Nice and Nasty


Why play these games?

These games are thought provoking and very engaging. They encourage discussion of place value and strategic mathematical thinking.

Resource downloads

Instructions sheet
Scoring sheet

Possible approach

These games can be played with 1-6 die but ideally would be played with a decahedral 0-9 dice or spinner. Interactive Spinners or Dice and Spinners can be used to simulate dice.

Ask the students to each draw a set of four boxes. Throw the dice and ask them to place the number in any of the boxes. Do this three more times. Then ask who has the largest four digit number. What would you have done differently if you knew in advance you were trying to make the biggest number?
Play the game again several times drawing out strategies that the students use.

Working in pairs, set the students off on playing game 1.
When appropriate, move onto the other games clarifying the targets and scoring system for each.

Key questions

Why are some cells more significant than others?

Possible extension

You may wish to move the students on to Dicey Operations .

Possible support

Start with two, then three boxes, before moving onto four. Choose the easiest scoring system or allow calculators for scoring the more difficult version. Allow pairs of students to play against other pairs, so that they can support each other.