Peg Maths Game
There are a huge variety of peg maths games around where you can have hours of fun solving problems using those little pegs. Mostly they consist of jumping over other pegs, just like checkers, to leave one remaining peg and there are different shaped boards as well as the puzzles themselves. The peg maths game is generally played by one player alone, a bit like solitaire, although there are some you can find that require two players. In fact you can always take it in turns with the individual games if you want to play with a friend or sibling, but no arguing. The games can vary from simple to complex and depending on your ability level, you will always be able to find one that suits you.
Peg solitaire
One very popular peg maths game is peg solitaire where the board is a cross shape and has a total of 33 holes drilled into it and all the holes, except the central one, are filled with pegs. The principle is the same as with other wooden peg games, i.e. to remove all the pegs from the board leaving just one but this is rather a difficult game and will take a lot of logical thinking and perseverance to complete because there are only 5 places on the whole board where the final peg can end to complete the sequence.
It can all be worked out mathematically!
The trick to completing a peg maths game is all down to formulas and that can take all the fun away if you know you can work it out by mathematical formula, but that’s the truth. Of course it isn’t as easy as adding and subtracting, the formula is much more complex than that and if you have even a passing interest you should discover the formula for yourself and see how it works but I’m not going to give it here, as there are so many other sources where you can find it.
Finding these peg games online
As with most things today, you can find a great many peg maths games that have been converted to be played online and while you do not have actual pegs to move, you will instead follow the rules that have been developed there. There is an excellent peg maths game online that is played in a similar way but each peg is attributed a value and each move that is made affects your score. This game includes the following mathematical signs:
- Division
- Multiplication
- Addition
- Subtraction
Every time you choose a peg to jump over another one your score has to be influenced by the value on the peg that has been removed from the board. For example, if your score stood at 19 and your peg jumped over another peg that had a value of +5 on it, your score would now stand at 24.
Devise your own game
You don’t have to stick to the old games, you can invent a peg maths game yourself to help teach children maths. Just create a board with holes in it and add different colored pegs, give each peg a number (don’t make it too complicated) and each time your child moves a peg ask them a maths question based on the move, this way they will learn maths so much quicker.