Multiplication War

Skill: Multiplication | No. of Players: 2 | Set-up: Quick

This game is like the card game “War.” Students flip over cards to use as factors to find the higher product to obtain the cards. 

Materials

• Deck of cards (take out the face cards)

How to play:

1. Shuffle the cards and split the deck in half. 

2. Both players flip over two cards and multiply them. The player with the highest product gets all cards that round.

3. In the case of a tie, a new round is played and the player with the highest product wins all cards from the current round and the prior round.

4. Cards won are placed in a facedown pile to the side of the winning player. When the original deck is gone, cards won are shuffled and become the new deck.

5. The game continues until one player has collected all the cards.

Variations:

1. Additional support: Provide a whiteboard or a workmat and cubes for visual learners to build their multiplication problem.

2. Challenge 1: Include jacks and queens to act as 11 and 12, respectively, if you want students to practice factors up to 12. 

3. Challenge 2: Remove the aces, 2s, 5s, and 10s as these are facts students often learn first. and If you want to practice facts 1-12 include the jacks and queens.