19 problems, 29 games, 44 articles, 13 general resources, 3 Lists, 39 from Stage 1, 49 from Stage 2, 34 from Stage 3, 32 from Stage 4, 18 from Stage 5
Learning Mathematics Through Games Series: 4. from Strategy Games
Stage: 1, 2 and 3
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. . . .
Learning Mathematics Through Games: 3. Creating Your Own Games
Stage: 1
Not all of us a bursting with creative game ideas, but there are several ways to go about creating a game that will assist even the busiest and most reluctant game designer.
Learning Mathematics Through Games Series: 1. Why Games?
Stage: 1, 2 and 3
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.
Learning Mathematics Through Games Series: 2.types of Games
Stage: 1, 2 and 3
This article, the second in the series, looks at some different types of games and the sort of mathematical thinking they can develop.
The Better Bet
Stage: 4 Challenge Level: 
So which is the better bet? Both games cost £1 to play. Getting two heads and two tails for £3 or £2 for every six when three dice are rolled.
Our Sports
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
This problem explores the range of events in a sports day and which ones are the most popular and attract the most entries.
Stage 1 & 2 Games
Stage: 1 and 2 Challenge Level:
Games most suitable for Stage 1 and 1 children and their parents and carers te play.
Pentanim, a Game for Two Players
Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:
A game for 2 players with similaritlies to NIM. Place one counter on each spot on the games board. Players take it is turns to remove 1 or 2 adjacent counters. The winner picks up the last counter.
Low Go
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
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.
Nice and Nasty
Stage: 2 and 3 Challenge Level:
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
Fifteen
Stage: 3 Challenge Level:
Can you spot the similarities between this game and other games you know? The aim is to choose 3 numbers that total 15.
Transferable Games and Articles
Stage: Challenge Level:
List of Articles and Games whose publication rights may be licensed to another publisher.
Dicey Operations
Stage: 2 and 3 Challenge Level:
Who said that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing couldn't be fun?
The Birthday Bet
Stage: 4 Challenge Level:
The next ten people coming into a store will be asked their birthday. If the prize is £20, would you bet £1 that two of these ten people will have the same birthday ?
Sums of Squares
Stage: 5 Challenge Level:
Prove that 3 times the sum of 3 squares is the sum of 4 squares. Rather easier, can you prove that twice the sum of two squares always gives the sum of two squares?
Match the Matches
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
Decide which charts and graphs represent the number of goals two football teams scored in fifteen matches.
Tug of War
Stage: 1 Challenge Level:
Can you use the numbers on the dice to reach your end of the number line before your partner beats you?
Winning Lines
Stage: 2, 3 and 4 Challenge Level:
An article for teachers and pupils that encourages you to look at the mathematical properties of similar games.
Percentages for Key Stage 4
Stage: 4 Challenge Level:
A group of interactive resources to support work on percentages Key Stage 4.
Name the Children
Stage: 1 Challenge Level:
Can you find out in which order the children are standing in this line?
Quadrilaterals Game
Stage: 3 Challenge Level:
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. . . .
A Resource to Support Work on Transformations
Stage: 4 Challenge Level:
This resources contains a series of interactivities designed to support work on transformations at Key Stage 4.
Coin Tossing Games
Stage: 4 Challenge Level:
You and I play a game involving successive throws of a fair coin. Suppose I pick HH and you pick TH. The coin is thrown repeatedly until we see either two heads in a row (I win) or a tail followed by. . . .
Shapely Pairs
Stage: 3 Challenge Level:
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...
Stage 5 Student Page
Stage: 5 Challenge Level:
Activities for Stage 5 students. Come over and see us sometime!
May the Best Person Win
Stage: 1, 2, 3 and 4
How can people be divided into groups fairly for events in the Paralympics, for school sports days, or for subject sets?
Games Related to Nim
Stage: 1, 2, 3 and 4
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.
Do You Feel Lucky?
Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:
Some people offer advice on how to win at games of chance, or how to influence probability in your favour. Can you decide whether advice is good or not?
Factors and Multiples - Secondary Resources
Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:
A collection of resources to support work on Factors and Multiples at Secondary level.
World of Tan - Concentrating on Coordinates
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of Little Ming playing the board game?
Dice and Spinner Numbers
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
If you had any number of ordinary dice, what are the possible ways of making their totals 6? What would the product of the dice be each time?
Traffic Lights
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
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. . . .
Talking about Maths - 1
Stage: 2, 3, 4 and 5
The first of two articles for teachers explaining how to include talk in maths presentations.
World of Tan - Logical Thinking
Stage: Challenge Level:
Can you logically construct these silhouettes using the tangram pieces?
Noughts and Crosses
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
A game for 2 people that everybody knows. You can play with a friend or online. If you play correctly you never lose!
Using Games in the Classroom
Stage: 2, 3 and 4
Gillian Hatch analyses what goes on when mathematical games are used as a pedagogic device.
Nim-7
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
Devon Teachers Enriching NRICH - Part 2
Stage: 1 and 2
This is the second part of an article describing the ‘Enriching Mathematics’ project in Devon. The participating teachers describe NRICH activities they have tried with their learners.
The Mean Game
Stage: 5
Edward Wallace based his A Level Statistics Project on The Mean Game. Each picks 2 numbers. The winner is the player who picks a number closest to the mean of all the numbers picked.
Online - a Game for Two Players
Stage: 3 Challenge Level:
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.
Going for Gold
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
Looking at the 2008 Olympic Medal table, can you see how the data is organised? Could the results be presented differently to give another nation the top place?
Tac-tickle
Stage: 1 Challenge Level:
This is a challenging game of strategy for two players with many interesting variations.
Rocking Chairs, Railway Games and Rayboxes
Stage: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
In this article for teachers, Alan Parr looks at ways that mathematics teaching and learning can start from the useful and interesting things can we do with the subject, including. . . .
Round-robin Scheduling
Stage: 3, 4 and 5
Scheduling games is a little more challenging than one might desire. Here are some tournament formats that sport schedulers use.
Jam
Stage: 4 Challenge Level:
To avoid losing think of another very well known game where the patterns of play are similar.
Dominoes
Stage: 2 Challenge Level:
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.
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NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project, which also includes the Plus and Motivate sites.
email: nrich@damtp.cam.ac.uk