PebblesAuthor(s): Jo WaddingtonSource: Mathematics in School, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan., 1986), p. 59Published by: The Mathematical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30227261 .

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PEBBLES by Jo Waddington,

Resources for Learning Unit, Bristol

Game Description

This is a strategy game for two players which involves the use of basic skills in number operations. It uses the gameboard and nine counters as shown in Figure 1.

Player A begins by placing three pebbles on each of the squares labelled x2, x7, x9 as shown in the Figure. Player B must then pick up all the pebbles from any one of the three squares and place one in the next square (clockwise), the second pebble in the second square and the third pebble in the third square. It is the last square that is important for the purpose of scoring.

Player B must count the number of pebbles in the last square and multiply it by the number written on the square.

Thus if he begins by taking all three pebbles from the square marked x 7, he places one pebble on square x 6, one on square x 9 and the final pebble on square x 8. Since this is the only pebble on square x 8 his score is 1 x 8 or 8. Had he chosen to take the three pebbles from square x 2 he would then have placed the final pebble on the square x 7 with the three already there so his score would have been 4 x 7 or 28.

The game proceeds with player A taking all the pebbles from any square on the revised board and repeating the one pebble in each square process and hence calculating his score.

The winner of the game can be decided by various rules such as the one with the highest score after 10 goes, the first to reach an accumulated score of 100 or starting with 100 and subtracting points scored from this, the first to zero.

Mathematics in School, January 1986 59

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