Buy Cheap Game (2 players): Shuffle one deck of Fraction Bars, deal each player eight bars,
and set the unused bars aside. Player A lays down one bar face up and names the fraction on his
or her bar. Player B lays down a bar and names the fraction on his or her bar. If the shaded
amount of the Player B’s bar is greater than or equal to that on Player A’s bar, Player B wins
both bars. Otherwise, Player A wins the bars. This is the end of the first play. The player who
won the two bars begins the next play. When the players have both used their eight bars, deal
eight more bars from the unused bars to continue the game. After all of the bars have been
played, the player with the most bars wins.
Variation: For 3 players, deal five bars to each player and adjust the rules accordingly
Example: For the bars shown
here, the second player can
win two bars by playing any
of the bars for the fractions
3 7 3
5
,
, or .
4 12 3
6
First bar played
Second player's eight bars
a. Play at least one full Buy Cheap game
b. What is the best bar for the second player to play in the example? Hint: why is this game
called “Buy Cheap”?
c. Suppose Player 2 in the example above started the game. Explain why it might not be a
good strategy to start the game by laying down the zero bar.
FRIO—FRactions In Order (2 to 4 players): Each player is dealt five bars in a row face up.
These bars should be left in the order in which they are dealt. The remaining bars are spread face
down. Each player, in turn, takes a bar that is face down and uses it to replace any one of the five
bars. The object of the game is to get five bars in order from the smallest shaded amount to the
largest or from the largest to the smallest. The first player to get five Fraction Bars in decreasing
or increasing order wins the game.
Example: The five bars will be in order if
2
the bar is replaced by a whole bar and
6
1
11
the bar is replaced by an
bar.
4
12
Fraction Bingo (2 to 4 players): Each player selects a fraction bingo mat from those shown
below. The deck of 32 bars is spread face down. Each player, in turn, takes a bar and circles the
fraction or fractions on his or her mat that equal the fraction from the bar. The first player to
circle four fractions in any row, column, or diagonal is the winner.
Strategy: If the bars are colored green, yellow, blue, red, and orange for halves, thirds, fourths,
sixths, and twelfths, respectively, you can increase your chances of winning by selecting bars of
the appropriate color.
Mat 1
Math 2
Mat 3
Mat 4
Match (2 – 4 players): Shuffle one deck of Fraction Bars, and turn three bars face up to form the
beginning of the Board. Place the remaining bars face down to form the Stack. Each player, in
turn, takes the top bar from the Stack and compares it to the bars on the Board. On a player’s
turn, he or she has three options and can pick up all of the bars that match one or more of these
options:



If his or her Stack bar has the same shaded amount as
one of the bars on the Board, the player wins the two
bars;
If the shaded amount of his or her Stack bar equals the
sum of the shaded amounts of two bars on the Board,
the player wins the three bars; or
If the shaded amount of his or her Stack bar equals the
difference between the shaded amounts of two bars
on the Board, the player wins the three bars.
If a player wins two or three bars, he or she continues by taking another bar from the Stack and
plays again; if not, the player places his or her Stack bar on the Board and the player’s turn ends.
As play progresses; turn up new bars from the Stack so there are always at least three bars on the
Board. After each bar in the Stack has been used, the player with the most bars wins.
Challenge Option: If a player does not see the bars that can be won on his or her
turn, the next player may pick up these bars before beginning his or her turn.
a. Play at least one full game of Match.
b. Using fractions from the Match game, write four equality sentences that demonstrate the
following option: The shaded amount of one bar equals the same shaded amount as
another bar.
c. Using fractions from the Match game, write four addition sentences that demonstrate the
following option: The shaded amount of one bar equals the total shaded amounts of two
bars.
d. Using fractions from the Match game, write four subtraction sentences that demonstrate
the following option: The shaded amount of one bar equals the difference between the
total shaded amounts of two bars.
Fraction Bar Blackjack (2 to 4 players): Spread the bars face down. The object is to select one
or more bars so that the fraction or the sum of fractions is as close to 1 as possible, but not
greater than 1. Each player selects bars one at a time, trying to get close to 1 without going over.
(A player may wish to take only 1 bar.) Each player finishes his or her turn by saying “I’m
holding.” After every player in turn has finished, the players show their bars. The player who is
closest to a sum of 1, but not over, wins the round.
Examples: Player 1
has a sum greater
than 1 and is over.
Player 2 has a greater
sum than player 3
and wins the round.
Solitaire (1 player): Spread the Fraction Bars face down. Turn over two
bars and compare their shaded amounts. If the difference between the two
1
you win the two bars. If not, you lose the bars.
fractions is less than
2
See how many bars you can win by playing through the deck. Will you
win the top pair of bars shown here? The bottom pair?
Greatest Quotient (fraction version) (2 to 4 players): Remove the zero bars from your set of 32
bars and spread the remaining bars face down. Each player takes two bars. The object of the
game is to get the greatest possible quotient by dividing one of the fractions by the other. The
greatest whole number of times that one fraction divides into the other is the player’s score. Each
player has the option of taking another bar to improve his or her score or passing. If the player
wishes to select another bar, he or she must first discard one bar. The first player to score 21
points wins the game.
Examples:
The whole number part of the quotient can be determined by comparing
the shaded amounts of the bars. The score for these two bars is 4, because
2
bar is 4 times greater than the shaded amount
the shaded amount of the
3
1
of the bar.
6
1
The score for these two bars is 1, because the shaded amount of the
bar
2
8
fits into the shaded amount of the
bar once but not twice.
12