MathBait™ Multiplication Unit 7 premiered on April 15, 2024 - Tax Day in the US. We thought it was fitting to include this fun factor game which is a blast to play, difficult to win, and keeps students thinking about factors and growing their number sense.

We have provided a digital game, however this game may also be played with two players offline. Consider using a deck of cards and assigning the values 11, 12, and 13 to J, Q, and K respectively.

How to Play

Players begin with a set of consecutive numbers starting at 1. On each turn, a player can select any number from the list - but be careful! You must pay taxes on the number you receive. Taxes paid are all the numbers on the board which are factors of the value selected.

For instance, selecting 15 as the first number means the Taxman will collect all the factors of 15 from the board (1, 3, and 5). This doesn't seem too bad as the Taxman has only collected a total of 1+3+5=9, less than your 15, but his amount can add up quickly!

On the next turn, players can only select from the remaining values on the board and the Taxman can only collect from the remaining values. Selecting 14 would give the Taxman 2 and 7 (as 1 was removed in round 1).

Players may only select values with factors remaining on the board. That is, they cannot select an amount in which no taxes will be paid. When there are no more values with factors, the Taxman will collect everything leftover! Can you outsmart this clever bean counter?

Play

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