The goal of the game is to score the most points
possible. Points are scored by rolling a
single die. Each time the die is rolled,
you must add the number on the die to the sum of your previous rolls. (This game provides students an awesome
opportunity to practice their mental math skills.) A player can roll the die as many times as
they wish. However, if a 1 is rolled,
the player's score goes to zero. If this
happens, you become known as a “greedy pig.”
Whenever you are happy with your score, you may choose to stop.
We had students play in groups of four with one student both
playing and serving as the scorekeeper.
Students were competing to earn both the highest score per round and the
highest score of the class period. A
round consisted of each player in the group taking one turn.
This game taught me to appreciate the existence of foam
dice. They are silent. They are much less likely to go flying off
the desks at every turn. My students
enjoyed playing the game with the larger foam dice.
Even though we discussed the probability of rolling a 1 on a
standard die, many students still mistakenly believed that the probability of
rolling a 1 increased with each roll of the die.
This game provided students with excellent, much-needed
mental math practice, sparked many excellent conversations about probability,
and made for a relaxing class period the day after taking the state math
test.
Other versions of this game feature a single roller for the
die. To begin, the entire class stands
up. When students are happy with their
score, they sit down. When a 1 is
rolled, any students who are standing receive the score of zero and are “greedy
pigs.”
