Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
fun
Citation preview
Battleships
Players take turns in trying to guess the locations of the other player's ships on a grid.
Description
Each player draws two 10 x 10 grids, labelled along the sides with letters and numbers. On the left-hand grid the player secretly draws rectangles representing their fleet of ships:
The fleet
Each player's fleet consists of the following ships:
1 x Aircraft carrier - 5 squares 1 x Battleship - 4 squares
1 x Cruiser - 3 squares
2 x Destroyers - 2 squares each
2 x Submarines - 1 square each
Each ship occupies a number of adjacent squares on the grid, horizontally or vertically.
Play
During play the players take turns is making a shot at the opponent, by calling out the coordinates of a square (eg D5). The opponent responds with "hit" if it hits a ship or "miss" if it
misses. If the player has hit the last remaining square of a ship the opponent must announce the name of the ship; eg "You sank my battleship".
During play each player should record their opponent's shots on the left-hand grid, and their shots on the right-hand grid as "X" for a hit and "O" for a miss:
The first player to lose all their ships loses the game.
Go-Moku
Players take turns in marking squares on a grid. The first player to get five squares in a row wins.
Description
The game is played on a large piece of squared paper, at least 15 x 15. The players take turns in marking a square with their symbol (eg O and X). The first player to get five squares in a row, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, wins.
Example
The following example shows a typical game won by the first player, O:
Word Square
Players create word squares with the same letters, and the one who creates the square containing the most words wins.
Description
Each player draws a 4 x 4 grid which they keep concealed from the other player.
They then take turns in naming a letter. As each letter is named each player must write it immediately into one of the cells in their grid: Players can choose any letter they like, and letters can be repeated.
When the grid is full the players count up the number of words they have made reading across, down, or diagonally, and the one with the highest score (out of a possible 10) wins.
One interesting aspect of the game is that you can either choose letters that help you complete words, or you can try to thwart your opponent's words.
Example
The following square scores the player 6 points for the words:
CARD, TOSS, COAT, RIPS, DOTS, and CUPS:
Domineering
The players take turns linking pairs of dots on a grid. The first player unable to move loses.
Description
The game is played on a matrix of dots.
The players take turns in linking a pair of adjacent dots. The first player, Blue, always makes a vertical link, and the other player, Red, always makes a horizontal link. No dot can be linked more than once.
The first player unable to move loses.
Example
In the following game Red is unable to move, and so loses:
3D Noughts and Crosses
Players take turns in marking squares on a 4 x 4 x 4 grid. The first player to get four squares in a row wins.
Description
To make the board draw four 4 x 4 grids stacked vertically, representing a 4 x 4 x 4 cube. It is easier to visualise the cube if you draw the grids in perspective.
The players take turns in drawing their symbol, O or X, in one of the cells. The first player to make a line of four cells in any direction wins. Winning lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal within one grid, vertical between grids, diagonal between grids, or diagonal in all three dimensions.
Example
In the following game O started, and won by making the line shown highlighted:
Countdown
Players compete to find the longest word from a set of 9 letters.
Description
The players take turns in choosing letters until 9 letters have been named. They then try to construct a word using just those letters. The player who has found the longest word wins.
Example
For example, if the players chose the letters:
QWERTYUIO
the players might find QUERY and EQUITY, EQUITY being the winner.
Gale
Players take turns in linking dots on overlapping grids. The first player to draw a continuous chain linking their ends of the board wins.
Description
To create the board first draw a rectangular array of 4 x 5 blue dots. Then draw an overlapping array of 5 x 4 red dots:
The players take turns in linking two adjacent dots of their own colour. No two links may cross. The first player to form a chain of links across the board, from top to bottom (blue) or left to right (red), wins.
The game can be played with larger overlapping arrays of n x n+1 dots. The game cannot be a draw because, to block their opponent, a player must themselves form a continuous chain.
Example
For example, in the following game blue wins by forming a chain from top to bottom:
History
Gale, also known as Bridgit, was invented by the mathematician David Gale.
It was described in "The Second Scientific American Book Of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions", Martin Gardner, The University of Chicago Press, 1961.
Dots and Boxes
Players take turns in drawing lines between dots on a grid. The player who completes the most boxes wins.
Description
The game is played starting with a rectangular array of dots.
The two players take turns to join two adjacent dots with a horizontal or vertical line. If a player completes the fourth side of a box they initial that box and must draw another line.
When all the boxes have been completed the winner is the player who has initialled the most boxes.
The game is more complex than it initially appears, and even on a 4x4 grid there is plenty of opportunity for skilful play.
Example
The following game on a 3x3 grid is won by Blue, who scores 3 against Red's one:
Scrambled Word Ladder Race
Each player chooses a word with the same number of letters. Both players then try to make a scrambled word ladder between the two words. The player with the shortest ladder wins.
Description
A scrambled word ladder is a sequence of words linked by either of the following steps:
Change one letter to make another word. Scramble the order of the letters to make another word.
One player chooses a starting word, and the other player then chooses an ending word of the same length. Both players then try to find a scrambled word ladder between the two chosen words. The player with shortest ladder wins. If neither player can find a ladder the game is a draw.
Example
For example, if one player chose WINE and the other player chose BEER a possible scrambled word ladder could be as follows:
Variations
To make the game more exciting impose a time limit of five minutes.
Sprouts
The players take turns in joining dots according to simple rules, until one player cannot make a move.
Description
Start by drawing two or more spots on a piece of paper.
Players then take turns to make a move, according to the following rules:
Draw a curve joining two spots, or a single spot to itself. The curve must not pass through another spot.
Draw a spot on the new curve.
No more than three lines can emerge from any spot.
The last player to be able to move wins.
The game is remarkably complicated, and even starting with two spots leads to an interesting game.
Example
In the following sample game with two spots Blue has the first move, and Red wins after 4 moves because Blue has no move:
History
Sprouts was invented by the mathematicians M. S. Paterson and J. H. Conway, and was analysed in Winning Ways, Academic Press, 1982.
Noughts and Crosses
Players take turns in marking squares on a 3 x 3 grid. The first player to get three squares in a row wins.
Description
This game, also called Ticktacktoe in the USA, is probably the best known pencil and paper game.
The game is played on a 3 x 3 grid, typically created by drawing a # on a piece of paper. One player is 'O' and the other is 'X'. Players take turns in drawing their symbol in one of the positions on the grid. The first player to make a line of three of their symbol horizontally, vertically, or diagonally wins.
If both players play perfectly the outcome is always a draw, but with inexperienced players the game is just complex enough to make the game interesting.
Example
For example, the following game shows how the first player can force a win by starting in the centre square if the second player is foolish enough to reply on the edge:
Function Game
One player tries to guess the other player's mathematical rule.
Description
The Chooser thinks of a rule that converts one number into another (a mathematician would call this a "function"). The Guesser then tries to guess the rule by testing it with different numbers.
For example, if the Chooser thought of the rule "double it and add one", the game might proceed as follows:
Guesser: "1" - Chooser: "3"
Guesser: "2" - Chooser: "5"
Guesser: "10" - Chooser: "21"
Guesser: "100" - Chooser" "201"
Guesser: "I think it's double and add one" - Chooser: "Correct!"
The rule can be anything you like, but sometimes the Guesser may have to guide the Chooser in the right direction; for example: "Try something larger", or "Try a negative number".
Examples
Here are some other suggested rules:
The number of letters in the word for the number (6 -> 3). 100 minus the number squared (9 -> 19).
The number reversed (17 -> 71)
Heads Bodies and Legs
Players take turns in drawing a head, a body, and a pair of legs, without letting the other player see them. The point of the game is the fun of seeing the resulting pictures.
Description Each player starts with a small piece of paper - half of A4 or US Letter is about right. Each player begins by drawing a head in the top third of the sheet, and then folds over the
paper so just the neck is showing:
The players then exchange pieces of paper, taking care not to let the other player see their drawing.
Each player then draws a body in the centre third of the paper, joining the neck lines, and folds over the paper so just the legs are showing:
Again, the players exchange pieces of paper. Finally, each player draws legs and feet, joining the leg lines, and folds the paper so
nothing is visible.
Finally, after exchanging again, each player opens their piece of paper to reveal the whole drawing:
Variations An amusing addition is to add an extra stage in which each player folds the page to leave
a blank strip at the bottom of the paper. After exchanging, each player writes a name for the drawing in the blank space.
Word Bulls & Cows
Players take turns in trying to guess each other's word.
Description
One player, the Chooser, thinks of a four-letter word and the other player, the Guesser, tries to guess it.
At each turn the Guesser tries a four-letter word, and the Chooser says how close it is to the answer by giving:
The number of Bulls - letters correct in the right position. The number of Cows - letters correct but in the wrong position.
The Guesser tries to guess the answer in the fewest number of turns.
If either word has repeated letters the rule is that each letter can only count towards the score once, and Bulls are counted before Cows.
Example
For example, if the Chooser has thought of the word LOVE the replies for some guesses are as follows:
Guess: FISH - Reply: 0 Bulls, 0 Cows. Guess: VAIN - Reply: 0 Bulls, 1 Cow.
Guess: LANE - Reply: 2 Bulls, 0 Cows.
Guess: VILE - Reply: 1 Bull, 2 Cows.
Guess: LOVE - Reply: 4 Bulls, 0 Cows!
Number Bulls & Cows
Players take turns in trying to guess each other's number.
Description
One player, the Chooser, thinks of a four-digit number and the other player, the Guesser, tries to guess it.
At each turn the Guesser tries a four digit number, and the Chooser says how close it is to the answer by giving:
The number of Bulls - digits correct in the right position. The number of Cows - digits correct but in the wrong position.
The Guesser tries to guess the answer in the fewest number of turns.
If either number has repeated digits the rule is that each digit can only count towards the score once, and Bulls are counted before Cows.
Example
For example, if the Chooser has thought of the number 2745 the replies for some guesses are as follows:
Guess: 1389 - Reply: 0 Bulls, 0 Cows. Guess: 1234 - Reply: 0 Bulls, 2 Cows.
Guess: 1759 - Reply: 1 Bull, 1 Cow.
Guess: 1785 - Reply: 2 Bulls, 0 Cows.
Guess: 2745 - Reply: 4 Bulls!
Pictionary
One player has to get the other players to guess a word by drawing a picture.
Description
The players should be in two teams. One team secretly thinks of a common phrase and whispers it to one member of the other team, chosen as the artist.
The artist then has to get the other members of their own team to guess the phrase by drawing a picture. They are not allowed to give clues by talking, or drawing letters or symbols.
Variations
One variation is for the artist to draw the picture with their eyes closed.
A commercial version of this game has been marketed in the UK
