Cento (The 100 Games) - Game 7: Numbers Memo

Rules of play

Prerequisite: Familiarity with the numbers from 1 through 100 and the ability to add or subtract two numbers. Preferably, the players should be able to distinguish between odd and even numbers.

Ages: 6 and up.

Participants: 2 to 6 players.

Cards in game: All cards indicating the consecutive numbers from 1 to an even number, decided by the players before starting the game.
Note: The level of difficulty rises considerably as the number of cards increases. Therefore, playing with few cards in the first games (e.g. cards “1” through “10”) is recommended, allowing better understanding of the concept of the game.

Object of the game: Collect the largest number of pairs of cards.

Rules of play:

At the beginning of every game the players will choose one of these card matching options (for demonstration purposes, lets assume that the chosen cards in the game are “1” through “40”):

a.	Pairing by sum, so that the sum of each pair = the number of cards plus 1. In the above mentioned example the sum of each pair is 40 + 1 = 41, i.e. the pairs are “1”&“40”, “18”&“23”, “34”&“7”, etc.
b.	Pairing by difference, so that the difference of each pair = half the number of cards. In the above mentioned example the difference of each pair is half of 40 = 20, i.e. the pairs are “1”&“21”, “18”&“38”, “34”&“14”, etc.
c.	Consecutive pairing, so that each pair consists of two consecutive numbers, in which the even number is greater. In the above mentioned example the pairs are “1”&“2”, “18”&“17”, “34”&“33”, etc.

The players may use the pair matching form to determine the correct pairing of cards.

The cards are shuffled properly and placed face down in rows.

Each player in turn may reveal two cards only, aiming to find a matching pair. If he succeeded, he places the cards beside him, and may keep his turn. If not, he verifies that all other players saw both numbers and turns them face down without changing their location.

After the player revealed the first number he has to declare which number he needs in order to get a matching pair. For example, in a game with the cards “1” through “40” in which the chosen matching is pairing by sum, a player revealing “23” has to declare he needs “18” in order to complete the pair.

Naturally, the matching pairs of cards change from game to game according to the number of cards and the matching option. Therefore, it is important to check that the matching is correct, and verify that every two cards taken out of the game are indeed a matching pair.

End of game:
The game ends when all cards have been collected as pairs. The player who collects the largest number of cards is declared the winner of the game. A session of games is set by recording the number of cards each player collects in every game. The winner of the session is the player who scores the highest total of points.