Name the Operation

What You Do:

1. Provide each player with one complete suit of cards. (For the purposes of this game, aces = 1, jacks = 11, queens = 12, and kings = 13.)
2. Players take turns laying out three cards, face up, for other players to see. Then they must create a problem using a single operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division). They only tell their opponent the answer to their problem. (Look at the picture shown above for an example.)
3. Their opponent must try to guess which operation was used and demonstrate how the answer was arrived at. If they are correct, they are awarded 3 points. If they give an incorrect response, they earn 0 points. If they disprove the other player's answer, they earn 4 points. (In the example shown above, a player might guess, "Your problem is 8 - (6 - 2)," and earn 3 points.)
4. The first player to earn 50 points wins.

Variations:

• For younger players, remove the face cards.
• Change the goal from 50 points to another goal.
• Allow the use of 2 operations to find each answer.
• Make the game more challenging by increasing the number of cards that can be used.