GAME FUN 6: Mathdoku

Mathdoku

Mthdoku or Calcudoku or call it by whichever name you like. Some will say its like sudoku or some will say no its only a calculation puzzle but hey! it's good news because it's both. I won't go to its history this time because I don't think its an old game. I really want to talk about my fondness to this game though, I call this game my accidental love. I am a helpless HTCITY reader and I think their editor is doing a good job by devoting a whole section to brainy or want to brainy people too. yes! I am talking about the same page where they have horoscopes, cartoons, and my favorite sudoku and Mathdoku. From there only, I found my love.
 It is an amazing game that not only involves mere positioning of numbers but all basic mathematical operations too. It gives us a good strategic planning and simple calculation practices to mind. This kind of seems hypothetical but by practicing these simple calculation puzzles can help us in problem-solving questions later on. These give our cute little mind a practice to do basic logical reasoning.
This whole puzzle is a 5 X 5 box with all columns and rows marked as a table. There are some dark outlines that give you a path where the calculation, with the result and operation, are given, goes. You just have to read the operation and the given number which should come out as a result then find out the numbers responsible for that result with the given operation. Do remember numbers from 1 to 5 can only be used and cannot be repeated in any row or column twice.
Please remember you can also find a different version of the same game, it could be with different number of grids as 4 X 4 or 6 X 6. The one I have mentioned here is the simplest one you can easily find in the mentioned newspaper. 

GAME FUN 5: OTHELLO (REVERSI)

OTHELLO which is originally named as REVERSI.
Reversi is a strategy board game for two players. It contains an 8X8 uncheckerd board and 64 small identical discs colored light on one side and dark on other(preferably black on one side and white on the other). Players take a turn and place a disc on the board with his/her color of the disc facing up so changing the in-between opponent's disc in his own color by turning them over. In the end, the player with a maximum no of discs with his colour facing up will win.
This game is invented in 1883. later in 1971, it is patented in Japan. a modern version of this game which is used in tournaments internationally id known as OTHELLO. There is a slight difference in both the games. The first four pieces go in the center, but in a standard diagonal pattern, rather then being placed by the players. Another difference of Reversi from Othello is that in the first one the game ends as soon as either player cannot make a move, while in the latter the player without a move simply passes. There are many tournaments played for Othello. It is an amazing game that enhances your logic and strategic patterns understanding. This game is good for all ages but with a lower age limit as 4. i can say this since my 4 and a half-year-old also plays it.
So buy this game and spend evenings with your kids enjoying with great learning. 

Sudoku fun

My 8 year old always fond of numbers. No matter if there is a test or any other home assignment you can never make him study in one go but, if its mathematics he will do it. his love of numbers made him do a lot of puzzles and math games. One of his favorites is Sudoku. First, we started with a 4*4 grid then eventually we came to 6*6. Now, we are planning to the time limit it with an increased difficulty level.

Sudoku was originally called Number Place. It is a logic-based number-placement puzzle.it was initially started around the 1980s under its previous names and printed in many french newspapers. then it spread over the years to many countries and now popular among every aged people. the one we are using today is a modern Sudoku. Nowadays we use many variants of Sudoku as mini-sudoku, alphabet sudoku, master sudoku, etc.

There are many competitions of Sudoku worldwide.

So if you have not tried yet, please try it it's worth your time.

Have you tried UNO yet?

You must have heard this term a lot of time before "Uno". This is an American card game that originated in 1971. This is a very popular card game among kids and easily available in local markets. This is a very useful game that can increase strategy planning color and number coordination among kids. My 3-year-old daughter can easily recognize all the numbers and colors partly because of this game. I have been playing this game with my son for many days and I can proudly say he taught me one or two tactics to win this game from your opponent. Previously there was only 6 kind of cards were there in the deck -skip, reverse, draw 2, wild, wild +4, number cards of different colors, but now one more type of card is included in the deck which is swap hands. Anyone can easily learn and play this game. This game has its own benefits above other card games since it deals with numbers and colors including the concept of similarity in terms of colors and numbers. Don't wait. Start playing. Happy playing!!!     

"fuss with the boards" AGAIN??

Class X

Its been eight years. I know the count since from that year I didn't encounter someone who is saying "oh! you have Boards this year. You better practice good, you have boards". Yes, I am talking about board exams. Eight years prior CBSE announced that they will not conduct board exams for class 10th. Now in the year, 2018 boards came back for class 10th. Along with it, all the fuss comes again. I really don't get it what this fuss is all about. Why does everybody cares, where the exams are going to be? What their exams will be called? Who will check their papers? With whom they will be going to sit in the exams?  Maybe its years of teaching experience, now I don't think as which questions are important? I think in a way what I might have given in a paper if I have to prepare a question paper for lakhs of different students all over India unanimously. Many of them don't even have any reference books which are available in the market easily. So if you or any of your relatives is giving boards this year then please look at how many positives we have about these board exams. 

1. Questions prepared to keep in mind the difficulty level for all.
2. The objectivity and reliability of the paper is really high so there are actually not many different
    ways to solve a particular question which minimize the confusion among children.
3. The time limit is set taking care of all the aspects.
4. Calculations are kept generally easy because they don't really want to check your basic
    calculation skills instead they want to check your clarity of concepts.
5. We do have a marking scheme provided by the CBSE. They strictly adhere to it.
6. They have given a book i.e. NCERT as per the reference book. So maybe the questions will not
    be exactly copied from there but the pattern will be approx. same for most of the questions.
7. Congratulations! good news is ten years are back in the market, and believe me questions do
    repeat. If they don't repeat then the pattern does.
8. The four markers are relatively easy and their type is already set so practice for them first before
    your exams.
9. Teachers know that you are giving boards for the very first time. They understand the unseen hype
    related to the boards. So they are very helpful in every manner.
10. Checking for the exams are relatively lenient than class 9th but don't make a fool of yourself that
      they will distribute marks for free. So, please study and write to get marks.
11. The questions will be written in Hindi and English both. So if you have any language problem,
      believe me, understanding word problems are quite easy this way.
12. The question papers do have sets, But that doesn't mean that your friend got an easier paper
      than yours instead, questions are generally the same only number changes.
13. Schools are off way prior to your exams so u already got a lot of preparatory leaves.
14. Even in schools the syllabus usually finished by November. You got months for practice.

Please don't panic. These are exams with better knowing pattern, better date sheet as exams in schools doesn't have these many holidays.
Revise properly, Practise wisely. Your hard work will definitely pay.
Good luck!!

Brainvita or Peg solitaire

Have you ever played Brainvita? The circular board game with many holes in it, played usually alone with many marbles. Yes, I am talking about the same game which you must have played when you were getting bored alone. Let me tell you first it is not only a game of marbles and some positioned holes rather it is a strategic game involved mathematics which helps your brain development.
This game Brainvita is actually known as Peg Solitaire worldwide. it involves the movement of pegs on a board with holes. Some played it using marbles, the type we usually find in toy stores. In the UK this game is simply known as the solitaire. In the standard game, the board is entirely filled with pegs leaving the central hole. The objective is to make the entire board empty except for a solitary peg in the central hole by making only valid movements. The valid move is to jump a peg (or marble in case of Brainvita) orthogonally or perpendicularly over an adjacent peg into a hole two positions away and then to remove the jumped peg(or marbles). We can also say that we can make a valid move by jumping or skipping a peg towards the right or left or up or down on the board and by removing the peg which we jumped. There are two types of standard boards English and European. The European traditional board contains 4 more holes than the English one. There are many solutions which can be easily found on the internet for both the European and English type. But there are solutions which are claimed and proved to be the shortest also. Peg solitaires can be played on any size and shape of boards with a different number of holes. One of the variants which are very popular nowadays is a triangular board in which jumps are allowed in all three directions. So don't wait and start playing. Give your brain some good exercise.... 

Dominoes are not about pizza only

Hey! that is true. Whenever we hear the word 'domino' our noses filled with the rich fragrance of herbs, our mouth waters with the taste of pizza. But hold your thought. Here I am not talking about domino's pizza instead I am talking about dominoes game.
Dominoes is a family of strategy games played with rectangular "domino" tiles. Each domino is a rectangular tile with a line dividing its face into two square ends. Each end of which is marked with a number of dots starting from zero to six. This game is originated from China. This is known to be a game which is originated to show the faces of double dice throw (as in probability). The tiles are also known as bones or bone sticks. this game is later introduced to Europe. Later a lot of versions of his game were introduced. Blank faces tiles were introduced very late. The traditional Sino-European domino set consists of 28 dominoes. The heaviest tile or the highest value piece has 6 pips (or dots) on each end. The player with the highest of doubles within his tiles generally plays first.
So this is the time to forget about comics, video games, mobile phones and start playing this wonderful game. You can easily make these tiles at home using cardboard plane sheets and a marker. All you need to do is to watch a simple video to learn how to play this game and you are all set to play.
So, Best of Luck!! and yes don't forget to tell me whether you like it or not?