Session Five

In class on Monday, we had a play test where other group members played our game.  Overall, we were happy with the results of the play test.  However, before play testing 32, I began to research and calculate the probabilities of the number 32.  I came up with very interesting statistics, which we were seeing in our own game play.  I found out that the number's 8 and 9 were the most common numbers to get to 32. Considering we only have odd numbers in our deck, we don't have to worry about the 8's. Using this fact though, we decided to limit the number of 7 and 9's in the deck in order to make the game a bit more challenging.  We decided to limit 7's as well as 9's because it is the second highest card in the deck.  In fact, by doing this, the game is lasting longer and making it a bit more challenging.

Along with researching this, I did a few calculations for the number 32.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 5 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 5 5 5

1 1 5 5 5 5 5 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 7

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 7 7

1 1 1 1 7 7 7 7

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 9

1 1 1 1 1 9 9 9

9 9 9 5

9 9 9 3 1 1

9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1

9 9 7 7

9 9 7 5 1 1

9 9 7 3 1 1 1 1

9 9 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

9 9 5 5 1 1 1 1

9 9 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1

9 9 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

9 9 3 3 5 1 1 1

This is not all of them, but it gave me the idea that there are numerous ways to come up with 32 using 1,3,5,7,9. However, I had to consider that there are less 9's and 7's compared to 1,3, or 5. This does show that there would be many ways to come up with 32. Using the deck we have, it would take a very long to calculate all of the possibilities from the numerous scenarios that could happen.  I would need a computer number generator to do that. 

From there, we wrote up a rough draft of the rules in class on Monday. 

1.         Players are dealt four cards.
2.         Choose the best two you think will help reach 32!
3.         Operation cards are needed to add, subtract, or multiply any of the cards. However, any same colored cards may be added anytime.
4.         Players may use ‘steal’ card at anytime to steal or swap a card from another player.
5.         Repeat steps until the first player has called out 32.
6.         Players must use all of their number cards when reaching 32, but are not required to use all of their operation cards.
7.         Winner of the round gets to keep his/her combination of cards that reach 32.
8.         The game restarts once the round is over, and the overall winner is the player who has acquired the most cards.

The two other members from the other group that test played said our rules were clear and straight to the point.  There were some suggested additions we make to the game. This included: 1. offering scrap paper and pens to keep track of the math as you play the game. 2. The winner of the overall game should be the player who has acquired 20 cards (or let the players choose the amount depending on how much time they want to play). This way the game does not become frustrating in the end or even too long and boring. 3. Operation cards should be put back in the deck when the player wins one round. This was an important rule that needs to be added because there are only so many operation cards in the deck, so if players got to keep them along with the number cards, their could potentially be only a few operation cards left.  This would cause an extreme frustration considering the operation cards are an important component in reaching 32 in each round. 4. The steal cards are also to be shuffled back into the deck once they are used. While playing, we realized we didn't know what to do once someone used their steal card. It worked best when the player just placed it back in the deck making it possible for another person to be able to get the steal card. 5. Players couldn't use their steal card once everyone has picked their two cards from the four they are dealt in each round. We happen to come across this issue when Mike wanted to steal my 7, which was in my hand from the four cards I was just dealt. However, I wasn't sure if I was even going to keep that card. Therefore, we decided that steal cards can be used any time, but after everyone has picked their two cards in order to make it an even playing field.

These were the suggestions and additions that we will use to finalize our game. In the end, we are very happy with the way it turned out.  We feel, along with the other two members who test played, that the steal card is just enough social element for the game. It forces everyone to be aware of everyone else's cards because they may have that number or operation card you need to reach 32. We all agreed that it is a fun and challenging game that really gets your mind going with the numbers.

The next time we meet, we plan on doing the design for the cards and start writing the final rules.  We're excited to see how everything comes out! We hope everyone else is too!!

Session Four

Today we have continued doing more play testing. We added the "steal" element to the game. The steal element worked great in the beginning. We would have a bunch of "steal" cards in the decks that would be allocated. Once a player had a "steal" in his pile, he would have the ability to use it towards anyone. He would steal a player's card and either replace one of his unwanted cards or draw a new card to keep the amount of cards consistent.

The next element we tried adding was the "battle card". Unfortunately this started creating the illusion of skill but it ended up  only being a different degree of chance. This overall made the game a bit more complicated.

At the end we decided to keep the game a bit more simple. We would have all our cards mixed. There would be different colored cards. Cards with the same color could be added, or else you would need an operation card to combine cards of different color.

Session Three

Today in class we did a lot of test play. We came up with new ideas and rules to make the game work.  We first made it that only odd numbers were used in the deck, and also included operation cards. The operation cards are either multiplication and subtraction, because we felt division would create the problem of fractions.  Each round is a different color, where each player is dealt four cards and then pick two to keep.  The player will assume the number cards to be added unless they have an operation card.  We decided to also add in the element of a blank card that may be used as any number between 1 and 10, even or odd, or an operation card.  However, in the player's answer, they may only have two blank cards where one must be a number and one must be an operation.  We have also incorporated a point system in which the player who reaches 32 the fastest receives 3 points. The other players may continue playing, and the player who is 2nd will receive 2 points, and 3rd place receives 1 point.  This way the players can play multiple rounds to reach a certain amount of points.
We are meeting later tonight to continue talking about the game. Professor Goeller has advised us to think of an idea that would include more interaction between the players. We plan on thinking of some ideas that would incorporate some element of player interaction.  Overall, we think we are making leaps and bounds with the game. 

Session Two

Today we met as a group outside of class.  We are trying to brainstorm some ideas in order to work out some of the kinks.  We think we are making progress by incorporating some new rules we thought of.  The next time we meet in class, we were thinking of beginning to test play. We figure this will really allow us to see what rules work and what doesn't.  We decided it was hard to just talk about the rules without actually playing it because it's hard to imagine every situation you may come to.
Overall, we think we are really making progress with this game, and hope all of you will soon get to enjoy it!

Session One

Basically, we have decided on creating a math-based card game based on Sammi's idea. There are still many kinks that need to be worked out regarding the actual gameplay. Currently, we are brainstorming on ways to make the game more interesting. We had a lot of help from Professor Goeller to make our game more dynamic and ways for it to work. We looked at various sites online to capture a few ideas.

http://www.makingmathmorefun.com/samples/Math Card Games Samples.pdf

(thisi is a great link for some some math card game ideas)

www.mathdice.com
(this is a great link to show how math games are effective in the classroom)
-There is also an online game version on this websie