Jumping Reindeer
This is a game for one player. You will need a game-board like the one shown below, so either print one off or draw one up yourself. (If you draw one, start by drawing the outside square, then the diagonals, then fill in the rest of the lines).
You will also need 12 counters (or coins, or buttons). Put a counter on every place that the lines cross, except the very centre.
The aim of the game is to remove all the counters except one. You remove a counter by jumping over it, along a line, and landing in a spare spot. This is the only way you can move a counter. So that means that your very first move will land in the centre spot, because that's the only spare spot to start with.
It's not as easy as it sounds to end up with just one counter. If you're not careful you'll be stuck with two or three counters and no way to move.
The real challenge is to end with the last counter in the centre spot.
The idea for this game came from the collection of John Cuthbert of Gillbrook Technology College, Middlesbrough.
It involves numbering the thirteen spaces on the board:
Top Row: 1,2,3
Second Row 4,5
Third Row 6,7,8
Fourth Row 9,10
Fifth Row 11,12,13
The moves show which counters hop into which spaces:
Move 1) 3 to 7
Move 2) 9 to 5
Move 3) 1 to 3
Move 4) 3 to 7
Move 5) 11 to 1
Move 6) 8 to 6
Move 7) 1 to 11
Move 8) 13 to 7
Move 9) 11 to 13
Move 10) 4 to 10
Move 11) 13 to 7
The solution leaves one space in the middle of the board.
Well done Grace! I wonder how you came to this solution?