Maths Board Game: Deadly red

Board games are a great way to improve logical thinking and maths concepts. This is a favourite of mine, which I call Deadly Red as the person who takes the red counter at the end loses!

Not a lot of equipment is needed, just:

12 coloured counters, one red counter and a playing board.

The rules of the game are straightforward:

This is a game for two people, but could be played by three.

Place a red counter on the middle dot and the 12 black counters on all the other dots.

The player going first takes away any number of counters – but they must all be from a straight line.

Then the second player has his/her turn.

The player who takes the red counter loses.

On the next page you will find a board which can be printed out onto card. It is a good idea to cut out and either laminate or ‘sticky back’ this board.

Alternative rules:

1.The player taking the last counter (red) is the winner.

It might appear at first that it is luck as to who wins, but with after playing a few times you might be able to work out a few strategies which will ensure you win most of the time.

Deadly red

Maths Games: Adding game for Year 3 onwards

This Maths game  is a great way to practise addition of small numbers. It is a game for two players and can be a good challenge for adults as well as children.  Each player takes it in turn to place a counter over one of the numbers. When a counter is paced on the board the number is added to a joint total. It is a good idea to write the totals down as you go along, so that totals can be checked, or there might be a dispute! Once a counter has been placed it cannot be picked up.

The aim of the game is to make the total come to exactly 31. The player who does so is the winner.

If a player places a counter to make the total over 31 he/she loses.

This is a game of strategy and  and there are times when the total can not be reached (perhaps if all the ones have been covered).

Make 31