Number Up

Ernestine Bickham              Maria Saucedo Magnet School
                               2850 W. 24th Blvd.
                               Chicago, Il 60623
                               312-534-1770

Objectives:

Using a deck of cards, the seventh and eighth grade student will be able to 
practice:

        1.  Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers.
        2.  Order of operations.

Materials needed:

Decks of cards with all face cards removed.
Chips of cards with ( ), +, -, *, /  for the players to place between cards.

Strategy:

OBJECT OF THE GAME:  To be the first player to use his/her 5 cards and the order
                     of operations to attain the given value.

RULES:
1.  No picture cards are used.  Aces = 1.  All other cards are face value.
2.  To determine the dealer each player draws a card from the deck.  High card 
    determines the dealer.  The dealer goes first and play proceeds to the left.  
    The next deal also proceeds to the left.
3.  The player with the most points wins.  All winning hands must be proved 
    verbally and visually.
4.  Deal 5 cards to each player.
5.  The dealer then places a card face up in the middle of the playing surface.
6.  Each player may use any or all operations (addition, subtraction,  
    multiplication, division).  Parentheses can be used.
7.  Using the 5 cards and the above operations, each player tries to attain the 
    value of the card that was placed in the middle of the playing surface.
8.  The first player to attain the desired value and state his/her equation and 
    answer verbally wins 1 point.
9.  The player(s) with the most points at the end of 5 games wins.

EXAMPLE:  Desired value = 8    Cards dealt:  9,2,3,2,5
          A winning combination:  2 * (2 * 3) + 5 - 9 = 8  

Suggested variations:   Use poker chips (blue, red, white) as points.
          First person to attain the given value gets a blue chip, the second, a
          red and the third a white.  You may give a value to each chip, blue
          being the highest, then red and white. 

References:

It's In The Cards!  Math Card Games Instruction Manual
Developed by:  Diane P. Schiller, PhD, Deborah O'Connor, Catherine Thomas,  
               Debra Ann Jagielski.  Loyola University of Chicago, 1989.