could be played outside with people instead of counters. Try to trap or escape from your opponent.
Play this well-known game against the computer where each player is equally likely to choose scissors, paper or rock. Why not try the variations too?
Reasoning based on this Japanese activity.
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
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.
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...
Match the halves.
A game to be played against the computer, or in groups. Pick a 7-digit number. A random digit is generated. What must you subract to remove the digit from your number? the first to zero wins.
A game for 2 people that everybody knows. You can play with a friend or online. If you play correctly you never lose!
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 challenge is a game for two players. Choose two numbers from the grid and multiply or divide, then mark your answer on the number line. Can you get four in a row before your partner?
A game played with a standard pack of cards.
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 2 people. Take turns placing a counter on the star. You win when you have completed a line of 3 in your colour.
A game for 2 or more players with a pack of cards. Practise your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to hit the target score.
You'll need two dice to play this game against a partner. Will Incey Wincey make it to the top of the drain pipe or the bottom of the drain pipe first?
Try to stop your opponent from being able to split the piles of counters into unequal numbers. Can you find a strategy?
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?
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. . . .
Everthing you have always wanted to do with dominoes! Some of these games are good for practising your mental calculation skills, and some are good for your reasoning skills.
A game for two players. You'll need some counters.
Here are a collection of games from around the world to try during the holidays or the last few weeks of term.
Here is a version of the game 'Happy Families' for you to make and 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. . . .
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.
A Sudoku with clues given as sums of entries.
An interactive activity for one to experiment with a tricky tessellation
A game for two people, or play online. Given a target number, say 23, and a range of numbers to choose from, say 1-4, players take it in turns to add to the running total to hit their target.
A fun puzzle with tantrix tiles.
Take it in turns to make a triangle on the pegboard. Can you block your opponent?
A game for 2 people using a pack of cards Turn over 2 cards and try to make an odd number or a multiple of 3.
An interactive game to be played on your own or with friends. Imagine you are having a party. Each person takes it in turns to stand behind the chair where they will get the most chocolate.
A card pairing game involving knowledge of simple ratio.
A train building game for 2 players.
This is a challenging game of strategy for two players with many interesting variations.
Work out the fractions to match the cards with the same amount of money.
A game for 2 players. Practises subtraction or other maths operations knowledge.
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.