In March this year, NACE members had the opportunity to preview and trial a new maths game being developed by the team at NRICH – a University of Cambridge initiative providing free online maths resources that promote challenging, enriching learning experiences.
The game in question has now been launched, and in this blog post the NRICH team explain how it works, and how you and your learners can get playing.
Question: What happens when you bring together Tiddlywinks and football?
Answer: You get Phiddlywinks!
In this blog we’ll learn more about Phiddlywinks, including the charismatic mathematician who inspired the game and role of NACE members in bringing it to our screens.
What is Phiddlywinks?
Phiddlywinks is a strategy game for two players. The winner is the first player to get the white counter into the coloured region at the opposite end of the board. Player 1 is aiming for the blue region and Player 2 for the red region.
The game begins with the white counter in the centre circle.
Players take it in turns to either:
- Place a black counter on the board or
- Move the white counter.
The white counter moves by jumping in a straight line over one or more black counters. A player may be able to make more than one jump when it is their turn.
To get started, consider this screenshot from a game which is underway. Both players have chosen to use their turns to add black counters to the board (you’ll notice that the white counter remains in its starting position). It is Player 1’s turn. Can you see how Player 1 might move the white counter to win the game?
Here’s one possible winning move:
- Player 1 clicks on 7E (or 8F) and the white counter moves to 9G
- Player 1 clicks on 9F (or 9E) and the white counter moves to 9D
- Player 1 clicks on 9C and the white counter moves to 9B
- Player 1 clicks on 10B and the white counter will move to 11B, winning the game!
Do take some time exploring the interactivity. To help you learn to play the game, we’ve uploaded more mid-game scenarios
here. You can also print off
black and white or
colour versions of the board.
Who was the inspiration behind Phiddlywinks?
John Horton Conway was a prize-winning mathematician who loved creating new games for all ages. He is best known to many for creating the
Game of Life. He also developed a game called Philosopher's Football (also known as Phutball) which challenged players to manoeuvre a ball across a large grid towards their opponent's goal-line. Not surprisingly, the game soon became popular with his university students.
We have taken Phutball as the inspiration for our Phiddlywinks. We piloted the developmental version of the game with NACE members at a specially organised online event attended by both primary and secondary colleagues. The feedback from teachers attending NACE event, and the follow-up response from the classes of NACE members who kindly trialled Phiddlywinks with their classes, enabled our team to prepare the game for its release.
Phiddlywinks is almost identical to Philosopher's Football except that the white ball has become a white counter and the players have become black counters. The rules are the same but Phiddlywinks is played on a much smaller board. The way the counters move reminded us more of Tiddlywinks than football, hence the alternative name.
The NRICH team would like to acknowledge the support of NACE and its members who kindly trialled our initial version of the game, giving us invaluable feedback which informed the development of Phiddlywinks.
What maths games and activities have you and your learners been enjoying this year? Share your ideas in the comments below or in the NACE
community forums.
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