Dice Game 55

One of the best things that has come out of this pandemic for me is that several times each week I get to talk to my best friend as we both get out for a morning walk at the crack of dawn. She has two kids herself, who are 5 and 7, and she’s a teacher (as is her husband), so she’s immersed in this experience from both sides of the school at home experience. A lot of our conversation is reflecting on the trials and tribulations of this time, but we also celebrate each other’s successes. Below I describe one such success, a game her family co-developed and coined Dice Game 55 (which was actually a happy accident of a typo and makes for quite a snazzy name!).

To play:

• Pick a goal number. Depending on the age of your players, this might be something around 40-80.
• Each player takes turns rolling a die and recording the number rolled in their own column.
• On your next turn, add what you rolled to the number in your column. Cross out the old number and record the new one below that one.
• If your total is ever 6 (or another number of your choosing, but not too high unless you’re a glutton for punishment or really love the idea of that giant slide at the end of Chutes & Ladders), you go back to zero.
• Continue playing until one player reaches the goal number. 

You may have played similar games or variation on this one, or received games like this from your child’s teacher. These simple games can be great for quick, fun practice of mental math and basic fluency. Here’s a game Marion received for her kindergartener: Take turns to compete to be the first to roll a die to get the sum of 20. But, if after you roll your sum ends up above 20 (e.g., you had 17 and then rolled 5), then you subtract that new roll from the total.