ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the many educators who shared their expertise to make this book possible In particular Judith Hankes contributed her material about the dream catcher Esther Ilutsik shared her knowledge of Yup ik border patterns Marcia Ascher set me straight on the solution to the river crossing puzzle involving the jealous husbands and Beverly Ferrucci shared Japanese paper cutting and several games I am grateful to the authors of the many books listed in the Bibliography that were a source of information and inspiration for this collection Cynthia Sherry was a most concerned and involved editor she played all the games and carried out the activities pointing out my mistakes and occasional lack of clarity I take full responsibility for any remaining
Introduction id you know that some of the games that kids play were invented hundreds even thousands of years ago Today you can play computer ver sions of Tic tac toe and Oware games that go back at least 3 300 years to ancient Egypt The games puzzles and projects in this book come from all parts of the world Africa Asia Europe North America and the island nations of Hawaii the Philippines and New Zealand called Aotearoa by the Maori people who first lived there These activi ties will introduce you to the people who played the games who solved the puzzles and who designed the art You will exercise your brain as you solve puzzles like the African children's network that a European scientist said was impossible You will follow the lead of Islamic artists who made beautiful patterns using only a compass and a straightedge unmarked ruler You will design and decorate game boards and make the game pieces you will need to play some of the games You will make models of the homes that different people around the world live in In all of these activities you will be using math Many of these math ideas are probably different from
the math you learn in school If a puzzle or activity doesn't work out at first just keep trying Read the hints and suggestions carefully You might want to discuss the problem with a friend teacher or family member Two heads are better than one Most of the activities are self checking you will know whether they are correct See Chapter 10 for the answers to some of these activities but you prob ably won't need them It's much more satisfying to work out the solution yourself even if it takes a while In this book you will read about two types of games for two or more people games of strategy and games of chance Some games require a game board and certain types of playing pieces or counters Players must decide how they are going to move their pieces on the board These are called games of strate gy Another kind of game depends upon the way the pieces fall The players have no control over the out come of the game and such games are called games of chance It is interesting to see how a game changes as it travels from one place to another and is passed along from ancient times to the present Three in a row games and mankala games are good examples You will learn several versions of each of these games The games of strategy require several types of game boards Although you can draw them on paper you will probably want boards that last for a while Use sections of cardboard or mat board and draw the
lines neatly with the help of a ruler It's a good idea to make a pattern on a sheet of scratch paper first Be sure you measure carefully Many of these games call for two kinds of counters or markers Kings and princes used to play with beautiful pieces made of gold and ivory Ordina people used pebbles seeds or bits of twig peeled and unpeeled You can use red and black checkers or two kinds of coins beans or buttons Or you might like to make your own special counters Most of the games of strategy are for two players or two teams You can also play them by yourself Pretend that you are two people and play on both sides of the board This is a good way to learn a new game or to work out the fine points of strategy as though you were solving a puzzle Some people play games just to win and get upset when they lose Playing a game should be fun When one player always wins the other player must always lose and may give up after a while Helping an oppo nent to improve his or her skills makes the game more interesting for both players In traditional games of strategy for two players one side wins and the other side loses Each player should have an equal chance of winning In some games the first player to move is more likely to win Players should take turns going first in this type of game Perhaps you can figure out changes in the rules so that both players are winners Cooperation may be more rewarding than
