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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.
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 complicated game played on a 9 x 9 checkered grid.
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 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.
Here are a collection of games from around the world to try during the holidays or the last few weeks of term.
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.
A game for 2 players. This could be played outside with people instead of counters. Try to trap or escape from your opponent.
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?
A simple game of patience which often comes out. Can you explain why?
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 players. Given an arrangement of matchsticks, players take it is turns to remove a matchstick, along with all of the matchsticks that touch it.
How good are you at estimating angles?
Investigations based on an Indian game.
A shunting puzzle for 1 person. Swop the positions of the counters at the top and bottom of the board.
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
A game for 2 people that can be played on line or with pens and paper. Combine your knowledege of coordinates with your skills of strategic thinking.
Design your own scoring system and play Trumps with these Olympic Sport cards.
An interactive game for 1 person. You are given a rectangle with 50 squares on it. Roll the dice to get a percentage between 2 and 100. How many squares is this? Keep going until you get 100. . . .
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 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.
Can you be the first to complete a row of three?
A train building game for 2 players.
Can you spot the similarities between this game and other games you know? The aim is to choose 3 numbers that total 15.
In this game, you can add, subtract, multiply or divide the numbers on the dice. Which will you do so that you get to the end of the number line first?
An interactive activity for one to experiment with a tricky tessellation
Here is a version of the game 'Happy Families' for you to make and play.
A card pairing game involving knowledge of simple ratio.
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 game for 1 person to play on screen. Practise your number bonds whilst improving your memory
Try to stop your opponent from being able to split the piles of counters into unequal numbers. Can you find a strategy?
A Sudoku with clues given as sums of entries.
Hover your mouse over the counters to see which ones will be removed. Click to remover them. The winner is the last one to remove a counter. How you can make sure you win?
This is a game for two players. You will need some small-square grid paper, a die and two felt-tip pens or highlighters. Players take turns to roll the die, then move that number of squares in. . . .
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.
A game for 2 players that can be played online. Players take it in turns to select a word from the 9 words given. The aim is to select all the occurrences of the same letter.
Collect as many diamonds as you can by drawing three straight lines.
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.
A game in which players take it in turns to try to draw quadrilaterals (or triangles) with particular properties. Is it possible to fill the game grid?
Have a go at this game which involves throwing two dice and adding their totals. Where should you place your counters to be more likely to win?
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 1 or 2 people. Use the interactive version, or play with friends. Try to round up as many counters as possible.
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.
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.
Practise your diamond mining skills and your x,y coordination in this homage to Pacman.
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. . . .
Work out the fractions to match the cards with the same amount of money.
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.