game
Two Stones
This game is known as Pong hau k'i in China and Ou-moul-ko-no in Korea. Why not challenge a friend to play it with you?
problem
Air Nets
Age
7 to 18
Challenge level
Can you visualise whether these nets fold up into 3D shapes? Watch the videos each time to see if you were correct.
problem
Favourite
Matching Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
Can you match pairs of fractions, decimals and percentages, and beat your previous scores?
problem
Favourite
More Less is More
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
In each of these games, you will need a little bit of luck, and your knowledge of place value to develop a winning strategy.
game
Favourite
Factors and Multiples Game
A game in which players take it in turns to choose a number. Can you block your opponent?
game
Twinkle Twinkle
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.
problem
Favourite
Dozens
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
Can you select the missing digit(s) to find the largest multiple?
problem
Prime Magic
Age
7 to 16
Challenge level
Place the numbers 1, 2, 3,..., 9 one on each square of a 3 by 3 grid so that all the rows and columns add up to a prime number. How many different solutions can you find?
problem
Colour in the Square
Age
7 to 16
Challenge level
Can you put the 25 coloured tiles into the 5 x 5 square so that no column, no row and no diagonal line have tiles of the same colour in them?
game
Dominoes
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.
problem
Favourite
Got It
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
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.
problem
Favourite
Remainders
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
I'm thinking of a number. My number is both a multiple of 5 and a multiple of 6. What could my number be?
game
Pentanim
A game for 2 players with similarities 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.
game
Low Go
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.
game
Fifteen
Can you spot the similarities between this game and other games you know? The aim is to choose 3 numbers that total 15.
problem
Number Sandwiches
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
Can you arrange the digits 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 and 3 to make a Number Sandwich?
problem
Favourite
Two and Two
Age
7 to 16
Challenge level
How many solutions can you find to this sum? Each of the different letters stands for a different number.
game
Domino Magic Rectangle
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...
problem
Tea Cups
Age
7 to 14
Challenge level
Place the 16 different combinations of cup/saucer in this 4 by 4 arrangement so that no row or column contains more than one cup or saucer of the same colour.
problem
Eight Dominoes
Age
7 to 16
Challenge level
Using the 8 dominoes make a square where each of the columns and rows adds up to 8
problem
Favourite
Take Ten Sticks
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
Take ten sticks in heaps any way you like. Make a new heap using one from each of the heaps. By repeating that process could the arrangement 7 - 1 - 1 - 1 ever turn up, except by starting with it?
problem
Favourite
Factors and Multiples Puzzle
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Using your knowledge of the properties of numbers, can you fill all the squares on the board?
problem
Cayley
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
The letters in the following addition sum represent the digits 1
... 9. If A=3 and D=2, what number is represented by "CAYLEY"?
problem
Favourite
Fractions jigsaw
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
A jigsaw where pieces only go together if the fractions are equivalent.
problem
Favourite
Sociable Cards
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Move your counters through this snake of cards and see how far you can go. Are you surprised by where you end up?
problem
Favourite
What numbers can we make?
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Imagine we have four bags containing a large number of 1s, 4s, 7s and 10s. What numbers can we make?
problem
Favourite
American Billions
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Play the divisibility game to create numbers in which the first two digits make a number divisible by 2, the first three digits make a number divisible by 3...
problem
Favourite
Olympic Records
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you deduce which Olympic athletics events are represented by the graphs?
problem
Favourite
Odds, Evens and More Evens
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Alison, Bernard and Charlie have been exploring sequences of odd and even numbers, which raise some intriguing questions...
problem
Favourite
Magic Letters
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Charlie has made a Magic V. Can you use his example to make some more? And how about Magic Ls, Ns and Ws?
problem
Favourite
Can they be equal?
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you find rectangles where the value of the area is the same as the value of the perimeter?
problem
Favourite
Olympic Measures
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
These Olympic quantities have been jumbled up! Can you put them back together again?
problem
Favourite
Multiples Sudoku
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Each clue in this Sudoku is the product of the two numbers in adjacent cells.
problem
Favourite
Sticky Numbers
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you arrange the numbers 1 to 17 in a row so that each adjacent pair adds up to a square number?
problem
Favourite
What's it worth?
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
There are lots of different methods to find out what the shapes are worth - how many can you find?
problem
Favourite
Frogs
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
How many moves does it take to swap over some red and blue frogs? Do you have a method?
problem
Favourite
Add to 200
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
By selecting digits for an addition grid, what targets can you make?
problem
Favourite
Forwards Add Backwards
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
What happens when you add a three digit number to its reverse?
problem
Favourite
Reflecting Squarely
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
In how many ways can you fit all three pieces together to make shapes with line symmetry?
problem
Favourite
Colourful Cube
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
A colourful cube is made from little red and yellow cubes. But can you work out how many of each?
problem
Favourite
Guess my Quad
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
How many questions do you need to identify my quadrilateral?
problem
Favourite
Cinema Problem
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
A cinema has 100 seats. How can ticket sales make £100 for these different combinations of ticket prices?
problem
Favourite
Gabriel's Problem
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Gabriel multiplied together some numbers and then erased them. Can you figure out where each number was?
problem
Favourite
Shady Symmetry
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
How many different symmetrical shapes can you make by shading triangles or squares?
problem
Favourite
Special Numbers
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
My two digit number is special because adding the sum of its digits to the product of its digits gives me my original number. What could my number be?
game
Favourite
Dicey Operations
Who said that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing couldn't be fun?
problem
Favourite
Square It
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
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.
problem
Favourite
Consecutive Seven
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you arrange these numbers into 7 subsets, each of three numbers, so that when the numbers in each are added together, they make seven consecutive numbers?
problem
Favourite
Substitution Cipher
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Find the frequency distribution for ordinary English, and use it to help you crack the code.
problem
Favourite
Where can we visit?
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Charlie and Abi put a counter on 42. They wondered if they could visit all the other numbers on their 1-100 board, moving the counter using just these two operations: x2 and -5. What do you think?
problem
Favourite
Always a multiple?
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Think of a two digit number, reverse the digits, and add the numbers together. Something special happens...
problem
Favourite
Route to infinity
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you describe this route to infinity? Where will the arrows take you next?
problem
3388
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Using some or all of the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and using the digits 3, 3, 8 and 8 each once and only once make an expression equal to 24.
problem
Favourite
Temperature
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Is there a temperature at which Celsius and Fahrenheit readings are the same?
problem
Favourite
Opposite vertices
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you recreate squares and rhombuses if you are only given a side or a diagonal?
problem
Favourite
Connect Three
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
In this game the winner is the first to complete a row of three. Are some squares easier to land on than others?
problem
crossing the bridge
Age
11 to 18
Challenge level
Four friends must cross a bridge. How can they all cross it in just 17 minutes?
problem
Zin Obelisk
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
In the ancient city of Atlantis a solid rectangular object called a Zin was built in honour of the goddess Tina. Your task is to determine on which day of the week the obelisk was completed.
problem
Favourite
Marbles in a box
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
How many winning lines can you make in a three-dimensional version of noughts and crosses?
problem
Favourite
1 Step 2 Step
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Liam's house has a staircase with 12 steps. He can go down the steps one at a time or two at time. In how many different ways can Liam go down the 12 steps?
problem
Making Rectangles, Making Squares
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
How many differently shaped rectangles can you build using these equilateral and isosceles triangles? Can you make a square?
problem
Favourite
Tower of Hanoi
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
The Tower of Hanoi is an ancient mathematical challenge. Working on the building blocks may help you to explain the patterns you notice.
problem
Favourite
Overlaps
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you find ways to put numbers in the overlaps so the rings have equal totals?
problem
Favourite
Fibonacci Surprises
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Play around with the Fibonacci sequence and discover some surprising results!
problem
Bow Tie
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Show how this pentagonal tile can be used to tile the plane and describe the transformations which map this pentagon to its images in the tiling.
problem
Favourite
Take Three From Five
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie tries to find three that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?
problem
Who's who?
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
Can you solve the clues to find out who's who on the friendship graph?
game
Last Biscuit
Can you find a strategy that ensures you get to take the last biscuit in this game?
problem
Favourite
Peaches today, Peaches tomorrow...
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
A monkey with peaches, keeps a fraction of them each day, gives the rest away, and then eats one. How long can his peaches last?
problem
Favourite
Squares in rectangles
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
A 2 by 3 rectangle contains 8 squares and a 3 by 4 rectangle
contains 20 squares. What size rectangle(s) contain(s) exactly 100
squares? Can you find them all?
problem
Favourite
Product Sudoku
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
The clues for this Sudoku are the product of the numbers in adjacent squares.
problem
Soma - So Good
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you mentally fit the 7 SOMA pieces together to make a cube? Can
you do it in more than one way?
problem
Favourite
Nine Colours
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
Can you use small coloured cubes to make a 3 by 3 by 3 cube so that each face of the bigger cube contains one of each colour?
problem
Domino tetrads
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Is it possible to use all 28 dominoes arranging them in squares of
four? What patterns can you see in the solution(s)?
game
One, Three, Five, Seven
A game for 2 players. Set out 16 counters in rows of 1,3,5 and 7. Players take turns to remove any number of counters from a row. The player left with the last counter looses.
problem
Tourism
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
If you can copy a network without lifting your pen off the paper and without drawing any line twice, then it is traversable. Decide which of these diagrams are traversable.
problem
Favourite
Cuboids
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Can you find a cuboid that has a surface area of exactly 100 square units. Is there more than one? Can you find them all?
problem
Instant Insanity
Age
11 to 18
Challenge level
Given the nets of 4 cubes with the faces coloured in 4 colours, build a tower so that on each vertical wall no colour is repeated, that is all 4 colours appear.
problem
Times right
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
Using the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, mulitply a two two digit numbers are multiplied to give a four digit number, so that the expression is correct. How many different solutions can you find?