Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
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 train building game for 2 players.
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?
Use your addition and subtraction skills, combined with some strategic thinking, to beat your partner at this game.
An interactive activity for one to experiment with a tricky tessellation
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 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.
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
A game for 2 players. This could be played outside with people instead of counters. Try to trap or escape from your opponent.
A game for 2 players. Practises subtraction or other maths operations knowledge.
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. . . .
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. . . .
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.
Here is a version of the game 'Happy Families' for you to make and play.
Here are a collection of games from around the world to try during the holidays or the last few weeks of term.
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 shunting puzzle for 1 person. Swop the positions of the counters at the top and bottom of the board.
A game for 2 people that everybody knows. You can play with a friend or online. If you play correctly you never lose!
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 complicated game played on a 9 x 9 checkered grid.
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.
A card pairing game involving knowledge of simple ratio.
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
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.
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 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.
This article, the second in the series, looks at some different types of games and the sort of mathematical thinking they can develop.
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.
Slide the pieces to move Khun Phaen past all the guards into the position on the right from which he can escape to freedom.
Can you make the birds from the egg tangram?
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.
How good are you at estimating angles?
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.
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.
Here is a solitaire type environment for you to experiment with. Which targets can you reach?
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?
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.
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.
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. . . .
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?
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.
Collect as many diamonds as you can by drawing three straight lines.
A game for 2 or more people, based on the traditional card game Rummy. Players aim to make two `tricks', where each trick has to consist of a picture of a shape, a name that describes that shape, and. . . .
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?
Investigations based on an Indian game.
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 game to make and play based on the number line.
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.