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. . . .
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.
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.
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.
This article, the second in the series, looks at some different types of games and the sort of mathematical thinking they can develop.
This problem explores the range of events in a sports day and which ones are the most popular and attract the most entries.
Games most suitable for Stage 1 and 1 children and their parents and carers te play.
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
Games and computer room activities suitable for upper secondary school students
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.
Games and computer room activities suitable for secondary school students
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.
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 ?
Can you spot the similarities between this game and other games you know? The aim is to choose 3 numbers that total 15.
List of Articles and Games whose publication rights may be licensed to another publisher.
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?
Decide which charts and graphs represent the number of goals two football teams scored in fifteen matches.
Games primary teachers
An article for teachers and pupils that encourages you to look at the mathematical properties of similar games.
A group of interactive resources to support work on percentages Key Stage 4.
A new card game for two players.
Working on these Stage 4 problems will help you develop a better understanding of probability.
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. . . .
NRICH articles in these two MA journals
Can you find out in which order the children are standing in this line?
This article gives you a few ideas for understanding the Got It! game and how you might find a winning strategy.
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...
This resources contains a series of interactivities designed to support work on transformations at Key Stage 4.
A practical experiment which will introduce students to tree diagrams, and help them to understand that outcomes may not be equally likely.
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. . . .
The classic vector racing game brought to a screen near you.
Other resources for Stage 3 and 4 students
teacher collections
New term, new classes? Playing with dice can tell you a lot about how your new pupils think.
How can people be divided into groups fairly for events in the Paralympics, for school sports days, or for subject sets?
This is our collection of favourite mathematics and sport materials.
Games most suitable for Stage 3 and 4 students.
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.
Which countries have the most naturally athletic populations?
Past Features for LP