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 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.
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.
Can you identify the mathematicians?
Here is a solitaire type environment for you to experiment with. Which targets can you reach?
A game for 2 people. Take turns to move the counters 1, 2 or 3 spaces. The player to remove the last counter off the board wins.
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?
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.
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.
Slide the pieces to move Khun Phaen past all the guards into the position on the right from which he can escape to freedom.
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 as ratios.
This second Sudoku article discusses "Corresponding Sudokus" which are pairs of Sudokus with terms that can be matched using a substitution rule.
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.
This pair of linked Sudokus matches letters with numbers and hides a seasonal greeting. Can you find it?
Given the products of diagonally opposite cells - can you complete this Sudoku?
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. . . .
Solve this Sudoku puzzle whose clues are in the form of sums of the numbers which should appear in diagonal opposite cells.
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 1 or 2 people. Use the interactive version, or play with friends. Try to round up as many counters as possible.
A Sudoku with a twist.
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.
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 Sudoku that uses transformations as supporting clues.
A Sudoku with clues as ratios or fractions.
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.
Two sudokus in one. Challenge yourself to make the necessary connections.
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
A Sudoku with clues given as sums of entries.
Design your own scoring system and play Trumps with these Olympic Sport cards.
A game in which players take it in turns to turn up two cards. If they can draw a triangle which satisfies both properties they win the pair of cards. And a few challenging questions to follow...
Four numbers on an intersection that need to be placed in the surrounding cells. That is all you need to know to solve this sudoku.
How good are you at estimating angles?
This sudoku requires you to have "double vision" - two Sudoku's for the price of one
Here is a machine with four coloured lights. Can you develop a strategy to work out the rules controlling each light?
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.
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.
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 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 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. . . .
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.
Use the tangram pieces to make our pictures, or to design some of your own!
A simple game of patience which often comes out. Can you explain why?
Here are a collection of games from around the world to try during the holidays or the last few weeks of term.
Start with any number of counters in any number of piles. 2 players take it in turns to remove any number of counters from a single pile. The winner is the player to take the last counter.
Who said that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing couldn't be fun?