Three (3) or Four (4)

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NOTE:

Although this game can be played by two players, it is more interesting when played by three or four players.

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A player shuffles the deck and places five cards face up on the playing surface.  This player leaves the rest of the deck face down and then turns over and lays down the top card from the deck.  The number on this card is the number to be named.

In turn, players try to (re)name the number on the set-apart top card by adding or subtracting the numbers on two of the five face up cards.

• A successful player takes both the two face up cards and the number-named top card.  A successful player also replaces those three cards by drawing from the top of the face down deck.
• Unsuccessful players lose their turns.  But they turn over and lay down the top card from the face down deck, and the number on this card then becomes the new number to be named.

Play continues until all face down cards have been turned over.  The player who has taken the most cards at the end wins.

Mae selects 4+2.  She takes the 4, 2, and 6 cards.  She replaces the 4 and 2 cards with the top two cards from the face down deck and then turns over and lays down the next card to replace the 6 (see below for results).

The new number to be named is 16.  Mike can't find two cards with which to name 16, so he loses his turn.  He also turns over the next card from the face down deck and places it on top of 16, and the number on this card becomes the new number to be named.

Play continues as before.

Game Variations:

If children are finding the game difficult, increase the number of face up cards.

Use any combinations of two or more numbers and all operations.

For example, Mike could have named 16 as follows:

• 10 + 7 - 1

• 10 + 12 - 7 + 1

• 8 + 12 - 10 + 7 - 1

Children can experiment by using different numbers of face up cards.