Teaching Math through Games

Undergraduate Cody Gotchall is pursuing a degree in accounting from Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. Cody Gotchall has a long-standing love of math, sparked in part by learning the card game cribbage from his father as a child. 

Playing cards and board games are two fun, engaging ways for parents to practice basic math concepts with their children. Some ideas using popular game pieces are described below.

Blackjack - This addition game uses ordinary playing cards and can be played by two to four people. The goal is to draw cards that come the closest to adding up to 21 without going over. In this game, face cards are worth 10, while aces can symbolize 1 or 11, depending on when they are drawn.

Mastermind - Usually played in pairs, one player makes a four-piece pattern containing a combination of six possible colors. The other player attempts to recreate the pattern. After each attempt, the first player uses white and black pieces to show if any of the pieces are in the correct color, in the correct order, or both. This guessing game teaches important logic concepts such as deductive reasoning, pattern recognition, and experimentation.

Rummikub - The goal of Rummikub is to organize tiles numbered from 1-13 into sequential sets. During each player’s first turn, his or her set must add up to 30 or higher. If this isn’t possible, the player must collect tiles from the pool. The round ends when one player can place all of his or her remaining tiles into one set.