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The Games
Prime Gold
The four basic operations, exponentiation, factorials, algebraic thinking, and prime and composite numbers are integrated in this strategy-chance alignment game. The gameboard represents a grid with numerical values that sequentially spiral from the board’s center to the outer band which results in prime numbers that occur along diagonal lines. For each play students form number sentences based on the roll of 3 polyhedra dice and place chips on corresponding numbered spaces of the gameboard. The structural/numerical arrangement of the gameboard relates to one of the games goals: constructing 4 diagonal veins of prime gold. Blocking rules dealing with prime and composite numbers, multiple chip placement based on Goldbach’s conjecture, and a second game goal make this a most challenging computational reasoning game.
Remainder Island
Polyhedra dice, pawns, chips and a hexagonal-triangular shaped gameboard are used to play this strategy-chance division game. The goal is to place the greatest number of chips on the board’s six hexagonal-shaped islands. A series of rules related to zero remainders and networking pawns along strategic pathways make this both a conceptual and problem-solving game.
Fract Fact
Equivalence, the four basic operations as well as algebraic principles are investigated in this conceptual and strategic fraction game. A set of 64 fraction bars that pictorially represent various fraction values are used to help students connect symbolic procedures with visual models. On each turn students try to find two bars that when combined through the four basic operations equal one of the answer bars on the specially designed gameboard. Students must use strategic thinking skills when examining all possible combinations of bars and operations as well as setting up moves for future options.
Pent 'Em In
This transformational geometry game develops spatial visualization as well as both deductive and inductive reasoning. Each player uses 5 pentominoes (chosen from a set of 12 pieces) and two blocking chips on a 13 by 9 grid to entrap all 5 of the opponent’s pentominoes. In the placement phase players must strategically select and place five pentomino pieces onto the gameboard. In the movement phase players attempt to entrap the opposing player’s five pentominoes by rotating, flipping, or sliding their own pieces.
Fraction Pinball
The gameboard and game pieces in this fraction-decimal conversion game simulate the ricocheting action of pinballs in a pinball machine. In playing this game students must strategically position and move pawns and blocking chips to land on fraction values of the gameboard which are converted to decimal form and are added to or subtracted from an accumulated score. The goal of the game is to be the first player to reach an accumulated score of between 4.95 and 5.05. Since the gameboard is composed of a network of interconnected fraction circles, students must use both spatial and computational reasoning when making decisions.
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