The Paddock Game
Math Concepts
Rectangle area, products of numbers 1-10
Materials
Graph paper, pencils, deck of playing cards
Players
2- 4
Set up
Each player gets a piece of graph paper and a pencil
Play
For a player’s turn, use two random numbered playing cards from 1 to 10 to determine the dimensions of a rectangle. If a player’s paper has room, the rectangle may be placed anywhere the rectangle’s interior does not overlap with the interior of an existing rectangle. Once placed it cannot be moved, and its interior is lightly shaded and its area and dimensions are written on it. If there is no room, the turn is skipped.
Goal
The player with the largest total shaded area wins.
Discussions and Tips
Discuss strategies for rectangle placement. Is it better to put a rectangle along the edges or in the middle?
Variations
For a normal piece of graph paper, this can be a long game– reduce the time by using half the paper or limiting the number of turns.