Thursday, May 2, 2013

Mastermind-ish

Several of the children have really been loving the game Mastermind. Unfortunately, many of the colored pegs have been lost as it is played out in the lunch room area by many different people. (I think the pegs just get swept up with the lunch crumbs, or else there are gremlins afoot!) I ordered a new Mastermind game yesterday, and we will keep this one safe in our room.

I was reminded of a similar game using numbers. We are going to play it in math class this morning. This game focuses children on the importance of the digits' positions in numbers, while also challenging them to think logically. We are starting with the very simplest version (2-digits) and then work up to more difficult challenges


To play this game at home, you need just paper and pencil. Each person picks a two (or three or four) digit number with no two digits the same. Partners take turns guessing each other's numbers. Each time someone guesses, the other person tells how many digits in the guess are correct and how many of the correct digits are in the correct place. A chart (see below) is useful for keeping track of the information.

Guess         Digit         Place
------------------------------------
293              0              0
356              1              1
296              0              0

etc.

Do not tell which digits are correct or in the correct place, just how many. Whoever guesses the other player's number first wins that round.

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