Zebra
Herds multiply together, so three threes beat one nine — and a stone left on its own throws itself away.
- Grades
- 3–6
- Subjects
- Multiplying & Dividing, Logic, Shapes & Space
- Kind
- Two-player game
- Cost
- Free, no account, no ads
- Original
- Zebra at MathPickle
What it is
A field of hexagons, striped black and white like the animal. You lay two stones a turn, and either colour may be the one you lay. When the last cell fills, your herds — stones of your colour that touch — are multiplied together, and that product is your score.
What it gives you to practise
Multiplication as a reason rather than a result. Three herds of three score 27 and one herd of nine scores 9, so bigger is worse, and a stone left on its own multiplies everything by one and throws the turn away. The best thing on the board is why you would ever lay the rival’s colour: fill the gap between two of their herds of three and the two fuse into a single animal of seven, so 3 × 3 = 9 falls to 7. Sometimes the deadliest stone you lay is theirs.
In a classroom
Made by graduate students at Dalhousie University, after Nick Bentley’s game Produto. Four rivals to play against, a hot seat for two on one tablet, and an online room. Balanced Zebra is the same field as a solitaire puzzle, for the arithmetic without an opponent in the way.
The rules
A zebra's pelt is striped black and white, and so is this field of hexagons. Two herds fill it, and when the last cell is taken the sizes of your herds are multiplied together.
A turn is two stones on any empty cells, and tapping a stone again turns it into the rival's colour — you may lay either colour.
The very first stone of the game stands alone: whoever opens lays one, and only from the next turn on does anyone lay two.
Stones of one colour that touch are one herd, and your score is your herd sizes multiplied together.
So why would you ever lay their colour? Because joining two of their herds can shrink their score: fill the gap between two herds of three and they fuse into one animal of seven — 3 × 3 = 9 falls to 7. Sometimes the deadliest stone you lay is theirs.
Zebra was made by graduate students at Dalhousie University, after Nick Bentley's game Produto.
Near it on the shelf
- Balanced ZebraBoth colours have to multiply out to the same number, and then to the largest that shape allows.
- GozenYour next number is forced, so a prime is always coming — and on a prime only a square nobody watches will do.
- Fractured FractionsOne point cuts the whole picture at once, and every piece has to come out holding the fraction written on it.