I’m Thinking Of A Number
The setup
There are two people – the Puzzler, who thinks of a number, and the Questioner, who discovers the number.
How to play
To start, the Puzzler says, “Bowser is a number from 0 to 12.” The Questioner then asks questions of the form “How does Bowser compare to 4?” The Puzzler then says Bowser is smaller, equal to, or larger than 4.
Example
The Puzzler thinks of 11. The discussion could go like this:
- Puzzler: Stripes is a number between 0 and 15.
- Questioner: How does Stripes compare to 8?
- Puzzler: Stripes is bigger than 8.
- Questioner: How does Stripes compare to 12?
- Puzzler: Stripes is less than 12.
- Questioner: How does Stripes compare to 10?
- Puzzler: Stripes is bigger than 10.
- Questioner: Is your number 11?
- Puzzler: Yes, congratulations!
Variations
Make this into a game by counting the questions. After alternating turns, the player asking the smaller total number of questions wins.
As your child’s mathematics develops, use other kinds of questions, such as “Is Bowser even?” or “Is Bowser a prime number?”
Helping your child
First and foremost, playing math games should be fun, like any other game your family plays together!
Please let your child make poor plays (mistakes) without correction, and resist the urge to tell them the best ways to play. Bit by bit, your child will get better at the game, and they will learn so much more if you let them figure things out. There is no hurry.
If you see your child make a mistake, ask them to describe why they decided to do what they did. If your child is stuck and doesn’t know which play to make, ask them to describe the pros and cons of their choices, or ask them about how they solved a similar situation in the past. If your child doesn’t remember how to do a calculation, discuss with them the methods they know for figuring it out. These conversations are important for helping your child to develop mathematically.
Through math game play and math conversations, you are helping your child learn to enjoy math and develop important problem solving skills!