Game of tens
This game is intended to help children recognize at a glance groups of numbers that add up to a multiple of ten. This skill is very useful in dot addition (which we have been using to add columns of numbers; we will add units on this topic shortly), but we do not know whether it transfers from one situation (a game) to another (adding a column of numbers).
The game is played with one or more decks of cards from which all face cards and tens have been removed, leaving only A, 2, 3, ..., 9 in each suit (36 cards). Each player is dealt the same number of cards (three to seven). The game with three cards is the easiest, slowest, and least interesting. In the examples we'll use a five-card game.
The dealer deals out the cards. Players take turns. In his/her turn a player puts down, face-up, any number of cards that add up to a multiple of ten (an ace counts as one). For example, a player has 3, 6, 5, 7, 7. She may put down 6, 7, 7, because 6 + 7 + 7 = 20, or 3, 7, because 3 + 7 = 10.
She completes her turn by taking more cards from the remaining pile to complete her hand back to five.
If when it is a player's turn, he/she does not have cards that add to a multiple of ten, the player takes one extra card from the dealer, but does not get to lay down any multiples of ten on that turn.
When all cards are used up, each player counts the sum of all his/her cards that are face up in front of him/her. This number is always a multiple of ten. He/she subtracts from this number the sum of the values of the cards left in his/her hand. This is the player's score. The highest score wins the hand. You may play many hands, keeping the total score. Again, the highest total wins the game.
Example of a score: Cards in front of a player are A, A, 2, 2, 5, 5, 7, 8, and 9, which add up to 40. Cards left in the player's hand are 3 and 5, which add up to 8. The player's score is 40 - 8 = 32.
The game can be played by any number of players; 2, 3, or 4 players are probably the best. With four players, a seven-card game would require two decks of cards.
The total sum of the cards in one deck is 4*(1 + 2 + ... + 9) = 4*45 = 180.
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