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Hobbies—My Games
The Most Special Snowflake

I know lots of math games. But there is always room for one more, especially if it is fast-paced, fun, and flexible about the number of players.

The Most Special Snowflake is © 2013 by David L. Van Slyke

Setup

Draw our print a game board. Get one ten-sided die.

Before the game starts, everyone agrees on a number to be N. Beginners should use N = 3.

Game Play

The game board has eight paths of four squares.

snowflake game board

Players take turns:

  1. Roll a ten-sided die.
  2. Write the number on one of the paths, in the empty square closest to the center.
  3. Add up the outermost numbers from all the paths (the most recent numbers added to each path).
  4. If that sum is a multiple of N you score one point!

Then the next player takes a turn.

The round ends when all four paths are full. The player with the most points wins the round.

Variations

Younger players may need to use objects to keep track of the current game board sum. By grouping these objects into sets of four, players not yet familiar with mutiples can visually see when they score a point.

Older players might enjoy using goads, as done with dominoes.

Instead of using a ten-sided die, use two four-sided dice and the player who rolls them gets to pick which is for the tens place-value and which is for the ones place-value.